02/09/2026
Big beautiful things for Belco
Belconnen Town Centre is big and spread out. For a long time, Iโve wanted its different parts to feel closer together. Easier to move between, with more reasons to stop and spend time along the way.
Weโre starting to see that picture come together. Here's how.
๐ ๐ ๐ฎ๐ฟ๐ด๐ฎ๐ฟ๐ฒ๐ ๐ง๐ถ๐บ๐ฝ๐๐ผ๐ป ๐ฃ๐ฎ๐ฟ๐ธ: The final landscape plans are out and the construction tender is in the market, with works expected to start on site in the first quarter of 2027.
A new public toilet. A new BBQ, shelter and picnic area. A playground with a nest swing and rope pyramid, softfall and more shade. Table tennis, more seating, new lighting and paving, new planting and trees. And an accessible ramp on the northern edge, so you can get into the park from Chandler Street without going the long way round.
This is an enhancement of the park, not a paving-over of it. Weโre keeping plenty of open lawn for unstructured play, picnics, quiet use and simply lying on the grass.
๐ฆ ๐๐บ๐ ๐๐ป๐น๐ฒ๐: The procurement tender has just closed for the new water play space beside Belco Arts.
Think colourful mist-ring arches, in-ground bubblers and a water sphere, alongside new seating, stool tables (sturdy enough to sit on and flat enough to hold items), shade and 11 deciduous trees that will provide substantial summer canopy as they mature.
This is arriving into a precinct that's already changed so much in these past few years. The monthly Sly Fox Markets, Belco Artsโ after-dark projections and amazing galleries, great cafes like Stella's and Kiln, and events like The Forage are now bringing thousands of people down here at different times of the day and week. The water play adds another reason to come and another reason to stay.
๐ถโโ๏ธ๐ฒ ๐๐ฎ๐ธ๐ฒ ๐๐ถ๐ป๐ป๐ถ๐ป๐ฑ๐ฒ๐ฟ๐ฟ๐ฎ ๐ฝ๐ฎ๐๐ต๐: After widening the path through John Knight Memorial Park, design is now underway for the western foreshore, with the peninsula connection to follow.
These upgrades matter in how they make moving around the lake easier and more pleasant, and they improve how the different destinations around the lake are stitched together.
๐ค ๐๐ถ๐ฑ๐ฑ๐ฎ๐บ๐ ๐๐น๐ผ๐๐ฒ ๐ฏ๐ผ๐ฎ๐ ๐ฟ๐ฎ๐บ๐ฝ: This is part of the same picture too. In-water concrete works, new precast ramp slabs, excavation and bank stabilisation will make trailer launching safer and improve boat access to Lake Ginninderra. Off-site fabrication has been underway, with on-site construction to begin soon.
๐ณ ๐๐บ๐ ๐๐ฎ๐ป๐ธ: This is the piece I most want to see land. It's also the most complicated.
It isnโt simply a matter of replacing a few lifted pavers. The design has to deal properly with a deteriorated retaining wall, tree-root damage, uneven paving and ground conditions, while also improving the landscaping and thinking about how the whole foreshore works for people walking, cycling, dining or simply spending time by the lake.
Funding has been prioritised and the civil and landscape designs are progressing. Iโll keep the community updated as the design is finalised and the project moves towards construction procurement.
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As a long-term Town Centre resident, I'm excited for and proud of each of these initiatives. But the real value is in how they fit together.
A better Margaret Timpson Park gives people another reason to move through and spend time in the Town Centre. Better paths connect the centre to the water and make it easier to move around the lake. Emu Inlet gives families a new destination. Diddams Close improves access to the lake itself. And a renewed Emu Bank can make the waterfront a much better place to linger.
Each improvement makes the others more valuable. More people create more activity. More activity makes the precinct more attractive. Better public spaces give people reasons to stay longer. And that, in turn, creates the conditions for even more things to happen.
Thatโs the uplift. That's the purpose. And that's the vision.
Not one isolated project, but a Town Centre and lakefront that increasingly work as one connected place.
