Foreword
The first master plan for the University was finalised in 1995 following extensive work throughout 1994. A review was completed five years later in November 2001. A further review, another five years later, has been conducted throughout 2006. This most recent review has, unlike 2001, been on a much larger scale, because of the recent rapid growth of the University, and the continued current and planned growth rate for Sippy Downs, identified in the south-east Queensland Regional Plan as a major activity centre and knowledge hub.
The expansion of the urban fabric and the increasing expectations from the surrounding population of the University, for example for leisure provisions, has necessitated that every aspect of physical development be carefully scrutinised.
A team of consultants led by Guida Moseley Brown Architects has conducted extensive discussions with a range of internal and external groups. The discussions have been complicated by the on-off decisions about the location of a major public hospital which, after a protracted process, was relocated away from the originally announced co-location site. This, and other issues over the Sippy Downs Town Centre, have necessitated changes in the process and eventual plans.
Across ten years the University has experienced remarkable growth, and a beautiful campus has emerged because of the sensitivity and strength of the original Master Plan that continues to guide the growth of Australia's fastest growing university.
The emphasis and style of the campus and its buildings have been influential locally and nationally, and not just within the Education sector. The protection of the natural environment has to be balanced with facilitating further growth of academic programs. The University of the Sunshine Coast is still an ‘architectural laboratory' as originally intended, so that energy conservation and personal comfort issues have also to be balanced.
The modified Jeffersonian axis is still very important as buildings advance toward the lake system, used for recycling water. This review was concerned with this advance, and the scale and alignment of future buildings so that 15,000 to 20,000 students can eventually be accommodated on this campus, but also have car parking and sports fields, for example, that do not destroy the environment and allow for kangaroo movements on to the campus.
There have been many issues to consider, weigh and balance, and again, Guida Moseley Brown Architects has led with vision, professionalism and diplomacy, for which the University is grateful.
I am confident that we have a Master Plan that has been reviewed in such a way that it will guide us through the next growth period as successfully as it has enabled us to steer the last growth period. Thank you to everyone who has been involved in this exacting but valuable process: the outcome is impressive.
Professor Paul Thomas AM
Vice-Chancellor
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