An eco-friendly housing development sets a new benchmark for landscape sustainability and the provision of abundant green space
Port Londsale on Victoria’s Bellarine Peninsula is a place of immense natural beauty, which is why it is such a drawcard for those seeking a relaxed by-the-beach lifestyle. Boasting beautifully landscaped spaces, The Point is a residential community with an abundance of open space that offers residents the ultimate coastal living experience by setting the benchmark for sustainability.
The landscape was designed by Tract Consultants for the developer, Moremac Property Group, and UDL Group was charged with the construction of the project which is widely regarded as setting a new benchmark for sustainability.
“The scope for this project involved the entire residential estate, which included the streetscapes, a town park space, and the creation of a wetland area,” says Gavin Lowe, CEO, UDL Group. “The emphasis was on sustainability and this is evident in so many different ways. Just one example is that each nature strip in the estate is home to a rain garden. This promotes self-watering and enhances the sustainability of each area within the development.”
In the 2022 Landscaping Victoria Master Landscapers Industry Awards, UDL Group was recognised for its exceptional efforts, winning the Sustainable Landscape Award. The judges were fulsome in their praise and summed up what makes this project so special. They said: “The Point is a fantastic example of how a housing development can have a positive impact on the environment.
“A great amount of thought has gone into the protection of remnant vegetation on the site, existing soils were used and the road network of the estate functioning as a catchment for passive irrigation via swales, demonstrates sustainable best practice.
“The conversion of an industrial landscape via a sophisticated system of lochs that allow full flushing of the lagoon with the tides, has resulted in a thriving marine ecosystem that brings a high level of amenity to the residents along with meaningful habitat creation. An exemplar project for the industry — well done to the team at UDL.”
The list of eco-friendly, sustainable elements is long and includes the toilet block within the park’s shelter area. These toilets run off a septic tank system that uses fully recycled water to flush. As the catchment box for this system is within the estate, sustainability was important as these wetlands run into the nearby ocean.
Another example is the use of locally-sourced recycled railway sleepers as vehicle exclusion fencing and features. Another is the hi-tech irrigation control system that uses predicted weather systems and patterns to irrigate the estate’s open space reserves in the most water-efficient way.
The project did pose a few challenges, one being sourcing the amount of local provenance stock needed to complete the planting. “We needed to ensure plant lists were confirmed early to allow adequate timing for propagation and growth of the plants. Even so, a number of changes had to be made throughout the project in response to stock availability,” says Gavin.
“Constructing this project through the restrictions of lockdown, the exposed site conditions and working alongside the ocean, which meant working around tides, were other challenges. These were all successfully handled, however, and we are very proud of the high level of execution we were able to achieve on this project.”
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