Kingston shops on the corner of Kennedy and Giles Street. Photo: Michelle Kroll.
The heritage listing of the early Kingston shops in its centenary year has been welcomed by the local residents’ group, but it remains concerned about development intentions.
The ACT Heritage Council has confirmed that it will register the Early Kingston Shops for their cultural significance to Canberra’s history, covering original 1920s façades, parapets, and awnings along Giles, Kennedy and Jardine Streets. The registration applies to the first 10 metres of the shop buildings fronting the streets, from the kerb and front property boundaries.
This decision follows a provisional registration in June 2024 and a public consultation period from 24 June to 19 August 2024. More than 50 public submissions were received.
The Kingston Barton Residents Group is awaiting details of what the Heritage Council is proposing in the listing, particularly any ‘development guidelines’ they will include.
KBRG has concerns about the registration only extending for 10 metres into the affected properties, as well as the street verges, and possible shop-top housing.
During the extended consultation, KBRG criticised the intervention of Planning Minister Chris Steel, who sought more information on the possibility of shop-top housing in Kingston if the shops were heritage-listed.
The Kingston shops affected by the heritage registration. Photo: ACT Heritage Council.
Mr Steel said in May that the Territory Plan allowed for mixed-use development up to six storeys in some parts of the shops and four in others, and it needed to be clarified whether that type of development would still be permitted with a heritage listing.
He said heritage requirements were not incompatible with new housing, citing good examples of adaptive reuse around Canberra.
In its statement announcing the registration, the Heritage Council indicated that shop-top housing could be an option.
It said that registration generally imposed fewer development restrictions than the Territory Plan, and both frameworks supported heritage protection and allowed for mixed-use developments in the area, such as shop-top housing.
KBRG now fears Mr Steel might seek to increase the current building height limit of two storeys, and wonders if any increased height would only apply to that part of each block from the limit of heritage registration back, or to the whole block.
KBRG will also be watching to see if the Territory Planning Authority overrides any heritage controls and permits “highly intrusive” new development visible from Giles and Kennedy Streets.
KBRG also said in May that it was disappointed the proposed registration only dealt with the very early shops along Giles and Kennedy Streets and not later ones in Jardine Street and, in particular, Green Square.
Council chairperson Catherine Skippington said the Early Kingston Shops were a strong example of 1920s design.
“In Canberra’s early days, they were the only shopping precinct, serving as a hub for groceries, services and banking. They remained a central part of the city’s business and social life for many years,” she said
