Land & CommunitiesChris ThomsonTue 10 Nov 26
Canberra’s Newest Suburb Emerges from Ashes of Former CSIRO Site
Plans to build 3000 homes at a former CSIRO agriculture research site where a defunct cop shop was gutted by fire in 2024 have been advertised in the national capital.
The proposed suburb of Ginninderra East is anticipated by the Australian Capital Territory government to fill a gap in the urban fabric between the districts of Belconnen and Gungahlin in northern Canberra.
Planned for 240ha of former CSIRO agricultural land, the suburb is intended to have a school, ovals, parks, a nature reserve and commercial and community facilities.
Languishing on the land are the remains of the 1882-built and heritage-listed former Ginninderra police station that was razed by fire in 2024.
ACT planning minister Chris Steel said Ginninderra East would help reach the government’s target of 30,000 new homes by the end of 2030.
Steel anticipates that at least 15 per cent of homes at Ginninderra East will be affordable, with community and public housing provided.
“That’s around 450 new homes for Canberrans that need it most,” he said.
The site is bound by the Barton Highway, Palmerville Heritage Park, Kuringa Drive and Owen Dixon Drive.
The ACT Government bought the site from the CSIRO for $385 million in July this year.
Consultation on the new suburb is due to close on December 17.
