Hamersley Public Golf Course redevelopment aces state awards

Photo caption: IPWEA WA President Doug Elkins; City of Stirling Manager Facilities, Projects and Assets Paul Kellick; Property Management Officer Sinead McCarthy; Senior Project Manager Sanjay Khosla; General Manager Hamersley Public Golf Course Clarke Osborne; Property Projects Officer Jacob Cavanagh; and IPWEA WA Excellence Awards judge Dave Harris.

The City of Stirling’s redevelopment of Stirling Leisure – Hamersley Public Golf Course has scooped the pool at the Institute of Public Works Engineering Australasia (IPWEA) WA Excellence Awards.

Stirling Leisure – Hamersley Public Golf Course reopened in December 2024 after a $20 million redevelopment which was headlined by an innovative entertainment-focused driving range.

The redevelopment was a finalist in two categories at the IPWEA WA Excellence Awards last Friday night and it won both of them – Best Public Works Project Greater than $5 million (Metropolitan) and Excellence in Innovation (Metropolitan).

It then won the overall prize, the G.K. Watters Local Government Engineering Excellence Award for the state’s best local government engineering project.

“These are prestigious awards and they are a credit to the City of Stirling team who delivered a world-class redevelopment,” City of Stirling Deputy Mayor Suzanne Migdale said.

“This was a big, bold project for our community and it was executed brilliantly, coming in on budget and on time.

“It has created a unique destination for Perth, with plenty on offer for families and friends, even if they aren’t playing a round of golf.”

The new-look Stirling Leisure – Hamersley Public Golf Course has been a resounding success since it reopened, attracting about 132,000 visitors in its first three months, including 32,000 to the new two-storey driving range.

Golfers hit three million balls at the new driving range in those first three months, compared to around 1.3 million balls every year at the old driving range.

The fully automated and licensed driving range features Inrange ball-tracking technology, digital simulation gaming options and hospitality service from an on-site bar and kiosk called Caddy’s.

Another major feature of the project was a new pavilion which houses a 500-person bar, restaurant and function space called Sunny Social.

The redevelopment also introduced a new pro shop with a Zen Green Stage putting simulator, 71 extra parking bays and the City’s biggest ever public art project.

The public art, by Pamela Gaunt in collaboration with Apparatus, includes a series of integrated artworks that create a visual narrative about the flowering cycle of the course’s prominent tuart trees.