<a href="https://www.apartments.com.au/developments/broadbeach-qld-4218">Broadbeach</a> offers plenty of reasons to live vertically, but moving from a substantial family home into an apartment can expose the compromises of high-density living. Privacy, room for guests and usable living space tend to matter more when an apartment is intended as a permanent home rather than an occasional coastal base.

A typical residential floor at <a href="https://www.apartments.com.au/new-apartments/the-eveleigh-broadbeach-7-9-surf-parade-broadbeach-qld-4218">The Eveleigh</a>, on Surf Parade,&nbsp;contains just four apartments. The 94-residence development by <a href="https://www.apartments.com.au/developers/hirsch-faigen">Hirsch &amp; Faigen</a> is predominantly made up of expansive three-bedroom homes, with a limited collection of half-floor penthouses above.

Across the apartment floors, <a href="https://www.apartments.com.au/architects/rothelowman">Rothelowman</a> has used the relatively limited number of residences to give each home greater access to natural light and outlook. Living spaces extend towards full-height glazing, while a series of bay windows frame selected views across the Pacific Ocean, city and hinterland rather than treating the building edge as a continuous wall of glass.

&nbsp;

[smartcode_project:default project_id=149670 project_image_fid=360965]

“The apartment floors deliver a collection of homes that embrace controlled outlook via a series of bay windows deliberately framing moments of view,” Rothelowman Director Kim Lowman said.

From outside, those projecting forms contribute to the tower’s faceted profile. Strong horizontal and vertical elements establish its proportions, while the changing position of the sun alters the light, shadow and reflection across the façade throughout the day.

The same attention moves inside the apartments, where the material palette combines warm timber, natural stone, metallic detailing and softer curved forms. Kitchens sit within the main living zone, with stone island benches, integrated joinery and European appliances, before the living areas extend towards the glazing and the outlook.

&nbsp;

[smartcode_project:default project_id=149670 project_image_fid=360981]

Three genuine bedrooms provide room to accommodate family and guests, while two secure car spaces and storage address some of the practical considerations that can become more noticeable when moving from a larger home. Feedback from the display suite has centred on the warmth and restraint of the interiors, with buyers commenting that the residences feel like homes rather than conventional coastal apartments.

A limited collection of half-floor penthouses occupies the upper levels, increasing the scale of the living spaces and adding private balconies and elevated finishes. From this position, the outlook extends between the ocean and hinterland.

Outside the private residences, The Eveleigh separates its shared spaces between the podium and rooftop. The podium is centred on wellness, with subtropical landscaping surrounding a swimming pool and pool terrace, yoga garden, private gymnasium, sauna and hot and cold plunge facilities. Landscaped retreats and pavilions provide additional places to sit away from the main recreation areas.

&nbsp;

[smartcode_project:default project_id=149670 project_image_fid=360966]

Higher in the building, a rooftop pavilion and private dining suite sit alongside resident lounge, barbecue and outdoor dining areas, opening towards panoramic views across the ocean, city and hinterland.

“Buyers are no longer just looking for an apartment, but a lifestyle where they can relax, reset, and enjoy a balanced way of living,” Hirsch &amp; Faigen Director of Sales Matt George said.

Interest to date has come from established owner-occupiers and interstate lifestyle purchasers, including buyers planning a future move to the Gold Coast. Many are coming from larger homes and want to reduce ongoing maintenance without giving up space for family and guests, privacy, two car spaces or the ability to entertain at home.

&nbsp;

[smartcode_project:default project_id=149670 project_image_fid=360969]

Much of that daily life can also take place beyond the building without requiring a drive. Kurrawa Beach and Pratten Park are an easy walk from Surf Parade, while Pacific Fair, Oracle Boulevard, The Oasis, restaurants, cafés, entertainment and public transport are also within walking distance.

The Eveleigh is Hirsch &amp; Faigen's fourth Gold Coast development since entering the market in 2021, following The Hemingway at Palm Beach, The Emerson at Kirra and Yves at Mermaid Beach. Each of the preceding projects sold out before completion.

“Broadbeach had been on our radar throughout our time operating on the Gold Coast,” the developer said. “Following our projects in Palm Beach, Kirra and Mermaid Beach, Broadbeach represented the natural next step for the business.”

The Surf Parade site brought together proximity to the beach, protected coastal outlooks and walkability to dining, shopping and recreation. Hirsch &amp; Faigen also identified the street as an emerging premium residential address, with enough separation from Broadbeach's busier destinations to retain a quieter environment at home.

The Eveleigh is now under construction by Maxcon, with completion forecast for mid-2028. Three-bedroom residences are currently available from $2.87 million.

[smartcode_project_cta:default project_id=149670]

Joel Robinson

The Eveleigh brings house-like apartments to Broadbeach

A long-stalled Campbelltown development site is back in play, with new plans for 139 apartments set to supersede a mixed-use scheme approved almost a decade ago but never built.

The new proposal for 28 Cordeaux Street would deliver 116 market and 23 affordable apartments in a part 14-storey building, bringing a substantial new project into a Campbelltown market where new apartment supply remains limited.

Plans have been filed over the 3,092 sqm corner site at Moore-Oxley Street, around 600 metres from Campbelltown Railway Station and the city-centre retail core.

The site already carries a mixed-use residential approval dating to 2016. Doroch Architects has now been engaged on a larger replacement scheme, which is progressing as a State Significant Development Application following a Housing Delivery Authority determination in August 2025.

The apartment mix comprises 39 one-bedroom, 72 two-bedroom and 28 three-bedroom residences. Two-bedroom apartments make up just over half of the project, while three-bedroom homes account for 20 per cent.

<img alt="First look: New 139-apartment plans revive long-stalled Campbelltown city centre site" data-entity-type="file" data-entity-uuid="136dd5b9-3791-4da6-9e31-76f533f5b4de" src="https://s3.ap-southeast-2.amazonaws.com/www.urban.com.au/s3fs-public/inline-images/Campbelltown%20da2.png?VersionId=LgOSy9nwf5u.MGswBBwaGGxuX8QpHSl_" />

Of the 139 apartments, 23 will be delivered as affordable housing under the in-fill affordable housing provisions of the Housing SEPP. The affordable component represents 15 per cent of the residential gross floor area and will be managed by a registered Community Housing Provider.

Doroch has sought to break the scale of the building into two distinct elements, with a masonry podium of around four storeys establishing the street edge before the residential tower steps back above.

