Design innovation boosting rehabilitation efforts

Clarence Correctional Centre, A new 1700 bed facility located outside the northern NSW town of Grafton, provides additional capacity for the corrections network in an environment designed to reduce the rate of reoffending through education and rehabilitation.

NBRS, working alongside Infrastructure NSW, have been engaged as the State design advisor to assist in writing the original project brief and oversee the design & delivery of the Clarence Correctional Centre in line with best practice approaches to prison design. The project was delivered by the NSW government as a public private partnership with the Northern Pathways consortium consisting of John Holland, Serco, John Laing & Macquarie Capital.

NBRS have been instrumental in writing the brief requirements that have led to project innovations and ensuring that the State operational representatives were comfortable throughout the development of proposed design innovations via rigorous testing processes. Some of these innovations include the removal of bars to cell windows, campus style site planning and highly efficient smoke exhaust strategy.

As Australia's largest prison, the success of the facility has stemmed from creating spaces designed for rehabilitation. The design reflects an understanding of disadvantage and how architecture can work to improve the lives of the inmates through trauma informed design and ultimately contributes to rehabilitation and reduced reoffending.

Photos supplied by John Holland Group