Planning Awards for Excellence Winners

2025 PIA ACT Awards for Planning Excellence

The 2025 PIA ACT Awards for Planning Excellence presentation was held on Thursday 6th November, at East Hotel to celebrate with the winners of awards and commendations. Thank you to those who attended and helped celebrate the achievements of their colleagues and the planning profession.

View the Media Release View the photo gallery

Climate Change and Resilience

Connecting Nature | Connecting People, the Sullivans Creek Re-naturalisation project

Ngunnawal Custodians Wally Bell and Karen Denny, Ngunnawal Watermarks Working Group In partnership with ACT Government - Environment, Planning and Sustainable Development Directorate, PLACE Laboratory Climate Factory, Catchment Studio, Create and Sow Consulting 

The Connecting Nature / Connecting People, the sullivans Creek Re-naturalisation project represents a climate resilient vision that moves well beyond traditional urban creek regeneration. This country-centred, Ngunnawal-led approach redefines how planning and design responds to climate change, biodiversity loss and cultural disconnection.
The judges were impressed with the exemplar process that was applied to this project and the sensitive application of that process in collaboration with Ngunnawal elders.

Tailored for an urbanised catchment, the project's vegetated swales, swampy shallows, leaky weirs and meandering alignments slow water, cool the city and restore habitat in a truly climate beneficial solution that turns back the clock on traditional engineering principles.

The judges applaud the direct involvement of community at all stages to achieve such an innovative and regenerative outcome that can be adaptively applied as a model in many other water systems in the ACT context and beyond. Congratulations to Ngunnawal Custodians Wally Bell and Karen Denny, Ngunnawal Watermarks Working Group in partnership with the ACT Government, PLACE Laboratory Climate Factory Catchment Studio Create and Sow Consulting. Find out more about the project here. 

Emerging Planner of the Year

Russell Coldicutt PIA (Assoc.)

It is with great pleasure that the Jury award ACT Emerging Planner of the Year 2025 to Russell Coldicutt. 

Russell strongly demonstrates the integral qualities deserving of the ACT Emerging Planner of the Year. In his work, Russell provides cross-disciplinary expertise and understanding into the critical nexus of climate change, sustainability and planning. Drawing on his background studies and work at Duke University (USA), The University of Sydney and Victoria University of Wellington (NZ). This will soon be complemented by his study of Graduate Diploma of Urban and Regional Planning (expected in 2026). Russell demonstrates his ongoing commitment to the planning profession, in his role of convenor of the ACT Emerging Planner Network and as a participant in PIA’s mentor program (both as mentor and mentee).

The Jury recognise Russell as an emerging leader in planning and look forward to his continuing participation in the planning profession. Congratulations Russell.

Performance and Innovation in Development

North Wright Sustainable Precinct - Stage 1

Suburban Land Agency, PLACE Laboratory, Belford Building & Construction, Trella Architecture & Interiors

The North Wright Sustainable Precinct, Stage 1, exemplifies low carbon living, with 23 high performance, cost-effective and energy-efficient, all electric homes demonstrating rethinking for innovative lower cost housing in the ACT. 

The North Wright Sustainable Precinct – Stage 1 delivers climate resilient homes, a more affordable missing middle, within a landscape orientated healthy environments. Collaboration through co-design workshops, shaped the design outcomes including landscape, materiality, flexibility and sustainable design. A homes owners guide informs residents on Passivhaus low carbon living. This approach brought community and place shapers together resulting in the start of an inclusive sustainable community.  The transferrable methodology may lead to more low carbon home projects in the ACT and beyond.   

The Jury celebrated the vision, sustainability and innovation in the design and delivery of the Project. Congratulations to the Suburban Land Agency, PLACE Laboratory, Belford Building & Construction and Trella Architecture & Interiors.

Planning Research

Planning and Economic Feasibility Analysis - Integrating the ˜Missing Middle"

Purdon 

The Planning and Economic Feasibility Analysis  – Integrating the ‘Missing Middle’ work presents outstanding planning research in its visionary approach to the missing middle discourse. The judges were impressed by Purdon’s original contribution to this significant contemporary planning issue.