The corner position has shaped that approach. Cordeaux Street faces toward the commercial and civic centre, while Moore-Oxley Street leads into the lower-scale residential neighbourhood to the south, and the design verification report describes the site as "bridging the commercial core to the north and established residential areas to the south."

The podium will be expressed predominantly in face brick, while the upper levels shift to brushed and grooved concrete cladding with darker metal detailing. Recessed sections, deep balcony edges and landscaping break down the upper form, with an approximately 11.8-metre setback to the northern boundary addressing the adjoining St Peters Anglican School.

<img alt="First look: New 139-apartment plans revive long-stalled Campbelltown city centre site" data-entity-type="file" data-entity-uuid="c8b3d2d3-c561-4bfc-a5d9-a68c0c10dac1" src="https://s3.ap-southeast-2.amazonaws.com/www.urban.com.au/s3fs-public/inline-images/Campbelltown%20da1.png?VersionId=AeAEyJU02Gk2k5noUj2StziCvdQ7fW4B" />

Campbelltown has been starved of new residential developments in the last decade.

The only other notable development set to come to market this year is ALAND's Queen Square, a mixed-use precinct on over two hectares that will comprise apartments above a vibrant ground-level retail and hospitality dining precinct.

First look: New 139-apartment plans revive long-stalled Campbelltown city centre site

First Look: Sherlock Construction pitches apartments for low-rise Deception Bay

Queensland builder-developer MAYD has revealed the first look at its major North Kirra beachfront development, lodging amended plans that reduce the number of apartments and increase the proportion of larger residences.

The project is planned across a substantial 4,742 sqm amalgamated site spanning seven lots at <a href="https://www.apartments.com.au/new-apartments/2-6-pacific-parade-bilinga-qld-4225">2-6 Pacific Parade</a> and 27-33 Golden Four Drive in Bilin​ga, directly opposite Nor​th Kirra Beach.

<a href="https://www.apartments.com.au/developers/mayd-group">MAYD</a> secured the site for $32.5 million in 2025, in what was one of the Gold Coast's largest property transactions of the year.

The development will be delivered across two stages, with the first stage carrying an estimated gross realisation value of around $360 million.

The latest amendments seek to reduce the overall apartment count and shift the project further toward the owner-occupier market, with larger residences designed for buyers wanting considerably more space than traditionally offered in a beachfront apartment.

The residential mix will include townhomes, oversized two-bedroom apartments, substantial three-bedroom residences and four-bedroom homes.

MAYD has appointed Cera Stribley to lead the architecture and interiors, with the Melbourne-based design practice drawing on the beachfront setting through a series of ocean-facing terraces and heavily landscaped balconies.

Strong horizontal forms and curved balconies will define the exterior, with subtropical landscaping integrated throughout the building to soften the built form and increase the connection between the residences and the beachfront.

The project will also include an extensive collection of resident wellness and lifestyle facilities, continuing the broader shift across the Gold Coast's luxury apartment market toward larger homes supported by resort-style amenity.

<img alt="MAYD" data-entity-type="file" data-entity-uuid="d1bcbb05-e659-4b47-8bd4-1e595315e2ad" src="https://s3.ap-southeast-2.amazonaws.com/www.urban.com.au/s3fs-public/inline-images/Screenshot%202026-08-27%20at%202.05.03%E2%80%AFPM.png?VersionId=jj0XEud1X1DuLt7_KyElhjMdZGOXmLHP" />

MAYD Founder Todd Mould said North Kirra was increasingly appealing to buyers attracted to the more established, lower-density character of the southern Gold Coast.

"North Kirra presents one of the most compelling luxury residential opportunities currently emerging in Australia, combining absolute beachfront with the character and authenticity that buyers are increasingly seeking, and the same sense of tight-knit community that defined Burleigh and Currumbin perhaps 10 or 15 years ago," Mould said.

"With Gold Coast Airport on its doorstep, it also offers a level of accessibility that broadens its appeal across almost every market demographic."

The project comes as the southern Gold Coast continues to attract an increasing share of high-end apartment development and buyer activity.

Kirra in particular has emerged as one of the region's more tightly held beachfront markets, with its relatively low-density character, established surf and hospitality scene and proximity to Gold Coast Airport differentiating it from the higher-density markets further north.

Mould said those characteristics had informed the approach MAYD and Cera Stribley had taken to the project.

"We've worked closely with Cera Stribley to create a vision that is deeply connected to its surroundings," he said.

"Inspired by the coastline itself, the architecture has been shaped around space, privacy and resort-style living, creating a collection of homes that reflects the next generation of luxury on the southern Gold Coast."

MOTIV Managing Director Carly Cottam, who has been appointed to market the project, said buyer attention had continued to move south along the Gold Coast.

"Purchasers who may once have defaulted to Broadbeach, Main Beach or Surfers Paradise are increasingly recognising the value of a genuine beachfront location that offers lower density, strong amenity and a more established sense of community," Cottam said.

"Kirra has a powerful combination of growing demand and genuine scarcity. Beachfront supply is inherently constrained, the area remains relatively low density, and buyers are increasingly placing a premium on locations that feel established, uncrowded and authentic rather than heavily developed."

Cottam said the proximity to Gold Coast Airport was also proving increasingly important for interstate and second-home buyers.

"Being minutes from Gold Coast Airport makes it particularly compelling for interstate buyers, frequent travellers and second-home purchasers who can access an authentic coastal lifestyle almost immediately after stepping off a flight."

The acquisition takes MAYD's active development portfolio to more than $500 million, with the North Kirra project representing one of its largest undertakings to date.

MAYD is targeting an early 2027 launch.

First look at MAYD's North Kirra mixed-use precinct

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Castle Hill, the longtime hub of the Hills District, has been one of the major beneficiaries of Sydney's Metro expansion, with improved connectivity helping drive continued population growth, development and buyer demand across the Hills District.

But despite that growth, the suburb has seen relatively few major new apartment projects brought to market over the past 18 months.

Hills District developer Reve Group is looking to fill that gap with <a href="https://www.apartments.com.au/new-apartments/nova-r-ve-castle-hill-2-garthowen-crescent-castle-hill-nsw-2154">Nova Rêve</a>, a major new mixed-use precinct on the corner of Garthowen Crescent and Old Castle Hill Road, a short walk from Castle Hill Metro Station and Castle Towers.

[smartcode_project:default project_id=152737 project_image_fid=377679]

The project will comprise three residential towers alongside a hotel, restaurants, cafes and a skybar, more than 1,600 sqm of ground-floor retail and almost an acre of landscaped gardens.

