Beyond Today by ESD

ESD wanted to create a residential development that left a minimal footprint on the environment whilst actually improving the quality of the surrounding land and its ecosystem. The 90 hectare site was largely denuded and barren.

Initiatives:

• recycled aggregate brick pavers, cold pressed rather than kilned used for all footpaths and road/driveway crossovers

• over 175,000 native and provident locally sourced plant species and wetland plants have been already planted over the site

• stormwater catchment within wetland environment is used to irrigate all landscaped parks and reserves when required through summer months

• creation of over 64 hectares of wetland and landscape environment, creating a bird and wildlife sanctuary

• sub surface drip mandated for all residential landscaping

• micro-climates established for all homes to be built within the residential development by locating sites adjacent landscaped reserves

Currimundi Beach House by Conlon Birrell Landscape Architects

The idea was to design a raw natural setting to create a ‘reserve like’ experience for the client. The site was 18m wide with the inclusion of a council reserve and 45m long from Watson Street to the boundary along Currimundi Beach.

Initiatives:

• thirty different species of plants were used. Only endemic and significant native planting was used on the site

• locally harvested and recycled wharf timber used for most structural elements in the landscape

• rammed earth walls as structural features

• rain water retention tanks

• conditioning existing soil and sand with compost matter, wetting agents and water crystals to induce water infiltration and retention

• use of rock walls and the setting down of the landscape to adjacent surfaces to attract and absorb water rather than encouraging runoff and erosion to occur on the steep land forms

Ironbark Industrial Estate Riparian Corridor by Habitation

The brief for the project was to regenerate an existing creek and bushland areas. Habitation was required to control and capture all runoff for treatment through natural processes prior to entering the catchment and limit the number and size of high energy consuming tank structures. At the time of construction the area was in drought.

Initiatives:

• Regeneration Mulch (made from recycled materials) used throughout the bush regeneration areas and the Riparian Corridor

• all new planting consisted of local endemic species grown from local seed supply to strengthen endemic vegetation communities and encourage regeneration of endangered species

• existing plants were relocated into various positions in the riparian corridor to minimise plant loss, create instant habitat and promote biodiversity

• runoff that is created from surrounding roads and hard surfaces is captured and filtered for release into the riparian corridor

• no irrigation was used in the project. The Riparian corridor is a self sustaining system that utilises its hydrology and surrounding stormwater runoff to survive