A design for a $7.9 million Acton Peninsula memorial has been scrapped.
The National Capital Authority is establishing a national memorial for victims-survivors of institutional child sexual abuse.
The authority ran a national design competition in 2021.
However technical assessments on the winning design by architects Jessica Spresser and Peter Besley revealed "complex construction challenges", the Department of Social Services said.
The design was chosen by former chair of the five-year Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse Peter McClellan alongside a jury of victims- survivors and design industry professionals.
The architects told The Australian they were "blindsided" by the termination.
The new "creative and trauma informed" memorial is expected to commence in 2025 and completed in 2026.
The Australian government promised a further $1.1 million toward the memorial in the last federal budget.
The National Capital Authority has also committed an additional $300,000 in funding to support the design selection process.
Total administered funding so far is $7.9 million.
The authority said they have opened a tender for design consultants to help "remind future generations to be ever vigilant in protecting our children".
The memorial will "provide an enduring place for reflection and recognition for victims, survivors and those that support them."
"The preferred design will acknowledge victims and survivors of institutional child sexual abuse in a sensitive and respectful manner," the authority said.
The National Capital Authority, the Department of Social Services and the National Memorial Advisory Group, which includes people with lived experience, will evaluate responses to the tender.
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