Business North West’s Reimagining, Reinvigoration, Reinvestment projects for Burnie, Tasmania.
We are focused on the reinvigoration of the City of Burnie through facilitation of community and business projects to help Burnie revive and thrive.
Latest News
Burnie Discovery Hub
Business Northwest are proud to bring to fruition this contemporary tourism concept after several years of trying to get it off the ground. Initially this was designed to be a portable version of the Makers Information centre for Burnie, something that could be moved on the road to different parts of the CBD to go where people are for events. It has since become the primary information centre, and evolved to become the Burnie Discovery Hub. Within the hub are interactive tools to support the visitor’s navigation of Burnie’s things to do and see. Designed to help volunteers explain locations, things to do and places to see, the hub is available 24×7 with external touch panels that visitors can download a web-based app to their own mobile device to access all the information they need to about Burnie at any time. At the moment, the hub is located in the civic plaza and opens on cruise ship days. The digital content has been produced with Mason Doherty with funding from the Burnie City Council. This content is also used to promote Burnie online through social media channels. Content is easily updated so can stay fresh and relevant for visitors.
Local Research
How do urban environments make you feel?
Data gathering will be finishing by Friday 13th May.
Help with some locally-based research focused on Burnie and the CBD urban spaces. UTAS Psychology Honours student Cyndia Hilliger, also one of our executive team, is undertaking her honours project this year with the support of Business Northwest. She is seeking to understand how urban environments make us feel.
intersection art space
We are pleased to announce the launch of intersection art space is imminent! intersection art space is a joint project with The Burnie City Council, Business Northwest, Ten Days on The Island and Contemporary Arts/Research to bring back to life an empty shop front with an exciting pop up gallery space. Check out our intersection art space page for more details.
Live-streaming Penguins
Ever wondered what the little penguins are up to along the Burnie foreshore? Well wonder no more, there’s a live feed into the penguin burrows and penguin neighbourhood at the Burnie Penguin Centre. As part of our tourism focus to create products that will anchor people into staying the night in Burnie, we have launched the live stream to tell the world about the penguins that are ridiculously close to the city of Burnie. Now that’s unique!
Check it out on the link below and subscribe to make sure you are up to date with the local penguin activity!
Check out our other live stream at Emu Valley Rhododendron Garden as well. If you miss seeing the platypus, you can still enjoy the seasonal footage of the gardens any time of the year.
Burnie Christmas Street Party and Tree Lighting
Business Northwest with the support of the Burnie City Council was busy injecting a bit of community vibe into the streets of Burnie in celebration of lighting the Christmas Tree for 2021. A blend of markets, music, food and Christmas lights was enjoyed by those lucky enough to snare a ticket. Tickets were gone within 32 hours!
Street Art
shape – Artist is Ariel Pascoe
this one!
suppliers
Any opportunity to spruce up a big blank wall and we’re there! As part of our promotions budget, we allocate a bit of funding to support local artists in creating interesting pieces of work to bring to life otherwise dull blank walls. Our local artist Ariel Pascoe completed the Tigers Mural on the outside of the Kmart Building in Mount street last year. This year, we scoped out a run-down wall in need of some attention and, with a great deal from Direct Edge Equipment rentals, got to work on this cherry picker to bring Ariel’s work to new heights!
Why bother creating images on blank walls? I hear you say. Well, there is plenty of good research out there that tells us that street facades with plenty of activity and interest create greater feelings of wellbeing than those large empty wall spaces. So hopefully seeing a few empty walls spruced up in our CBD will make you want to stay a bit longer and visit more often!
Background of Burnie 2.0
In early 2020 we were invited by the Burnie City Council to undertake promotions for the City of Burnie to drive retail and visitation to the city. Following a thorough evaluation of the strengths and weaknesses of, opportunities for and threats to local retail and tourism businesses, we devised a plan to help reimagine, reinvigorate and revive Burnie CBD and beyond. Dubbed Burnie 2.0, it draws from Burnie’s successes and provides building blocks for making Burnie even better through innovative thinking, blue sky thinking, and, most importantly, budgeted practical actions.
We don’t just talk – we do.
Our role is to connect across a range of government, business, community and not-for-profit groups to pull together strategic project elements that will deliver. This is an evolving process driven by feedback from community members, retailers, business enterprises and council.
The first phase of the 2.0 projects is to create experiences that will anchor people to Burnie as a place to enjoy and stay overnight. Not just for visitors, but for the local citizens of Burnie and surrounds. The city needs to be a place that encourages community engagement, recreation and activity where both visitors and locals want to spend time.
The second phase of the 2.0 projects is to reinvigorate business and retail spaces, creating energy and vibrancy for Burnie locals and visitors. It should be a place that offers opportunities for entrepreneurship and community connections. Check out what’s happening in this space on our renew-burnie page.
The third phase of the 2.0 projects is to create awareness in our local cousins and visitors across the strait about Burnie through interstate and intrastate marketing and promotions.
The fourth phase of the 2.0 projects is to ensure constancy and ongoing vibrancy to support ongoing community, business wellbeing and economic prosperity. Our mindset is holistic – we believe the city reflects its people and its people reflect the city. Our projects must be good for the citizens of Burnie to be good for the City of Burnie.
Guiding all our work is the Burnie – City of Makers brand, which we believe should be thrown wider to include ALL makers, capturing the diversity of artisanal and industrial skill we have right here in Burnie.
Our vision is to see Burnie and its people revive and thrive. So we ask: what are YOU making?
Keep up to date with our activities on our Burnie 2.0 Facebook page and get in touch if you want to get involved. Drop in and see us in the Plaza Arcade shop 2-3, or send us an email.