Mirani Wins Commendation at 2021 PIA Planning Awards

The Mirani Community Precinct received a commendation for Strategic Planning Project at Queensland’s 2021 PIA Awards for Planning Excellence.

Bringing together a number of significant sites and services, the Precinct celebrates the uniqueness of the Pioneer Valley, its people and history. A collaboration between Mackay Regional Council, Deicke Richards and Wolter Consulting, its design has been informed by master plans alongside community knowledge and professional expertise.

Key project points for the Precinct include:

• Extensive Council and community consultation, including Enquiry by Design workshops with stakeholders such as the Mirani Library and Museum, Pioneer Valley Machinery Preservationist Society and Pioneer Valley Classic Car Club, took place in person and online as a consequence of lockdowns.
• As a result, a diversity of sites and services have been assembled in one place, which will expand incidental engagement with community programs.
• Residents and visitors will be more involved, through the Library, Museum and workshops, in efforts to preserve and promulgate Mirani’s history – and ideas for its future. Much of this activity will be accessible and/or visible via the landscape and covered linkages – the Precinct’s egalitarian spaces.
• Finally, the original Spanish Missionary structure of the Council Chambers was uncovered and will be preserved as part of the Precinct; pride in place – and the desire to protect and promote it – emblematic of this project.

PIA judges commended the project’s place-based approach, its inclusive and agile engagement process (responding to the constraints of COVID-19) and its celebration and preservation of the region’s local history.

Director Cameron Davies on the commendation: “At Deicke Richards, our vision is to be valued for creating effective outcomes that respond thoughtfully and beautifully to the needs of people and place. I’m so proud of our team and partners at Mackay Regional Council and Wolter Consulting for listening and leaning in to the Mirani community and ultimately landing on a design that will both illuminate its history and inspire a bright future.”

Congratulations to the whole team for their hard work on this important project for the Mirani community, we can’t wait to see it come to fruition.