It represents the largest project undertaken by Reve Group, the development arm of the Kassis family, which has been building across the Hills District for more than 30 years through Kassis Homes.

[smartcode_project:default project_id=152737 project_image_fid=377675]

Nova Rêve also represents a significant step up from the family's first apartment development, Grand Rêve, which was delivered nearby on Garthowen Crescent.

Grand Rêve introduced larger, house-like apartment layouts and premium inclusions including Wolf and Sub-Zero appliances to the Castle Hill market.

Nova Rêve takes that approach to a precinct scale, combining the residential component with hospitality, retail and substantial public and resident landscaping.

[smartcode_project:default project_id=152737 project_image_fid=377685]

Reve Group Managing Director Sam Kassis said the project reflected the family's three decades of building in the Hills, which has evolved from trophy homes on quarter-acre blocks to larger-scale apartment development.

"Grand Rêve was our first apartment project here and it showed us what this pocket of Castle Hill could be. Nova Rêve is the refinement of that idea: not just apartments, but a place the whole suburb can use," Kassis said.

A key part of that approach is the hotel, which has been designed to operate as an amenity for the wider Castle Hill community rather than solely hotel guests.

It will include restaurants, cafes, skybars and all-day dining, alongside conference and event facilities catering to business functions, community groups and private events.

At ground level, more than 1,600 sqm of shops and cafes will open onto the surrounding streets and landscaped areas.

Almost an acre of gardens designed by Land and Form Studios will run through the precinct, incorporating pathways, seating, barbecue areas and children's play spaces.

[smartcode_project:default project_id=152737 project_image_fid=377680]

Reve Group's Romio Georges said creating an active ground plane had been central to the planning of Nova Rêve.

"There are gardens with pathways, barbecues, seating and play areas, shops and cafes opening onto the street, and a hotel with restaurants and a skybar that anyone in Castle Hill can walk into," Georges said.

The project's elevated position on one of Sydney's highest ridgelines will also provide apartments with outlooks toward the Sydney skyline, surrounding parkland and the Blue Mountains.

More than 80 per cent of the apartments will occupy corner positions, with Turner responsible for both the architecture and interiors.

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Nova Rêve arrives as Reve Group bets on Castle Hill's next growth phase

Australia Post is one of the country’s most trusted institutions, powering one of the largest delivery networks in Australia. As online shopping continues to scale, Australians spent a record $82.6 billion online in 2025, with nearly one in four retail dollars now spent online.

That scale of eCommerce activity has fundamentally changed expectations around how and when parcels arrive, and what happens when someone isn't home.

<h3>Problem solved with Parcel Lockers</h3>

The traditional alternatives to home delivery are far from ideal. Buildings can rely on reception teams to manage deliveries, which introduces ongoing staffing costs and liability concerns. Parcels can be left in common areas, which creates security and aesthetic issues. Or residents are redirected to nearby Post Offices for collection, which shifts the inconvenience rather than solving it.

<iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/dVG5ChLHf7E?si=D9hQRGCBuzlSQBqK" title="YouTube video player" width="560"></iframe>

The data behind that frustration is significant. Nationally, around 9 per cent of deliveries are carded, meaning the recipient was not home and must collect the parcel from a Post Office. That figure reflects the national average reported between November 2025 and January 2026. In Melbourne, that figure rises to 20 per cent. In high-density living, it climbs again to 28 per cent. In other words, more than one in four deliveries in Melbourne apartment buildings results in a failed first attempt.

<h3>How Parcel Lockers work</h3>

The mechanics are simple. When a parcel arrives, the resident receives a notification either through the Australia Post app or via SMS. They scan a QR code, use their one-time PIN and the compartment opens. The parcel is secure, accessible and removed from the lobby floor.

Located in thoughtfully chosen, easily accessible areas, including external building interfaces, mixed-use precincts or shared communal zones, Parcel Lockers enhance convenience without requiring internal building access or additional operational oversight.

<h3>The scale of the network</h3>

This expansion represents Australia Post's largest investment in parcel infrastructure to date, building on momentum that began in 2011 when the first 24 Parcel Locker sites were introduced.

Today the Australia Post Parcel Locker network spans over 1,400 locations and more than 105,000 individual compartments, with major investment already underway to significantly expand the network further.

<h3>What it means for developers and building operators</h3>

A Parcel Locker bank is free to install and free for residents to use. That removes one of the primary barriers to adoption and shifts the conversation from cost to integration.

Australia Post's preference is to engage with developers during the design phase. That allows Parcel Lockers to be located in a considered, publicly accessible space that works for residents and the broader community. Retrofit is possible, and existing buildings can be assessed, but the strongest results occur when Parcel Lockers are treated as part of the core services plan rather than a bolt-on solution.

While the iconic Australia Post red is widely recognised, Parcel Lockers can also be delivered in more muted palettes such as beige or green to align with architectural intent.

For developers, they offer a tech-forward amenity that meets modern expectations, a reduction in courier congestion and building-management load supporting lower emissions and better ESG outcomes, and a meaningful marketability advantage in high-density, eCommerce-active areas, all at no cost for installation and maintenance, with Australia Post funding the program aside from power access.

<h3>Who's using them</h3>

Generational shopping behaviours show strong, sustained growth across all cohorts. Millennials (27–43) led online spend in 2024, contributing nearly $25 billion. Baby Boomers (60–78) increased their online spend by 17.6 per cent, becoming the fastest-growing adopters. Gen Z (13–26) and Gen X (44–59) continue to lean on delivery services as part of their everyday shopping habits.

Internationally, uptake is even more pronounced. Overseas markets are seeing rapid adoption by both developers and consumers, positioning Parcel Lockers as standard infrastructure in many new residential projects. For Melbourne's development community, this signals a shift in baseline expectations. Just as secure bike storage and dedicated parcel rooms have become more common, integrated Parcel Locker networks may soon be viewed as part of the essential service mix.

<h3>The bigger picture</h3>

Parcel Lockers aren't just a logistics fix. Developers invest heavily in lobby design, materials, lighting and landscaping to shape first impressions. Yet a stack of unattended parcels can undo that effort in an instant. Embedding parcel infrastructure early allows projects to respond to how people actually live today, supporting resident satisfaction, reducing operational strain and aligning with broader community and ESG outcomes.

As Belinda Quinn, Senior Transaction Manager – Retail &amp; Out of Home at Australia Post, puts it, residents increasingly expect delivery solutions that align with real life, are flexible, secure and available whenever they need them.

