Bibby’s Place in Bonnyrigg wins State award

From left: Richard McManus (President of Stormwater NSW/ Consultant engineer for Alluvium), Erin Sellers, Manager, Catchment Management Fairfield City Council, and Rod Weise,vice-president of Stormwater Victoria/Practice Leader of Storm Consulting, Victoria Office.

‘The Bibbys Place project addresses issues such as lack of cultural identity, poor lighting, a degraded public domain and poor stormwater management’.

Fairfield City Council’s work to improve the stormwater management of Bibbys Place in Bonnyrigg has earned state recognition.

The Excellence in Integrated Stormwater Design award was announced at the 2014 Stormwater NSW annual conference in Canberra earlier this month.  

The award recognises Council’s excellence in place management, adoption of a multi-disciplinary approach to design and construction, engagement with the community and the projects local sustainability and liveability within the City. 

Bibbys Place is a unique street, known for its cultural activity. It has a church, temple, mosque and community centre all side-by-side, which makes it one-of-a-kind in Bonnyrigg.

The stormwater project also addressed issues such as lack of cultural identity, poor lighting, a degraded public domain and poor stormwater management.

The community will soon enjoy multiple benefits including; innovative gully pit diversions, native plants enhancing local biodiversity, solar lighting, coloured permeable paving, seating, pathways and the rain garden itself, making the street a much more attractive place to congregate or walk along. 

The Stormwater NSW awards aim to provide recognition and celebrate excellence in innovation, development and management of stormwater projects and the stormwater professionals involved.

This project came to life because of the hard working and dedicated Council staff, consultants, Western Sydney Regional Organisation of Councils, the Environmental Trust, the Bonnyrigg Town Centre Committee and all the local community members involved throughout the project. 

Bibbys Place will now be entered into the National Stormwater Awards, which will be announced at the third national conference on Urban Water Management in Adelaide in October.