St Peters Street project in Adelaide's east wins national awards for being transformed into 'unapologetically wild'

The national award-winning concept (main image) by Landskap for City of Norwood Payneham and St Peters to transform a 900 metres section (top left) of St Peters Street in the Adelaide suburb of St Peters involved hiding the former Second Creek underground, retaining 97 mature trees, planting 200 more trees and installing passive stormwater harvesting.
Images by Landskap (main), Sweet Lime (top left) and Duncan McKenzie

St Peters Street in the Adelaide eastern suburb of St Peters, transformed into an “unapologetically wild space that nurtures both people and wildlife.”, was a “standout winner” for infrastructure excellence and climate positive design at the 2024 Australian Institute of Landscape Architects national awards.

The $4.5 million St Peters Street project was conceived for the City of Norwood Payneham and St Peters by Landskap, an Adelaide firm started by Alex Game in 2019 to specialise in landscape architecture and urban design.

Reviving the 900 metres section of Peters Street included hiding the former Second Creek underground, retaining 97 mature trees, planting 200 more trees and installing passive stormwater harvesting. This involved changing previously narrow footpaths, wide carriageways and a sparse tree canopy into a biodiversity boulevard that linked both the community and wildlife to the St Peters Street Billabong and River Torrens/Karrawirra Parri.

With Dryside Engineering and Plot Works also partners in the project, the streetscape was packed with a subtle water management features including rain gardens, permeable spoon drains, tree pits and recycled drip irrigation in a design that integrated safety features for pedestrians and cyclists and gave residents chances to engage informally. Locally-sourced materials combined with a distinctly local planting palette, irrigated with recycled water and passive stormwater.  

The national landscape achitecture awards jury said the St Peters Street project’s “intelligent use of both built and natural systems here has allowed plant life and natural water systems to thrive, providing habitat for endemic wildlife while giving the area a unique and natural feel”.  At the South Australian Institute of Landscape Architects Awards earlier in the year, the St Peters Street project won the infrastructure excellence, water for life; healthy parks, healthy people; and the inaugural minister for planning awards.