How Australia Post is solving the parcel problem for apartment living

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GUEST OBSERVER
The package of reforms passed by the NSW Parliament are a step forward for the planning system in NSW but the detail resolution of the reforms could lead to some elements slowing planning applications down.
The big picture reforms that have gone through the NSW Parliament sound like progressive moves to lift strategic planning and get communities on board with planning decisions, but the detail could create more red tape rather that a more efficient system.
A focus on strategic planning is good but to require yet another planning document in the form of a 'local strategic planning statement’ could add significant time and could lead to different interpretations with Local Environmental Plans. By adding another layer we are concerned that this may make planning slower and more complicated.
The requirement that ‘Community Participation Plans’ are produced by each council sounds reasonable but the Urban Taskforce is concerned that these plans could lead to further delays for individual projects or they could encourage greater negativity to development.
We are concerned that there seems to be little guidance to councils on just what a ‘Community Participation Plan’ should include. There must be an acceptance of State Government housing targets, State Government infrastructure investment, Federal Government Immigration policies and the impact of these areas on the need to accommodate growth. There must also be a requirement that participation involves all of the community not just individual action groups and that participation is handled in a timely manner.
The regulations that support the new legislation must control all of these issues.
The inclusion of design quality as an objective in the act is a good move particularly as greater densities are likely and communities will be more supportive of well-designed environments. The roll of the NSW Government Architect in giving guidance on design quality is a good use of this position that has been an input to the built environment in NSW over 200 years.
The rationalisation of Development Control Plans (DCPs) into a standard format is a positive move that should be replicated with Community Participation Plans and Local Strategic Planning Statements. To allow each council to develop very different formats and requirements will only lead to a slower and more complicated planning system. The Urban Taskforce is seeing a lack of discipline in policy terms with housing affordability with multiple government agencies and multiple councils all having very different policies that are leading to a well-meaning but ultimately unsustainable planning system.
The reforms in the area of building certification will give greater community confidence in this process but we are concerned that certifiers are under so much scrutiny and must certify every step in the planning and building process that the practitioners in this area are finding the future of certifiers is limited.
The NSW Government must support this industry rather than continually add so many conditions that the industry is marginalised.
Another recent reform to the planning system in NSW has been the proposal to amend the definition of ‘bulky goods premises’ to make this definition less restrictive. This is a simple amendment which reflects the changing nature of retail in Australia. This kind of adaptiveness and flexibility should be adopted to other areas of the planning system
The Urban Taskforce supports reforms of the NSW planning system that simplify the process as this will reduce the cost of housing. Our concern is that a number of the recent reforms, while being popular with communities worried about future growth, will add more layers and red tape to the planning system which will end up lifting the cost of housing in NSW. We are keen to work with the NSW Government in ensuring that the detail of the planning reforms included in regulations do not turn well-meaning policies into excessive red tape. 
Chris Johnson is the Urban Taskforce CEO.
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NSW planning reforms could slow applications: Chris Johnson

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Victoria’s land sales boom continues in step with strong migration, with new research by Oliver Hume showing prices rising and new lot sales increasing by 2.1% in the last three months.
Melbourne land continues to be some of the hottest property in the country with new lots being snapped up in just around three weeks on average, down from nearly 200 days five years ago.
Median prices in metropolitan Melbourne’s growth areas rose by around a third, reaching over $292,000 in the September quarter 2017, according to Oliver Hume’s new Quarterly Market Report.
Meanwhile, lot sizes keep shrinking. The median size of a lot declined over the year to 414 sqm in the September quarter 2017 from 420 sqm in the September quarter 2016.
The research, which covers key land, apartment and development site markets in Victoria and South East Queensland, analysed thousands of transactions.
It showed around 6,800 land sales in the three months to the end of September across key markets in Victoria.
The median price of land in metropolitan Melbourne’s growth areas reached $292,650 in the third quarter, up 7.6% (or $20,650 from $272,000 in the June quarter of 2017.) 
Melbourne’s west remains the city’s major growth corridor with more than 50 active projects; the northern corridor had 38 active projects, while the south-east corridor had over 31 projects. 
Oliver Hume national head of Research George Bougias said Melbourne’s unprecedented population growth was driving the property market.
“The new property market continues to see considerable growth,” he said. “It is being driven by a range of demand and supply factors, especially record population growth and demographic change.
“Population growth via natural increase remains high and Victoria continues to attract an increasing number of overseas and interstate migrants. Importantly, many new migrants are now calling Melbourne’s growth area municipalities home.”
Victoria’s population rose by over 149,000 people in the year ending March 2017 with all components of population growth either at their peak or close to their previous peak.
<a href="https://www.propertyobserver.com.au/images/2017/11/15/AvgTimeonMkt.png" target="_blank">Click to enlarge</a>
<img src="https://www.urban.com.au/images/2017/11/15/AvgTimeonMkt.png" alt="">
Oliver Hume director Gerrard Ellis said land was attracting a wide variety of buyers including first home buyers, investors and value hunters from Sydney.
“Over the last couple of years, we have seen an ever-increasing number of people priced out of the Sydney market looking to set up their life in Melbourne,” he said. “If your job and family are transferrable, the decision is pretty simple.
“Melbourne is not just attracting locals either with roughly three out of every four buyers in Melbourne born overseas and one-in-five from India.” 
An analysis of buyers in the September quarter showed first home buyers (38%) remain the most active and together with second home buyers account for around 70% of all new land purchases.
Bougias said the medium and long-term outlook for land sale prices and volumes remained positive if population growth continued to remain robust.
“Metropolitan Melbourne could add over a million people in under a decade with the greenfields playing a critical role in accommodating this higher than expected population growth,” he said.
“The Melbourne greenfield market is nationally significant in accommodating Australia’s record growth in population.”
Bougias said the population of Melbourne would continue to grow strongly well into the future, and probably outstrip most official forecasts.
Except for the first quarter of 2015, the average time on market for new land lots has now fallen or remained steady in every quarter since the third quarter of 2013, after peaking in the current cycle at 6.6 months at the end of 2012.
The statistic measures the period from when a piece of land is released for sale by a developer until it is contracted by a purchaser.
 
