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Noosa North Shore Ecotourism Portal
Enquiry by Design Workshop, 15-19 May, 2003

 

Overview

In March 2003, Petrac Land Holdings Pty Ltd contracted to purchase the land
holdings known as the Noosa North Shore Retreat from the long term owners ~ the
Ruster and Day families.

A Due Diligence Period was provided in the contract to allow investigations into the
status of the existing operations, existing development approvals and potential
development opportunities. Preliminary investigations indicated a problematic
history of operations and development approvals.

Recognising these issues and having a desire to utilize innovative approaches to
development, Petrac chose to use an alternative process known as “Enquiry by
Design’ to investigate and explore the development potential (if any) of the site.

Enquiry by Design ~ The Process

The Enquiry by Design process was introduced to Australia in the early 1990s by
Chip Kaufman, and American Architect and Urban Designer with particular
expertise in New Urbanism design principles. Chip Kaufman joined with Wendy
Morris, Urban Planner from Melbourne to form Ecologically Sustainable Design. Pty
Ltd to provide a specialist consultancy in New Usbanism, facilitated by the
“Charette” or “Enquiry by Design” process.

The Enquiry by Design process involves two stages — the Data Acquisition Stage and
the Workshop stage. The Data Acquisition stage entails the gathering of all relevant
data associated with the site. This would include mapping, topography, planning
instruments, services, environmental assessment and landscape assessments. Should -
sufficient detail be unavailable, specific studies are commissioned.

The Workshop Stage entails the gathering together of stakeholders - preferably on
site, to undertake an intensive facilitated workshop over a number of days.

Stakeholders include both proponents of the project, their consultants and most
importantly, the community. After a briefing on site data and reports, the workshop
participants are formed into groups to collaboratively design based on scenarios
formulated by the workshop. These design scenarios are tested by the workshop and
then amended by consensus evolving a design outcome.

The Enquiry by Design process varies greatly from the traditional design
development process. Whereas the traditional process is linear and sequential, the
Enquiry by Design is simulianeous and integrated. The Traditional Process is