Rebuild Cobargo wins planning excellence award

The community-led Rebuild Cobargo project was recently recognised at the 2023 NSW Planning Excellence Awards.

GML was fortunate to be part of the team on the Rebuild Cobargo project which won the Community Wellbeing & Diversity category at the Planning Institute of Australia’s 2023 NSW Planning Excellence Awards.

⁠Cobargo, on the NSW South Coast, was one of many communities severely impacted by the 2019-2020 bushfires with a large proportion of the historic township’s main street lost to bushfire.

Rebuild Cobargo is a community-led, not for profit commercial and residential project aimed at replacing the buildings on the main street. The goal is to rebuild the heart of Cobargo to support the life of the community and provide it with a vibrant, resilient and connected future.

GML was engaged by DunnHillam Architecture + Urban Design to provide heritage analysis of Cobargo’s historic streetscape and heritage advice to the design team.⁠

The Awards Jury cited “the Rebuild Cobargo project engaged with the community to design a new town centre, such that it caters to the needs of a contemporary community with a nod to the past and an eye on the future”.

“At a time when more extreme weather events, such as bushfires and floods, are becoming more frequent, the Rebuild Cobargo project provides a model to build back better in a way that prioritises increasing community resilience and future needs. It shows the important role of inclusive, community-led planning in a post-disaster context.”