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Victorian land sales soar as population grows fast: Oliver Hume

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The Sydney investment management firm KSI Investments has acquired 11.55 acres of land in Rossmore, in South-West Sydney which will be part of the Sydney Landbanking KSI Investment Fund.
The land is located 5 kilometres from the planned second airport at Badgerys Creek.
It is expected to accommodate between 110 to 140 houses once rezoned which is expected to occur over the next five to seven years. 
The deal, brokered by KSI Investments as an off market transaction includes two adjoining pieces of farm land.
It has been structured under an options contract with settlement to occur within the next six month. 
Robin Luo, CEO of KSI Investments says investing in landbanking has been traditionally limited to wealthy investors and property developers.
"However, KSI Investments has opened up this sector to retail investors via this Australian first, with a minimum of $2,000 investment under a retail managed fund structure,” Luo says.
The KSI Sydney Landbanking fund is a retail managed fund overseen by ASIC. 
KSI Investments has engaged Perpetual Australia Limited as custodian for the fund, named the Sydney Landbanking KSI Investment Fund.
The fund is able to accept investment from SMSF investors as well as private investors, companies and trusts.   
Using the investment registry services of DomaCom Limited, investors are able to trade units in the fund freely, meaning they have liquidity before the eventual land sale after rezoning occurs. 
KSI Investment, charge a 25% annual management fee and 20% performance fee on the eventual sale of the land.
<a href="https://www.domacom.com.au/public-crowdfunding-campaigns/rural-properties/badgerys-creek-land-banking/" target="_blank">DomaCom is working with KSI investments</a> to bring this Rossmore/Badgerys Creek land banking crowdfunding campaign to investors.
Once the land/campaign is acquired KSI have the skillset to manage the opportunity through subsequent phases of development to extract additional value.
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Residential landbanking crowdfunding opportunity in fringe Badgerys Creek farm

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A top executive of one of Australia’s biggest home builders has warned of a growing land affordability crisis in Sydney.
Chief executive of MJH Group Andrew Helmers said while the cost of construction was rising at between 6-9% per annum, lot prices were rising at annual rates of 40-50%.
"We don't have a housing affordability crisis, we have a land affordability crisis,” Helmers told Fairfax Media.
"All the major tier one developers are continuing to lift their prices with each new land release. The slowdown in prices in Sydney has not been felt in the land market."
He said MJH completed 2716 housing starts in the 2017 financial year up from 2199 in fiscal 2016 making it the fastest-growing builder in the country.
The company builds homes in NSW, Queensland, the ACT and Tasmania under a number of brands including McDonald Jones, MOJO Homes, Wilson Homes and Hayman Homes.
He noted building product manufacturers were operating at 100% capacity.
The Newcastle-based company recently reported a big boost in revenue it accounts filed with the corporate regulator for the year to June.
They show that MJH Group – previously called McDonald Jones Homes – saw revenue up 48% to $621 million from home building and land sales.
Its after-tax profits were up 55% to around $16 million.
The company sold a 40% stake to Japan's Asahi Kasei Homes in August.
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Sydney lot prices rising 40-50% annually: MJH Group 

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GUEST OBSERVER
It’s March 2018. A massive storm has hit Sydney’s northern beaches. Luckily no one is hurt, but the floodwaters take days to drain away and the economic impact is serious.
Reporters will tell the story over and over again: how much damage this torrential rain did. But where have we heard that before? Well, the list includes: both Queensland and New South Wales this year, Sydney in 2016, Gold Coast in 2015, Bundaberg in 2013, Queensland in 2012 and Brisbane in 2011.
We are starting to understand we will be hit by ever-increasing storms and floods. The risk is especially high in years when La Nina makes her appearance.
We also know good urban design can reduce the impacts.
Measures to soften the blow
Sydney’s Green Grid is planned to increase the resilience of the city and its residents against flooding and other climate impacts. The grid is designed to connect hydrological and ecological systems or, better, to reconnect these systems to boost their capacity to deal with sudden and severe impacts.
Spaces need to be created in the city for storing water during and directly after a flood. This will stop water from drowning people, flooding houses or destroying public property. These storages can take the form of water squares, temporary storage on ovals or parking areas, basins or gardens on rooftops, and swales along roads.
These measures are well known to be effective and together form an urban sponge system. All we need to do is to create more of these places to increase the capacity to take up water, then release it when safe to do so.
In every city certain areas play a crucial role in increasing, or not decreasing, water-storage capacity. These areas are on the edge of the waterscape and the cityscape. Increasing water storage here prevents bigger problems elsewhere.
What this means for Marrickville
If these places become built-up and can no longer effectively store floodwaters, the impact downstream is disastrous. Carrington Road in Sydney’s Marrickville is a prime example. This inner-city area flooded in 2012, leaving cars floating, houses flooded and people’s belongings lost or ruined.
The analysis and the facts are clear, even neatly mapped out by the New South Wales state government. No misunderstanding there. The safest option is not to build up this area.
<img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/192763/original/file-20171101-13406-1i4u642.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;fit=clip" alt="">
The flood-prone zone in Marrickville. NSW government, 2015
However, if Sydney wants to become a global city, we need to get used to urban environments with higher densities – these have all kinds of advantages. Immediate benefits include better public transport, higher level of amenities and proximity to a dynamic economic environment which generates jobs for the local population. Higher density also prevents occupation of green spaces outside the city and unnecessarily long commuting times for people housed even further away from the city.
This means no densification of existing neighbourhoods is a poor option. However, a proposal to build 20 buildings with 2,600 units in the flood-prone zone in Marrickville has raised eyebrows.
The local council is opposing the “monstrous” scale of the development. The state Labor opposition has joined the battle against this “mega-apartment project”.
But much of the opposition is not for the right reasons. The Inner West Council’s Carrington Road area planning proposal seems to prioritise density over flood risk. When the Cooks River overflows again, as it will, the floods will be even more severe.
Planning should be aiming to create a symbiotic situation, in which a higher-density development and flood mitigation are complementary. The challenge is to marry two seemingly contrasting ambitions: to increase density and yet not increase the vulnerability to floods.
Well-structured density makes all the difference
To achieve this, the first consideration would be to see the area as a flood reservoir where water can temporarily be stored. If this reservoir is then also used to clean rain runoff and grey water from the apartment buildings, it would function as a green space, water treatment and flood remediation space all at once.
What if one large natural wetland could be created, which could capture the water from the Cook River during a flood, but could also clean the rain and grey water from the buildings? The new buildings would not have to suffer from hazards such as flooding because the site design has anticipated the risk.
As an example, imagine a Borneo-Sporenburg type of setting in which the water space surrounds the built-up area. Even with mostly low-rise housing, the development could still reach a high density of around 150 dwellings per hectare.
Applied to Carrington Road, this would imply around 1,200 dwellings can be built in a low-rise setting. Adding two internal superblocks to this development would create another 500 units and only one high-rise building (instead of 20) would then be needed to make it to 2,600 dwellings in the whole development.
The new neighbourhood could form a very sustainable, almost circular system in which waste water, waste heat and waste materials could all be reused for the apartments and dwellings, and in the wetland reservoir. This way the wetland becomes an attractive green space for residents to use. It’s then a green space that not only accommodates the eventual flood, but also regulates the temperature of the urban environment, creating cooler places in summer.
<img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/86608/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1">An interesting milieu could emerge here. If the buildings were built on stilts and lifted above the reservoir, wildlife, ecology and water could exist undisturbed under and around the buildings. The result would be a flexible infill development that preserves green and public space, and which is ready for extreme weather or climate conditions.
Rob Roggema, Professor of Sustainable Urban Environments, University of Technology Sydney
This article was originally published on <a href="https://theconversation.com" target="_blank">The Conversation</a>. Read the <a href="https://theconversation.com/higher-density-in-a-flood-zone-heres-a-way-to-do-it-and-reduce-the-risks-86608" target="_blank">original article</a>.
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How to reduce the risks higher density in a flood zone: Rob Roggema

