Overview

TourismParks + Gardens

Client
Cairns Council

Collaborators
Cox Raynor

Disciplines
Landscape Architecture

Location
Cairns City, QLD

Date
2003

Imagery
John Gollings

Awards
2003 AILA Award of Merit (QLD)
2004 PIA Award of Excellence – Urban Design (National)
2004 RAIA Art + Architecture Award
2004 AILA Landscape Architecture Award – Best Project in Australia (National)
2005 IFLA Easton Region Presidents Award

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What began as Tract’s entry into a national design competition has transformed into a highly successful, multi-award-winning Cairns Esplanade that has reinvigorated the heart of Cairns.
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Cairns Esplanade, combined with sister project Cairns Cityport, has linked the people of Cairns back to the water’s edge through pedestrian boulevards and promenades, while also driving other upgrades and developments in the CBD.

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The $25 million project was designed to create a world-class recreational precinct with activities for people of all ages.

Today the area remains a go-to for locals and visitors alike, offering a welcoming environment at the filtered salt-water lagoon, which is open and free to the public seven days a week.

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Nearby, visitors can enjoy the dining precinct, picnic areas and children’s playground, as well as events at the performance space in Fogarty Park.

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Other foreshore features include an internationally recognised marine eco park and a pedestrian promenade and boardwalk, designed to have minimal impact on the existing mudflats and local ecosystem.

Interpretive centres throughout the area educate visitors and locals about the region’s great natural and cultural assets, including the mudflats, the world heritage reef and rainforest and the Indigenous and Pacific cultures that have shaped Cairns.

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The project's success can be measured by the hub of activity and culture now present throughout the precinct and its facilities.

In many ways, the Cairns Esplanade redevelopment is seen as the catalyst for Cairns’ revival, and the driving force behind numerous other developments in the city.