Purdon worked in partnership with the ACT Government to develop a unique framework for analysis of planning, regulatory and economic levers that affect different development stages. The framework was tested with a targeted spatial ‘developability index’ to objectively assess development likelihood. Drawing on the framework, index, case studies, and expert engagement, the project team made robust recommendations to improve missing middle feasibility. 

The jury appreciate the project’s transferability, which addresses a planning issue of national relevance and advances broader systemic reform.

Planning with Country

Connecting Nature | Connecting People, the Sullivans Creek Re-naturalisation project

Ngunnawal Custodians Wally Bell and Karen Denny, Ngunnawal Watermarks Working Group In partnership with ACT Government - Environment, Planning and Sustainable Development Directorate PLACE Laboratory Climate Factory Catchment Studio, Create and Sow Consulting 

The Connecting Nature / Connecting People, the Sullivans Creek Re-naturalisation Project is a powerful example of Planning with Country in action. Delivered in close collaboration with Ngunnawal Custodians, and the Ngunnawal Watermarks Working Group, this project restores an urban creek as both a thriving ecological system and a living cultural landscape. Guided by Ngunnawal knowledge, it weaves cultural expression into the heart of design, creating a place that speaks to Country. By embedding First Nations voices throughout planning and delivery, the project sets a new benchmark for healing landscapes, building respect, and connecting people with Country, with great opportunities for transferability to other projects. Congratulations to Ngunnawal Custodians Wally Bell and Karen Denny, Ngunnawal Watermarks Working Group In partnership with the ACT Government, PLACE Laboratory, Climate Factory, Catchment Studio Create and Sow Consulting. Find out more about the project here. 

Stakeholder Engagement

Better City Streets

City Renewal Authority

The judges applaud the City Renewal Authority for the Better City Streets project and its inclusive and accessible approach to collaborative urban design for four key streetscape upgrades in central Canberra.

The project’s inclusive approach employed creative engagement practices and tools to involve the wide diversity of stakeholders and community. The project provided a structured forum for resolving competing interests, demonstrating an educational legacy beyond the project alone and a process for iteratively informing further urban design refinements. The Better City Streets project’s strategic intentions of improved people-friendly spaces have good transferability to other places and stresses the importance of streets in our public realm.

The judges look forward to the continued successful implementation of the Better City Streets project. Congratulations!

Commendations

Emerging Planner of the Year

Gunjan Shah PIA (Assoc.)

Gunjan epitomises a multidisciplinarian, bringing experience in architecture, urban design, project management, planning and stakeholder engagement.  In her role at Purdon, Gunjan has delivered a social impact assessment, and undertaken extensive community and business stakeholder engagements that have shaped planning visions and places. 

The Jury acknowledged her leadership qualities.  In 2024 Gunjan was awarded the Australian Institute of Architects ACT Chapter President’s Medal for her work establishing archiNATION, fostering a spirit of togetherness within the migrant architecture community.   

Gunjan’s collaborative approach, bringing art and design together across professions and communities, bodes well for the future of the planning profession. 

Improving Planning Processes

Purdon Engagement Methodology and Framework

Purdon

The Jury Commends Purdon for the Purdon Engagement Methodology and Framework. The framework is an excellent approach to improving planning approaches presented clearly and with imagination. The engagement and methodology framework has a focus on innovation, quality and accountability for improving planning outcomes. Overall, this framework is a creative combination of tools and principles to guide respectful and meaningful engagement, with a strength of recognising "engagement fatigue". 

Stakeholder Engagement

Woden Village Community Engagement and Placemaking

Purdon

The Jury commends Purdon with their multidisciplinary team of planners, designers and engagement specialists who worked alongside the Hellenic Club, the ACT Government, the Woden Valley Community Council and First Nations partners to deliver co-created outcomes for the Woden Village Community Engagement and Placemaking project.

The Woden Village Community Engagement and Placemaking project demonstrates a good collaborative approach supported by an attractive and easy-to-navigate online platform with effective visual content addressing the complexity of planning matters involved in the project. This project’s aim of managing community expectations and developing transparency and trust is commended.

The Jury considered that the Woden Village Community Engagement project provides a sound model to be replicated across other development projects.