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GUEST OBSERVER
Governments at all levels invest a lot in greening Australian suburbs. Yet, in a <a href="https://202020vision.com.au/help-hub/the-research-hub/detail/?id=4059">recent report</a>, we show that the greening efforts of most of our metropolitan local governments are actually going backwards.
This is a puzzle, as greening has clear environmental and economic benefits. The environmental benefits are obvious and relatively easy to count. For private home owners, numerous studies have linked greening to a range of economic benefits from <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S036013231400081X">energy savings</a> to <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0921800916303585">higher house prices</a>.
So how do we explain the loss of green cover?
How we tracked the changes
Our research aimed to assess urban greening efforts and what accounts for the gains and losses.
Based on <a href="https://canopy.itreetools.org/">i-Tree</a>, a well-known method for sampling urban vegetation distributions and associated land covers, we compared 2016-17 figures with an early assessment that ranged from <a href="https://202020vision.com.au/news/2014/08/where-are-all-the-trees/">2008 to 2013</a> to examine changes in vegetation cover by local government area.
The report shows that large variation exists nationally in the growth and loss of tree canopy. Losses and gains can often be explained, however, by the changing nature of urban vegetation as neighbourhoods are transformed over time.
For example, in the graph highlighting the extent of tree canopy cover change for metropolitan local governments, Glenorchy in Tasmania shows the greatest tree canopy loss between 2008 and 2015 (more than 15 percentage points). Yet a gain in shrub area of more than 12% largely offset this canopy loss.
Similarly, Armadale in Western Australia gained more than 12% of tree canopy cover between 2011 and 2015 but lost more than 15% of shrub cover.
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/187683/original/file-20170926-13681-19lexk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=1000&amp;fit=clip"><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/187683/original/file-20170926-13681-19lexk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;fit=clip" alt=""></a>
Loss of canopy from 2008-2013 to 2016 for all 139 metropolitan local government areas. (To see more detail in the report itself, go to <a href="https://202020vision.com.au/help-hub/the-research-hub/detail/?id=4059" target="_blank">Where should all the trees go?</a>)
Metropolitan local governments in Australia are very diverse in size and land use. The largest in our study, Cairns Regional Council in Queensland, is 1,500 times the area of the smallest, Peppermint Grove in inner-city Perth.
Some local government areas are dominated by non-urban land uses. This means natural processes such as bushfires, drought and forest regrowth are going to significantly affect greening efforts. Others are going to be affected by urban densification and housing growth.
Understanding greening efforts as a function of canopy loss alone is problematic for some local governments. Instead, a more appropriate measure may be the total change in urban greenery (canopy, shrubs and turf) between the two study periods. These results show that 54 out of the 139 local governments (39%) studied had suffered statistically significant losses in total green space.
Added up across Australia’s major metropolitan regions, this amounts to vegetation loss of 2.6% in our urban environments. This doesn’t like sound much, but it is equivalent to 1,586 square kilometres – a larger area than the City of Brisbane.
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/187688/original/file-20170926-10403-pow3qw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=1000&amp;fit=clip"><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/187688/original/file-20170926-10403-pow3qw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;fit=clip" alt=""></a>
Loss of total green space (canopy, shrubs and turf) from all 139 metropolitan local government areas. Red indicates a statistically significant loss to 95% certainty.
What explains this decline?
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/186122/original/file-20170915-8984-1xgw968.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=1000&amp;fit=clip"><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/186122/original/file-20170915-8984-1xgw968.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=237&amp;fit=clip" alt=""></a>
New developments across Perth show densification in selected locations. WA Land Information Authority (2016)/Alex Saunders (2017)
The location of many of the local government areas suffering more than 5% loss in green space provides clues to the types of processes driving this loss. For example, Newcastle in New South Wales lost 8.5% of its green space during our study period largely due to losses in grass cover as a result of greenfield development.
Yet, in inner-city Ashfield, the infill development of once-vegetated lands continues apace, with grass-to-hard-surface conversions accounting for most of its 7.3% loss of green space.
In some cases, local government areas are undergoing losses in a similar location. For example, the areas with the greatest losses in green space across Perth lie in a band that stretches from inland Melville to coastal East Fremantle. In these locations, the traditional Aussie backyard is losing ground to densification and infill.
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/185078/original/file-20170907-14552-1fj1m9h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=1000&amp;fit=clip"><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/185078/original/file-20170907-14552-1fj1m9h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;fit=clip" alt=""></a>
An example of changes in Melville, suburban Perth, between 2011 and 2017. Google Maps
How do our cities compare?
In recent years, interest in benchmarking exercises such as these has increased internationally. In the US in 2012, David Nowak and others examined the <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1618866711000999" target="_blank">growth and decline in vegetation cover</a> for 20 cities using the i-Tree methodology. US cities showed significant variability in combined tree and shrub canopy cover (54% for Atlanta to 10% in Denver).
The good news is that Greater Melbourne and Adelaide, both with 24% tree and shrub cover, perform better than the lowest values for the US cities. And Hobart’s shrub and tree cover of 57% is higher than Atlanta’s.
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/186124/original/file-20170915-8998-15aodkr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=1000&amp;fit=clip"><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/186124/original/file-20170915-8998-15aodkr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;fit=clip" alt=""></a>
Benchmarks for land cover in Australian capital cities 2016-17. Where should all the trees go?/Marco Amati
Yet within Australian cities the variability is pronounced. Canopy covers range from 77% (Yarra Ranges, Vic) to 3% (Wyndham, Vic).
The US urban forest is also subject to natural forces like Australia’s. New Orleans lost the largest amount of canopy cover (10%) as the study period included the damage inflicted by Hurricane Katrina.
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/185081/original/file-20170907-14552-ipwn2y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=1000&amp;fit=clip"><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/185081/original/file-20170907-14552-ipwn2y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=237&amp;fit=clip" alt=""></a>
 In the 1940s even cement companies were friends of the backyard. Source: The Australian Home Beautiful, October 1943
Yet, when considering the downward trend in greening, it is the historical comparison that is the most striking. The backyard was once an icon of the lifestyle enjoyed by generations of Australians growing up after the second world war.
<img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/83354/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1">If the downward trend in green cover continues, should the Australian backyard be red-listed as a threatened species?
Marco Amati, Associate Professor of International Planning, Centre for Urban Research, RMIT University.
Alex Saunders, GIS Specialist, Centre for the Built Environment and Health, University of Western Australia.
Bryan Boruff, Senior Lecturer, School of Agriculture and Environment, University of Western Australia.
Drew Devereux, Research Scientist, Data 61, CSIRO.
Kath Phelan, Research Fellow, Centre for Urban Research, RMIT University.
Peter Caccetta, Research Scientist, CSIRO
This article was originally published on <a href="https://theconversation.com">The Conversation</a>. Read the <a href="https://theconversation.com/were-investing-heavily-in-urban-greening-so-how-are-our-cities-doing-83354">original article</a>.
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Why are our urban greening efforts going backwards?

