Project Overview

From the ground level plaza to the residential apartments above, the vision for Republic was to create a community. Republic stage one is an urbane assembly of 390 1, 2, and 3 bedroom apartments through which people can filter and explore, day and night. A welcoming and ever-changing place where the public realm is just as important as private spaces, and where each complements the other. Permeability and accessibility were a vital component of the project and there is a great sense of the beyond, something to pique your curiosity to draw you into and through the precinct.

Organisation

GEOCON

 

Team

GEOCON - Developer & Construction
FKA - Architect
Oculus - Landscape Architect
Sellicks - Civil Consultant
Lit - Fire Engineer
Mn8 - Mechanical Engineer
Hera - Structural Engineer
Purdons - Town Planner

Project Brief

Harnessing Australia’s most acclaimed and imaginative architectural minds, Republic presents a landmark vision for Canberra’s urban future; a future typified by the seamless blend of private and public spaces that reconnect local communities, together with premium apartments and the highest calibre of lifestyle amenities.
From the ground level plaza to the residential apartments above, the vision for Republic was to create a community. The first stage of Republic completed in April 2020, is two buildings (Republic and Dusk) with 390 apartments that will ultimately be set amongst an urbane assembly of buildings through which people can filter and explore, day and night. When all the stages are complete, this will be a welcoming and ever-changing place where the public realm is just as important as private spaces, and where each complement the other. Permeability and accessibility were a vital component of the master plan and there is a great sense of the beyond, something to pique your curiosity to draw you into and through the precinct.
Republic stage one is a landmark project that redefines what high density living can be in Canberra. Its success demonstrated through a successful marketing campaign, saw 70 percent of the 390 apartments sold prior to construction commencing. Both the 14 storey Republic and 18 storey Dusk buildings form stage in one of the largest mixed-use precinct in Canberra’s history. It is a microcosm of a city and, as such, presents a wonderful opportunity to create something meaningful and looking to the future.

Project Innovation/Need

Times have changed and Republic is elevating the entire property market by showing what’s really possible. Canberra’s residential landscape has traditionally been deeply conservative, but with Republic GEOCON have quite intentionally set out to sever all ties to the past. Republic is set to redefine the future of Canberra through imagination, creativity, modernity - and value, of course. Most people are genuinely stunned at just how much value Republic offers. Republic is setting so many new benchmarks. It's forcing a pretty major rethink for developers and buyers alike. We live in a rapidly-evolving international city and local property buyers have every right to expect a whole lot more these days – and GEOCON is determined to provide it. In future any development that fail to deliver on that perfect mix of quality, lifestyle and value will really struggle. That will never happen with a GEOCON development.

Design Challenge

The Republic masterplan includes five structures (the first stage being Republic and Dusk), that will ultimately form Canberra’s largest-ever mixed-use development and includes the ACT’s two tallest towers. The planning and subdivision of the block was complex in nature, challenging both GEOCON’s development team and the ACT Government with new precedents which had never been approached. While GEOCON already held a strong relationship with Government, the large number of DA amendments and applications was unprecedented in Canberra. The workload was the catalyst for stronger relationships between GECON, the ACT Government and local businesses in order to get the job done.
In comparison, only new Parliament House comes close to the amount of bureaucratic application, material, financial costs and human resources needed to make the overall Precinct a reality. The scale of the development saw GEOCON recruit more people across construction, development and planning, finance, marketing and sales to accommodate the inflated workload.
Republic will be constructed in stages. The buildings are formed to create an appropriate scale to streets and laneways. In places the taller buildings are set back, in other places they come forward close to the street, creating a strong presence while being responsive to the quality of the public domain they bound. The lower buildings including stage one Republic, are clothed in the materiality of texture and grain, of light and shade, of solid and void. These buildings offer a human scale and a textural delight to those in and around the precinct.

Sustainability

The ACT Government has some of the most ambitious waste reduction and resource recovery targets in Australia. The Republic Precinct is home to an ACT Government (ACT NoWaste) pilot program for compactus waste management. This project enabled the Precinct to reduce the size of typical waste rooms while also reducing the volume of waste being transported through the Precinct. It provides the building manager capacity to better manage the outgoing waste across the site more efficiently. It reduces labour for staff relocating waste bins and requires fewer trips to landfill sites. Overall, the compacting system also reduces the total footprint on landfill. While the same amount of waste is being exported, the compactor greatly reduced the size of the waste resulting in a smaller impact on landfill.
Precast Concrete Stairs – Formed And Poured In-House. While intentionally formed concrete stairs are reinforced and poured on-site, this has often created issues on-site. At Geocon, concrete stairs are precast and prepared on-site to meet 100 per cent construction compliance, to reduce waste, and improve safety with less intensive work hours on-site. This method also reduces the need for scaffolding since the prefabricated stairs can be used immediately instead.