Busselton’s new cultural precinct is now open for business.

This section of Queen Street, between Marine Terrace and Adelaide Street, has been under construction for close to 5 months. With all major construction work now complete the street has been transformed into a mall-like precinct ideally suited to community events and cultural activities.

The precinct incorporates decorative tiling and specially designed rain gardens. Feature lighting has also been installed and this will be turned on during a free community event scheduled within the next six weeks.

Mayor Ian Stubbs said, “Our cultural precinct will continue to evolve over the years - it was never the intention to create a static environment but rather one that inspired creativity and encouraged people to come into the CBD and be a part of our region’s bourgeoning art scene.

The objective was to create an attractive and functional backbone for continued cultural growth and I think that this has been achieved quite magnificently.”

Director of Engineer and Works at the City ofBusselton, Oliver Darby has overseen this major project.  “This was a difficult project to schedule because the nature of the work meant that it could not be undertaken during the rainy season.

We hoped to have the precinct completed before Christmas but due to material and contractor availability the finish date was pushed out.  Some delay was also experienced with the installation of the tiles – this was not a straight forward process. In terms of the preparation and the laying of these tiles, of which there were more than 400,000, there was absolutely no margin for error. City workers have done a brilliant job.”

The cultural precinct has been well received by local business and community groups. Public feedback in general has been positive.