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GUEST OBSERVER
The fourth <a href="https://aussiebirdcount.org.au/" target="_blank">Aussie Backyard Bird Count</a> has just ended, with nearly 2 million birds from 635 species submitted to the BirdLife Australia app. The count, which is in its fourth year, has created a national database of birds found in our backyards.
We don’t know yet exactly how many people participated this year, but more than 60,000 people submitted checklists in 2016. Participants span the whole country, though participation is highest in our urban areas. By surveying our backyards (rather than “good” bird spots), these citizen scientists provide ecologists – like me – with information from urban areas we would not otherwise sample.
This includes data on a range of common bird species that are not frequently analysed because these species are believed to be secure. One of the most surprising results is a decline in the frequency of occurrence of the laughing kookaburra across southeast Australia.
Counting birds
Everyone has a bird story – and fortunately for ecologists, everyone is willing to share them. With 85% of Australia’s population living in cities and towns, birds are an important connection to our natural environment.
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/192541/original/file-20171031-18711-13owlfd.PNG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=1000&amp;fit=clip"><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/192541/original/file-20171031-18711-13owlfd.PNG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=237&amp;fit=clip" alt=""></a>
Source: BirdLife Australia
But birds are also <a href="https://www.bioone.org/doi/abs/10.2326/osj.9.3?journalCode=jorn" target="_blank">good environmental indices</a>. They’re generally easy to measure, they respond quickly to environmental change and we know a reasonable amount about the ecology of most species.
Between 1998 and 2014, BirdLife Australia volunteers collected a significant amount of data. This was used to develop a terrestrial bird index in 2015 – a bird “Dow Jones” to track our biodiversity. It was here that the decline in kookaburras was first identified.
The data were drawn from BirdLife Australia’s ongoing atlas project, now called <a href="https://birdata.birdlife.org.au/" target="_blank">Birdata</a>. However, there are biases in this data set, as people obviously like to go birdwatching where they will see more birds. This may inflate the frequency of encountering some species and decrease the chances of encountering others – particularly rare and cryptic species.
For the last four years, we’ve asked volunteers to add to this data by counting birds around their home for a week in October, when many birds are highly active and visible. These counts complement the data already available in Birdata by allowing access to backyards across Australia, which are generally poorly represented in the larger data set.
While there are still limitations in the Backyard Bird Count data, such as the risk of mis-identification, for common species like the laughing kookaburra we can generally be confident that the identification is correct. Even if the same bird is counted multiple times, our models report only a species’ presence or absence, so inflated numbers don’t affect the trend.
Are kookaburras really declining?
The below figures show modelled trends for the kookaburra across metropolitan Melbourne and Sydney. These figures are derived from the volunteer-collected Birdata, much of which comes from green spaces and remnant vegetation in these landscapes.
I wondered whether these declines are true changes in the populations, or reflect a change in the way kookaburras are using the landscape, possibly moving into the matrix of urban backyards that just don’t get surveyed. Looking solely at the backyard count data, I found similar trends in the reporting rates of kookaburras as those in the models, supporting that this decline is at the population level. What started out in 2014 as a way of engaging the broader community with their birds is now collecting useful ecological data.
Further exploration of the ABBC data across other capital cities found some interesting things. In both Perth and Hobart, where the kookaburra is considered an introduced species, the birds are recorded more frequently than in Melbourne and across the ACT. In Perth, increases in 2016 compared to previous years suggest an increase in the species there.
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/192539/original/file-20171031-18700-ecicwi.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=1000&amp;fit=clip"><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/192539/original/file-20171031-18700-ecicwi.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;fit=clip" alt=""></a>
Modelled trends for Kookaburras from 1998-2014. Source: Unpublished models/K. Herman/BirdLife Australia, Author provided
The figure on the left is for Melbourne, and on the right is for Sydney. The reporting rate shows the percentage of surveys where kookaburras were recorded as present. The thick black line is the modelled trend (with confidence intervals in dashed line), the pink line shows the statistically significant linear trend, the thin black line shows the monthly calculated reporting rate, and the green spots show acceleration (or a favourable change) in the trend. Note that due to modelling method, the ends of figures tend to blow out as there is no data from which to predict trend.
While three years does not make a trend, Aussie Backyard Bird Count data from heavily urbanised areas suggest we are seeing a decline in this iconic species in the eastern capitals. Likely reasons for this are the loss of nesting hollows and possibly reductions in the availability of prey as we increasingly modify our urban landscapes. We don’t really know as this is not an area that has been researched.
We need citizen scientists
Collecting enough data (especially from the backyards of towns and cities) to detect these kinds of changes can be an overwhelming task. This is where citizen science programs like the Aussie Backyard Bird Count can help.
As well as helping ecologists track large-scale biodiversity trends, it also gives people the chance to connect with their natural environment and gain a greater appreciation of our unique fauna.
As with all citizen science projects, there are limitations in the data being collected. However, the Backyard Bird app has been designed to make counting as simple and standardised as possible, providing confidence in the tally of common and “iconic” species, and filling in the gaps found in other data sets.
The good old kookaburra is neither rare or cryptic. If anything, if people are seeking out “good” bird habitat to survey we would expect that kookaburras would be one of those species subject to inflated reporting. But this is not what we encountered.
<img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/86469/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1">If we are starting to see declines in species that we have traditionally considered secure, what does this mean for those that are already at risk? Once all the data from the Aussie Backyard Bird Count have been collated and vetted we will continue to explore the developing trends in Australia’s urban birds. Increasing engagement and awareness in our communities can help ensure our backyard birds are still around to count next year.
Kerryn Herman is a research ecologist at Deakin University.
This article was originally published on <a href="https://theconversation.com" target="_blank">The Conversation</a>. Read the <a href="https://theconversation.com/citizen-scientists-count-nearly-2-million-birds-and-reveal-a-possible-kookaburra-decline-86469" target="_blank">original article</a>.
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Counting birds sheds new light on our cities: Kerryn Herman

