NEWS
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Luxurious Sustainability: The Orchard Case Study
Located in Brisbane’s inner-north, The Orchard at Arana Hills delivers 77 townhomes designed for homeowners, with sustainability in mind. The use of eco-conscious technologies, coupled with landscaping and architectural design, results in a project well-equipped for the future. Fruit trees, EV charging, solar systems, and native bee hives are some of the features from The […]
Restoring Natural Habitat: Riverwalk Case Study
When complete, Riverwalk will feature approximately 2,600 homes, two schools, a town centre, 20 hectares of open space and three signalised intersections to improve local traffic flows. Riverwalk has was awarded EnviroDevelopment certification in all six areas of water, ecosystems, community, waste, materials, and energy. Riverwalk sits on a site that was subject to regular […]
Hub Heathwood: Sustainable, Central and South-After
Proximity to the Heathwood Logistics Estate, together with significant recent infrastructure upgrades to the nearby Ipswich Motorway, conveniently places the development just 26 minutes to Ipswich CBD or 28 minutes to the Brisbane Airport. Designed by Colliers Engineering with civil construction by SEE Civil, Hub Heathwood will comprise 24 light industry sites ranging from 5,000 […]
Intertwining Life and Nature: Ellarook Estate Case Study
A range of recreation opportunities present strong linear corridor connections via waterways and the Skeleton Creek corridor into a broader regional landscape. Streets are generously planted with canopy trees to create cool, inviting places to play and live outdoors whilst the generous allocation of open space connects seamlessly between streets to provide an integrated network […]
Machine Learning and its relationship to climate change mitigation
Content provided by David Moret from DPM Consulting Group Flood impact and risk assessments are critical reviews which need to be analysed to decrease and mitigate damages to people, community, and infrastructure. The recent flooding events in New South Wales and Queensland have shown how our environment is becoming increasingly susceptible to the impacts of […]
Award Winning North Harbour creating a sustainable community
Environmental excellence is at the heart of the vision North Harbour has been designed to deliver. Achievement of all six elements in EnviroDevelopment demonstrates the commitment North Harbour has made to achieving environmentally sustainable development. Historically, the North Harbour site was significantly degraded because of previous land uses, including 40 years of pine plantation forestry. […]
Prioritising Trees: Orana Case Study
Orana By Balcon Group in Clyde North, Victoria is a masterplanned community designed in conjunction with Verve Projects with the intensive goal to increase tree canopy, providing residents with a green environment to live in where they can spend time with their loved ones and connect with the nature around them, and their homes. Orana […]
Mosaic’s Considered Approach to Sustainability
Mosaic Property Group is incredibly conscious of the footprint they leave behind, not just on communities but also on the environment. As a private developer, they are one of the most advanced in their genuine commitment to sustainability, particularly considering their size and scale. As a certified 6-Leaf EnviroDevelopment, The Patterson by Mosaic in Toowong […]
Inflation and Sustainability
Written by Marcus Brown, Bull & Bear Economics As we all learnt in the Federal election, the annual rate of inflation as at the March quarter of 2022 had reached 5.1 percent (or 3.7 percent if adjusted for volatile movements). Over the past 12 months, fuel prices have increased from $1.60 per litre to as […]
Delivering a zero-emission neighbourhood
Songbird Oxley, an EnviroDevelopment certified project in Brisbane, Queensland, is being delivered as one of Queensland’s first zero-emission communities. What does this mean? The energy harnessed from each home will be greater than the energy used by the households that live in them. In addition, to amplify this effect, all homes will be grid connected […]
Testimonials
With multiple new greenfields developments springing up around the area, Vista Park has relied on its main assets to set the pace and lead from example in this increasingly competitive market. One of which was the decision to become fully certified with EnviroDevelopment, where Vista Park was one of the first in NSW to achieve this level of accreditation and proudly boasts full certification on all three of its precincts. Carrying on from his grandfather’s legacy setup over 50 years ago, Sheargold Managing Director, Michael Sheargold, says of the EnviroDevelopment certification ‘We see our jobs not to simply provide place for a home to be built on but to create an inspiring space where people want to live and enjoy a good quality of life. It’s our responsibility as developers to create spaces like this with the least amount of impact on the environment as possible and to educate and hopefully inspire our residents in sustainable living.’
