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Ocean Reef Marina

Project Information

The City is undertaking the development of a Concept Plan and Structure Plan that details how the Ocean Reef Marina site could be developed and how it could look in the future.

The site has always had the potential to house a world-class facility and the State Government recognised this potential by providing a grant to allow the City to develop, as part of the process, a concept plan of its vision for the site.

Council has endorsed the project philosophy and key parameters for the Ocean Reef Marina site which will guide the development process. The project philosophy and key parameters include:

Vision for the Development;
Environmental Strategy;
Governance and Fiscal Responsibility;
Liaison Protocol; and
Commerciality.

You can view the Project Philosophy and Key Parameters.

The Ocean Reef Marina development has the potential to provide the City’s residents with a world class recreational, residential, boating and tourism marina development that encapsulates high levels of environmental sustainability, community amenity and delivers economic growth and social benefit.

Preliminary studies and research in the areas of environmental impact and sustainability, structure planning, coastal engineering and hydrology, and financial and commercial viability have been completed and indicate that the site does have the potential for a development of this nature.

The City has commenced the preparation of a Business Case and Structure Plan and the initial task, the financial feasibility of the concept plan, has been completed (undertaken with the financial support of the Recreational Boating Facilities Scheme).

The analysis showed that the project would generate a significant deficit over the course of the development, and this was deemed by the City to not only be unviable, but also an inappropriate risk. However, some design changes to the concept plan have provided dramatic improvement to the financial outcome of the development, and resulted in a project surplus.

The amendments to the concept plan retain both the design philosophy and the overarching philosophy and parameters supported by Council and the community. With 47 of the 51 components in the original concept plan remaining, the amended concept plan still carries the same footprint, with the size and total development area of the marina still around 91ha.

The amended concept plan (Concept Plan 7.2) still delivers an excellent balance of public, residential and commercial amenities with some alterations to optimise land use and yields. A realignment of the northern marina section reduces the need for dredging in this area and the amphitheatre site now provides a more user-friendly interface with the water which improves views through the marina.

Some of the planned commercial, residential and mixed-use buildings have been reduced in size and density to optimise land use and yields and there is an increase in the portion of leasehold to freehold commercial/retail lots. The residential areas now include single lots with a reduction in the number of apartment-style units. These changes acknowledge the commercial reality of a development of this magnitude whilst maintaining extensive public equity and access within the marina.

Some of the amenities, such as the ocean pool, artificial reef and super yacht berths require further investigation and assessment and this will be undertaken in due course.

Premier Colin Barnett visited Joondalup on Thursday 3 March for the opening of the new Joondalup Health Campus Emergency Department and the City took the opportunity to meet with him to discuss the Ocean Reef Marina Project.

Mayor Pickard and the CEO gave the Premier, Planning Minister John Day and Ocean Reef MLA Albert Jacob an overview of the project and a briefing on the progress to date including the amended concept plan and the financial feasibility study. The Mayor and CEO also accompanied the Premier and Mr Jacob to the Ocean Reef Boat Harbour for a quick site visit.

In collaboration with the State Government, the City is in the process of finalising a joint Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) for the Ocean Reef Marina which confirms the commitment of both the City and the State Government towards bringing the project to fruition.

The City is currently engaging with the State Government, through its agencies, to determine the optimum method for the delivering the project. Through this engagement it was recommended that strategic advice be sought from the Environmental Protection Authority via a Section 16 (Environmental Protection Act 1986) submission.

In preparing the relevant documentation for the above, the City will continue to engage with the relevant Government agencies (State and Federal) with respect to issues such as Bush Forever, Marmion Marine Park and other relevant environmental and planning issues.

For further information please contact the City on 9400 4349 or email info@joondalup.wa.gov.au.