Greater Shepparton City Council — Victoria Park Lake Redevelopment
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The project’s primary objective was the redevelopment of the Victoria Park Lake, and to commence the implementation of the Victoria Park Master Plan. The redevelopment works included:
- Excavating and reshaping the lake floor to improve water quality and recreational opportunities.
- Construction of a wetland to manage and improve water quality
- Construction of three jetties and a boardwalk
- Construction of a regatta basin, together with a buoying system
- Improve accessibility for the community to and around the lake, and to Victoria Park
- Provide habitat for local wildlife
Greater Shepparton’s Victoria Park Lake has been transformed from a shallow lake with limited active community involvement to an attractive environmentally sustainable public open space used for a wide range of recreational activities.
Victoria Park Lake, located 2km south of the Shepparton CBD, had always been considered the city’s premier public space but by 2007, years of drought had taken their toll on the lake’s water quality and the surrounding habitat. The photograph below shows the lake as it existed in January 2009.
In its 2006-2010 Council Plan, Council committed to reviewing the decade-old Victoria Park Master Plan to “further enhance and upgrade the precinct”. Community input and comment was sought during late 2007 and early 2008 to identify residents’ priorities for the future use and development of the precinct.
More than 30 written submissions were received together with engagement with a Council formed stakeholder group and a public meeting. While there were a range of views on how the lake should be redeveloped there was overwhelming community support for the precinct to be revitalised. In particular the community wanted:
- the lake to be developed as a sustainable water body used for non-motorised boating and fishing;
- development of a wetland within the lake to help maintain water quality and habitat for native fish and birds;
- the precinct to enhance and protect the Goulburn River, which runs along the western edge of Victoria Park; and
- the northern and eastern sides of the precinct to provide views of the lake and an attractive setting for a range of passive activities.
In October 2008 Greater Shepparton City Council adopted the revised Victoria Park Master Plan that included the lake redevelopment. Site preparation works to allow the lake bed to dry was completed by the end of the year, with major redevelopment earthworks under way by March 2009.
The Master Plan implementation was designed to allow for staged development, with the major element, the lake redevelopment, completed in late 2011.
As a result of the redevelopment there has been a marked growth in the number of people using the precinct for leisure and recreational pursuits as well as vast improvements in the lake’s water quality and native wildlife numbers.
This submission will focus on the sustainability, efficiency and safety design features that have underpinned and guided the redevelopment project, one of the largest in the Council’s history.
Project design features
The Victoria Park Lake Redevelopment was designed from the adopted concept designs by local engineering consultants, supported by specialist sub-consultants.
Victoria Park Lake is a terminal lake, ie a lake with no flow through of water. The water for the lake is pumped from the nearby Goulburn River and discharged into the lake at the southern end, adjacent to the wetland outlet. Water is circulated through the wetland, with a 20-30 day water turnover period as part of the treatment process. Water flows through the wetland and returns to the lake at the south end.