Michael Sheargold
Sheargold, Managing DirectorMosaic recognises the importance of reducing its impact on the environment. We are committed to the principles of sustainability, implementing initiatives in support of environmental improvement and ecological development in all our projects. The EnviroDevelopment system offers us a high level framework that encourages the design and construction of better buildings and it’s a system that Mosaic wholeheartedly believes in and uses as a benchmark to design by. We have found the benefits of certification are ongoing, with the strong environmental focus resonating with our local and direct buyers who find the long-term savings a compelling reason to buy.
Brook Monahan
Mosaic Property GroupEnviroDevelopment provides Intrapac Property with a tool to systematically assess and implement or improve the infrastructure and services we provide for our customers, partners and community members. Achieving and maintaining the EnviroDevelopment Certificate for the duration of our projects helps verify to our partners and customers that we are creating high quality, inspiring, liveable neighbourhoods.
Bill Knobel
Intrapac PropertyOne of Villawood Properties core values is sustainability, so we see great merit in the UDIA’s EnviroDevelopment program as a means to quantify and communicate our efforts in this domain. Where other organisations had introduced tools and reward systems to recognise developers for sustainable initiatives, there wasn’t anything that suited the land industry. The EnviroDevelopment program fills this gap, by providing a framework to recognise land developers efforts across six domains of sustainability: in creating sustainable ecosystems with native biodiversity; waste reduction and more efficient use of resources; reducing pollution caused by non-renewable energy sources; environmentally responsible material usage; improved water use efficiency; and ultimately the delivery of vibrant, cohesive, healthy, happy, adaptable, sustainable communities. The importance our younger generation places on sustainability, has translated as a positive influence on their parents’ awareness and behaviours. We’re seeing a multigenerational shift, whereby people are seeking more sustainable options in building their home and considering the sustainability credentials of communities before they buy. The EnviroDevelopment program provides a vehicle for these buyers, and the industry at large, to recognise projects and estates that have gone the extra mile to minimise impact of development, while maximising positive sustainability outcomes.
Villawood Properties
At Dacland we believe that being committed to delivering environmentally sustainable communities should be ‘a given’ in our industry. It’s easy to say you are committed, but it’s harder to follow through without utilising a framework to assist delivery and hold you to account. The UDIA EnviroDevelopment certification is the ideal platform for the urban development industry to utilise in order to implement basic and complex sustainability initiatives at limited to no cost to the project and purchasers. Sustainability is not only about responsible use of resources and protecting ecosystems, but creating healthy, happy and cohesive communities, which requires thought leadership and socially responsible design. We believe the framework that EnviroDevelopment provides over each of the six elements is an ideal resource for our industry to educate and demonstrate that sustainability can be both easy to deliver and beneficial to all.
Jonathon Fetterplace
DaclandIn the days before EnviroDevelopment, very little consideration was given to sustainability initiatives in the development of residential subdivisions and communities. EnviroDevelopment has changed this significantly through increasing awareness of sustainability across the development sector, and through the promotion of positive case study examples. This has helped to mainstream many initiatives and motivate people to create a point of difference in their project by trying something new and different in support of an EnviroDevelopment application. "It is interesting to observe that many of the projects now receiving UDIA awards are EnviroDevelopment certified projects. So, what I’ve seen is a real progression over time of projects improving their sustainability outcomes, first in relation to the common and public spaces, and in more recent times extending to an influence over the design and performance of homes and other buildings in a development. I look forward to seeing even more progress towards truly sustainable outcomes over the next 10 years.
Ben de Waard
Sustainable Development ConsultantsMelbourne Water values the EnviroDevelopment program because it contributed to enabling wetlands and waterways to be appreciated and enjoyed by the community for passive recreation and amenity use.
Olivia Vincent
Melbourne WaterEcology and Heritage Partners have been proud sponsors of the Ecosystems element of EnviroDevelopment in Victoria for a number of years. During that time I personally served on the Board and have experienced first-hand the integrity of the program, and the dedication of the people involved to raising sustainability standards in the urban development industry. EnviroDevelopment fills a valuable role in the promotion of quality, sustainable development in Australia and we look forward to seeing it continue to grow and make a positive difference.
Aaron Organ
Ecology and Heritage PartnersHaving worked with the development industry for over 15 years, I appreciate the significant role the industry plays in shaping our city and communities. I know that most of the businesses and individuals in the industry are very aware of making urban places livable and healthy places for families and business. EnviroDevelopment is a way of recognising developments with a serious commitment to sustainability and community. It’s also a source of guidance to developers who wish to make this extra commitment. I am pleased to be part of the Envirodevelopment Board in Victoria and its ongoing success.