Buchan is the principal architect behind the landmark Ipswich City renewal project, including new council administration building, public library and information centre, Australia’s first standalone Children’s Library, a major entertainment plaza, Nicholas Street retail, dining and commercial upgrades and an extensive landscaped public realm.

Since 2016, Buchan has been working closely with Ipswich City Council, the Nicholas Street Precinct team and the wider community to realise the City’s vision.

Instrumental to the success of Ipswich’s renewal was the development of a masterplan that could be staged and developed incrementally. The masterplan needed to be adequately robust to enable the precinct to be an incubator for activity, while having adequate flexibility to respond to market changes and community needs. Informed by an in-depth understanding of the local demographic and usage trends, the urban design focused on creating an enriched public amenity through provision of a place that enabled social, cultural and community connections and would entice people back to the previously deserted city heart.

Designed to form the connective tissue between the city and the river, the Nicholas Street Precinct and Tulmur Place connect the existing arts precinct at the top of the town through the city heart and across the river. The Ipswich City Council Administration Building sits adjacent to the new civic square and forms part of the wider redevelopment of the northern end of the former shopping centre. Tulmur Place, the civic plaza, features an urban water park and the main public library which opened in 2021. The design of Ipswich Library rethinks the introverted traditional library experience, creating an environment that fosters transparency with the outside world promoting a welcoming, inclusive atmosphere.

The new City Council Administration Building brings all ICC council departments together for the first time in years and features a two-storey inverted podium, with seven stories of offices above and three levels of parking with bike storage and end of trip facilities. With a 5-star green star rating, the building incorporates sustainable design, materials, and management. This includes smart glass, a reflective colour scheme, solar panels, environmentally friendly glues, and modern construction techniques. The use of tone, colour, and limestone throughout is influenced by the importance of Ipswich’s mining history to Queensland’s industrial development.

The Children’s Library, located on the ground floor of the Administration Building, is the first standalone library dedicated to children in Australia. With a lot of Ipswich’s population growth driven by young families, the Children’s Library was purposefully located in the centre of the CBD, enabling greater access and further activation of the ground floor plane. Internally, the space features unconventional, interactive artworks and visual technologies. Every aspect of the design has been created exclusively for young people, right down to the shelving and furniture heights, interactive activities, hidey holes and reading nooks. Family centred placemaking continues outside the library with indigenous landscaping featuring sculptures of native animals for children to explore.

As part of the Nicholas Street Precinct redevelopment, Buchan’s Brand Experience team masterfully harnessed the power of technology in architecture to bring the Ipswich CBD to life after dark. Illuminating artistic projections onto buildings in the heart of Nicholas Street reinvents the Ipswich CBD precinct as a safe, family friendly community heart at night. The projections serve as an interactive backdrop for festivals and events, and a driver of local art. Buchan’s designers scanned and animated historic trains from The Workshops Rail Museum and collaborated with Council’s ‘Picture Ipswich’ to share historical photographs onto the façade for the community to reminisce and reflect on its past.

The latest stage in the overarching Ipswich redevelopment is the Nicholas Street dining, retail and entertainment precinct. The new two-level Venue development is set to become the region’s premier entertainment and leisure hub. The design plays tribute to the former art deco Wintergardens and Ritz Theatres, with iconic white walls and exposed brick. Inside, the new dining, retail and entertainment precinct will offer a 6-screen cinema complex. The cinema and the historic Commonwealth Hotel are expected to open in 2024.