7.2 BUILDINGS
Background
A number of buildings have been erected in the Gardens to provide
facilities to maintain the plantings and infrastructure: visitor
information, research, herbarium, education and library facilities,
and office accommodation for staff. Some of these are
inappropriately sited and no longer meet the functional needs of the
organisation. Figure 7.1 shows the existing buildings and structures
at the Gardens in Canberra.
At Jervis Bay the Gardens are less well developed and the only
buildings to have been constructed are an administration complex, a
picnic shelter and a cottage, the "Green Hut", now used for
interpretive displays (see Figure 1.2).
Management prescriptions
Objectives
The objectives are to ensure that the buildings and structures meet
the functional needs of the staff and visitors and that they
facilitate efficient operation of the Gardens and are designed and
sited in harmony with the landscape.
Implementation
Implementation of this plan will require construction of new
facilities and the refurbishment of existing buildings in Canberra to
accommodate new functions. Five major developments, listed here in
priority order, are planned for the Gardens' Canberra site during the
life of this Plan. Figure 7.2 shows the locations of each of these
developments.
- Construction of a new nursery facility will be built in the
northern part of the Gardens. The existing Nursery, built in the
late 1960s and inappropriately sited on fill over a gully, will be
demolished and the site will be redeveloped.
- A new horticultural maintenance and trades and service
complex will be developed in the northern part of the Gardens to
replace the present scattered and inefficient facilities.
- A new visitor information centre will be built, strategically
located to orient visitors before they enter the major areas for
display of the living collections. The existing Visitor Information
Centre (built in 1984) will be refurbished for use as office
accommodation.
- The Herbarium Botany Building complex and Research Centre
will be redeveloped. Expansion of the current Herbarium facilities
will be necessary during the currency of this Plan and may require
the construction of new facilities for storage and research. New
developments will be planned to meet the needs of the Centre for
Plant Diversity Research (see Section 4.6).
- A gathering place - a `common' - will be developed on the major
pedestrian spine, with a new kiosk and possibly a playground nearby.
This will require demolition of the northern portion of the Public
Programs building, constructed in the late 1960s.
The development planning guide to be prepared for the Gardens at
Jervis Bay will examine the adequacy of existing buildings and the
need for further buildings at that site.