Clear themes emerge over the future development of the campus through the coming decade and beyond.

These themes are expected to shape the development of the campus and will define in which areas the campus will grow.

University expansion and linkages

The University recognises the opportunity of its proximity to the City of Perth, Swan River and Kings Park, and looks to embrace the unique setting building on linkages to enhance the campus.

As development occurs to the West and North, the University has an enhanced opportunity to add to the vitality of the campus and surrounding community with a clear vision of a new distinctive place – a University in a town. The ‘University in a town’ will have a different and complementary texture to the ‘University in a park’.
These two visions, the established ‘University in a park’ and the new ‘University in a town’ are the direction that will inform the social, economic and environmental sustainable development of The University of Western Australia and its community.

Growth opportunities

The University is currently determining its optimum size. The Plan accommodates the University’s current growth aspirations. State Planning’s Directions 2031 and Beyond has recommended higher density development in the UWAQEII Activity Centre.

The Plan has considered growth in the context of preserving the area’s amenity whilst increasing higher density development.

Sustainable development

The Plan has been written with sustainable development as an overarching theme. This focus encompasses the social, environmental and economic decisions that the University will need to make in developing the physical layout of the campus.

The University will integrate sustainability into built form. This will include decisions on whole-of-life costing, materials and location and orientation of buildings.

Access

There is possibly no better-located site in the city of Perth to promote a sustainable approach to transport and access. In line with sustainable best practice, the University will continue to discourage single-occupancy vehicle access to the campus. Improvements to public transport; encouraging pedestrian/cycling access to the UWA/QEII centre; and provision of student housing near to campus.

Student, staff and community engagement

The need for better engagement to improve learning outcomes is an important part of the University’s future development. The strong link between academic success and time spent engaging on the campus (often in a residential setting) is a common trait of the top 50 universities in the world. It is therefore in the interests of students’ education to pursue additional housing on or near campus.

The University recognises that a residential experience is a valuable component of a student’s time at university and accordingly seeks to increase available accommodation for students.

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