As WA grapples with a land and housing shortage, we are drawing on our extensive expertise to help bring a number of key metropolitan growth areas to life.
As Western Australia grapples with a land and housing shortage, Town Planning, Urban Design and Project Management experts Rowe Group and Proven Project Management are drawing on their extensive expertise to help bring a number of key metropolitan growth areas to life.
While urban infill development remains key, unlocking fragmented areas for new housing will provide much needed volume to the market and one area in particular is East Wanneroo which covers 8000 hectares north of Perth and could ultimately house up to 150,000 residents.
Rowe Group town planning manager David Maiorana says the area has long been on the State Government’s ‘radar’ as a key growth corridor, with an overarching District Structure Plan finalised in 2021, to guide the long-term vision for the area.
Mr Maiorana says the area presents a fairly unique set of issues as it has traditionally been market gardens, comprising multiple small holdings with many different owners. Drawing them together to be ready for co-ordinated development has been overlaid on other challenges like managing groundwater levels, water quality, vegetation retention, and the efficient provision of services like sewer, power and water.
“Over an extended period of time we’ve been working with our clients in this area in an advisory capacity and our task moving forward is to look at how, from a planning, design and delivery perspective, we can best respond to these fragmented areas,” he explains.
“In thinking about staging development, we need to understand if landowners, in terms of their mindset, are ready for change or do they see residential development more as a longer-term prospect and want to stay on the land in the meantime?
“Can we achieve enough flexibility through design to allow for subdivision to occur because otherwise, we may have a situation where one landowner is keen to go ahead but be ‘landlocked’ if you like, by neighbours who must then also be ready to proceed.”
He says Rowe Group and Proven teams have more than 30 years’ experience in these types of projects and draw on their expertise from other developments at Baldivis, Mundijong, Maida Vale, and North Ellenbrook where they are similarly working through complex issues.
“We’ve got a great track record doing this type of work; our point of difference is that we look to balance sense of place, urban design, practical experience and a commercial eye,” Mr Maiorana explains.
“We understand that our client’s want to leave a positive legacy for the future community, but the project’s got to be deliverable and it’s got to be viable from a financial viewpoint and that’s something our clients really value in the work that we do.
“We’ve got a really strong design team who are passionate about achieving great planning outcomes and that’s something that really resonates with our clients.”
