The development application for the CIT campus in Woden town centre is now open for public comment.

“We look forward to moving through the development application phase and towards construction starting in early 2023, ahead of welcoming students into the new educational precinct in 2025,” Rachel Stephen-Smith, Acting Minister for Skills, said.

“I encourage members of the community with an interest in the future of the Woden town centre and vocational education and training in the ACT to view the plans and have your say.”

Consultation on the development application is open for the next 14 days, and available at www.planning.act.gov.au/development-applications-assessments/development-applications/current-development-applications.

• New CIT Woden design features revealed (23 August 2022)
• ACT government signs contract for Woden CIT campus (26 May 2022)
• Lendlease selected to build new Woden CIT campus (4 May 2022)

Ms Stephen-Smith said the DA brings the next stage of construction one step closer. She said the new campus’s vocational educational facilities, costing $325 million, would be state-of-the-art, and revitalise Canberra’s southern hub, complemented by a new light rail enabled public transport interchange.

The design of the project has been refined to incorporate community feedback.

“We have heard the community and worked closely with our project delivery partner, Lendlease, to improve weather protection, connectivity to nearby active travel routes, safety, precinct activation, and deliver more green space,” Ms Stephen-Smith said.

Many Canberrans incorporate active travel in their daily commute to and through Woden, Ms Stephen-Smith said. For them, the government has added safe and secure bike storage close to the new public transport interchange, new public toilets, and connecting bike routes, “so commuters can quickly and easily continue their onward journey”.

Weather protection: the government has added a larger entry canopy, and increased the overall covered area around the main CIT building by creating a 2.7-metre-wide colonnade linking the interchange and main campus building. This increases the covered pathway from 20 metres to more than 135 metres between the interchange and the town centre.

“These are just two of several elements of the project that have been influenced by community feedback, and incorporated into the final design,” Ms Stephen-Smith said.

The six-star, green star building features a hall with a 575m² floor space to cater for different events.

Across the precinct, new public spaces, family friendly areas, and more planting and canopy cover will transform the heart of the Woden town centre, Ms Stephen-Smith said.

For further information on the CIT Woden project, visit https://www.builtforcbr.act.gov.au/schools-and-education/cit-woden-campus.