Edith Cowan University (ECU), including WAAPA, is relocating from its Mount Lawley campus in early 2026 to the Perth CBD next to Yagan Square, as part of the Perth City Deal. For information about ECU’s new city campus, visit ECU | Our campuses : About ECU

Teaching begins at the new ECU City campus in Semester 1 2026, and ECU will continue to finalise the closure of the Mount Lawley facilities over the course of 2026.

The relocation opens up a rare opportunity to transform the Mount Lawley site into a vibrant new precinct that will include housing, education, public spaces, and community facilities. The redevelopment will honour the site’s cultural and educational legacy while reflecting the unique character of the surrounding neighbourhood.

ECU will continue managing the Mount Lawley site as they progressively vacate the campus buildings throughout 2026. During this transition, there will likely be access restrictions to parts of the campus.

At the same time, DevelopmentWA will continue to advance planning for the site and undertaking on-site investigations.

ECU and its services will leave the campus during 2026, with the site planned to return to the State for redevelopment in December 2026.

Mount Lawley Child Care Centre will continue operating until then (December 2026). ECU and DevelopmentWA have kept the Centre closely informed throughout project planning and the transition process.

Early planning confirmed the Centre cannot remain in its current location due to site constraints and the scale of redevelopment works, and it is therefore not shown on the future plans for the site.

Looking ahead, we anticipate that childcare will remain a permissible land use and could be included as part of the new development in later stages of the project.

This will depend on whether buyers of the commercial spaces have the appetite to develop a childcare centre and if there’s enough community need at the time.