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Chinese developer Dahua Group have launched the first stage of their Sutherland Shire boutique estate, The Ridgeway.
The first 13 blocks of land within the 14 hectare Barden Ridge development that sits opposite the landscape-designed The Ridge Golf Course range in size from 550 sqm and are priced from $800,000.
Stage one is being marketed as The Linden Release, named after the native trees within the estate.
The whole project near the Royal National Park will total 133 lots and will retain a large portion of the native bushland on the site.
It includes a small forest of native Turpentine trees.
<img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/dz9xllyip/image/fetch/c_scale,w_580,q_auto:good/https://s3-ap-southeast-2.amazonaws.com/po.images/2017/11/2/Dahua3.jpg" alt="">
Dahua Group Sales Director Lili Shang said Dahua was thrilled to be launching a new boutique estate to the Sydney market with a unique and rare opportunity to secure land in the highly sought-after Sutherland Shire. 
“The Ridgeway is an exclusive opportunity to secure private, tranquil land set within a national park, with a full-size council-owned golf course located opposite the site, as well as excellent amenity nearby,” Shang said.
“We’ve had a number of local upsizing families who have been patiently waiting to secure a block of land upon which they plan to build their dream family home.  
“As the first blocks to be released in the estate, these will not take long to sell largely due to the sheer rarity of land available in the Sutherland Shire.”
Dahua Group bought the site from the Gandangara Local Aboriginal Land Council.
For more information on The Ridgeway, <a href="https://www.theridgeway.com.au/" target="_blank">click here</a>.
 
 
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jrobinson-rf4aSBido9

Dahua Group launches Sutherland Shire land release at  The Ridgeway

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Major universities across Australia are installing ‘greenwalls’, which involved wrapping facades of buildings with plants, in an attempt to improve concentration levels and promote overall wellbeing.
The Greenwall Company, which has pioneered the greenwall, uses design techniques across both residential and commercial projects. 
It has worked with a number of universities, including The University of QLD and La Trobe University, to design and install their patented greenwall technology. 
Mark Paul, horticulturist and founder of The Greenwall Company, said studies have proved the benefits of greening community spaces, one of which is improved concentration levels. 
“Over the past three years we have been working closely with a number of universities to create bespoke designs to work within the architecture of the buildings,” Paul said. 
 <img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/dz9xllyip/image/fetch/c_scale,w_580,q_auto:good/https://s3-ap-southeast-2.amazonaws.com/po.images/2017/10/25/LaTrobeGreenwall.jpg" alt="">
A study by Dr Kate Lee from the University of Melbourne revealed that glancing out at a greenroof for only 40 seconds boosts concentration. 
Beyond the increase in concentration levels, greenwalls help to improve air quality, are aesthetically appealing, lower power bills and even act as an insulator. 
In 2013, The University of Queensland introduced their new Global Change Institute Building, which features The Greenwall Company’s unique greenwalls as the key design feature and achieved a six green star rating. 
A 70 sqm panelled greenwall was installed over the air- conditioning vent. This formed part of the air filtration system, allowing the greenwall to clean and purify the air. 
The greenwall design also included a pond of native rainbow fish with waterplants and a vertical wetland to strip nutrients from the pondwater — a simple ecological system. 
More recently, The Greenwall Company have completed the installation of a greenwall at La Trobe University in Melbourne. 
The Healthsciences building features a mainly native planting covering 20 sqm.
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Greenwalls to improve the concentration and wellbeing of university students 

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A display village set to be the Gold Coast's largest will soon be opening its doors.
The $500 million Villawood Properties community at Helensvale, known as The Surrounds, features a total of 31 homes from 10 leading builders.
Aston Milan, GJ Gardners, McCarthy Homes, McDonald Jones, Metricon, Plantation Homes, Porter Davis, Simonds Homes and Stylemaster have all contributed.
The Surrounds set on the former Gold Coast Country Club will cover more than 60 hectares and will have around 620 residences.
The four and five bedroom homes are a mix of single and double-storey layouts.
Many will have state of the art kitchens and bathrooms, his and hers walk in wardrobes, media rooms and open plan living areas opening to alfresco spaces.
<img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/dz9xllyip/image/fetch/c_scale,w_580,q_auto:good/https://s3-ap-southeast-2.amazonaws.com/po.images/2017/10/23/GC2.jpg" alt="">
There will be 20 hectares of green space, including a central park, playground and a leisure centre with a gym, pool and cafe.
Villawood Properties executive director Tony Johnson said leading builders had shown enthusiasm to display their new home designs at The Surrounds, not only demonstrating confidence in the community, but also the region’s housing market.
“Builders have been attracted to The Surrounds for many of the same reasons as buyers: it’s a location that is unrivalled given its accessibility and the associated benefits of the surrounding amenities, infrastructure and public transport,” he said.
“Our builders will be showcasing their innovative, contemporary homes, designed for the Queensland lifestyle by maximising indoor and outdoor entertaining spaces.  The designs place a high emphasis on quality living by delivering space for everyone in the family to live and grow. 
To find out more <a href="https://www.thesurrounds.com.au" target="_blank">click here</a>.
 
 
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