Objectives
In April 2004 the WA Government, with the support of the City of Armadale, ceded planning and development control powers over 1580 hectares west of the Armadale City Centre to the Armadale Redevelopment Authority (ARA). This environmentally sensitive and under-utilised land was seen as a logical addition to the Armadale urban renewal initiative.
Prior to this, in October 2003, the Brookdale Water Symposium was held. The meeting was attended by a number of key stakeholders from across Australia to discuss the vision for Brookdale. This Symposium was the precursor to the commencement of the Wungong Master Plan, a three year, $5 million project.
The ARA is working on a 15 year master plan for Wungong Urban Water in line with its commitment to ecologically sustainable development principles. The master plan envisages a diverse and vibrant residential area that showcases best practice in sustainable urban development incorporating natural resource management, water sensitive urban design and energy-efficient housing. It will create about 15,000 lots and plan for a population growth to 40,000 residents.
Currently the Wungong area is habited by horse, cattle and sheep grazing properties, orchards, a poultry farm and rural residences. It also contains 330 properties, with approximately 205 landowners. The major landowners include Peet&Co, Stockland and the Department of Housing and Works.
The Wungong Urban Water Project is an important part of the ARA's aim to revitalise Armadale as the strategic regional centre for the south-east corridor. Development will recognise its Aboriginal and European cultural history and be a model to guide future development in Western Australia and nationally.
Innovative planning has made the most of Wungong Urban Water's rural character and natural assets - waterways, bushland, trees and views to the hills. It will have a range of housing and lot types that appeal to a broad range of people, retain historically significant elements and have strong links to the Armadale city centre.
Due to the area's high water table and other environmental considerations, a key objective for the ARA was to determine the best development options that reduce costs and undertake tasks from a regional perspective that individual developers would otherwise have to complete as part of the approval process.
Wungong Urban Water was carefully master planned to produce a distinctive sense of place, both in terms of community and landscape. Future residents will have an unprecedented opportunity to gain awareness of the environment in which they live.
Sustainability objectives for Wungong include:
The master plan envisages a diverse and vibrant residential area that showcases best practice in sustainable urban development incorporating natural resource management, water sensitive urban design and energy-efficient housing.
The master plan will also ensure that Wungong Urban Water's environmental integrity remains as the population increases.
When completed, the development will create 15,000 lots and plan for a population growth to 40,000 residents.
Process
The development of the Wungong Urban Water Master Plan is a large partnership involving the three levels of government, industry and the community. Partners include the ARA, City of Armadale, Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO), Department of Environment, Water Corporation, Department of Planning and Infrastructure, Department of Housing and Works and the University of Western Australia.
The team involved in developing the Wungong Urban Water Master Plan included landscape architects, urban planners, hydrologists, environmental scientists, civil engineers, architects, builders, social scientists, archaeologists and heritage consultants.
The first phase of the Wungong Urban Water Master Plan involved partner and community representatives identifying sustainability objectives that set the vision for the development. These objectives helped to guide the planning process.
The Wungong Urban Water Implementation Plans for Sustainability (WUWIPS) Group has been formed with representatives from government, industry and community tasked with integrating Wungong Urban Water master planning data and recommending policies and guidelines.
A Wungong Urban Water Built Form Group has been set up to recommend innovative guidelines and policies for the redevelopment area to promote sustainable building performance standards. The group is chaired by the State Architect and has representatives of the CSIRO, Department of Planning and Infrastructure, Sustainable Energy Development Office, Master Builders Association, Housing Industry Association, ARA, City of Armadale, Daly and Shaw (local builders), and the ARA Community Reference Group (a local architect).
Wungong is an important urban component of the CSIRO's National Research Flagship, Water for a Healthy Country. The CSIRO has funded a large ongoing water monitoring program in the area to better understand the impacts of urban development on the aquatic environment. The program will collect data on water quality and quantity for both surface water and groundwater.
Because of the number of landowners in the project area, the orderly development of the Master Plan area necessitates gaining all major statutory approvals during master planning. A developer contribution scheme will also be introduced to pre-fund early provision of infrastructure.
The redevelopment process has also incorporated:
- a Strategic Environmental Assessment comprising several site investigations including wetlands
- a detailed survey of the area's flora and fauna to identify areas that need to be protected from future development
- a total water cycle management approach, including rainwater tanks, irrigation, drainage and water recycling supported by a groundwater model
- an Aboriginal Heritage Management Plan for the management and integration of Aboriginal sites in the area.
Key innovations
Collaborative planning process
Wungong Urban Water Master Planning has involved a core team of 64 people from 38 organisations for three years worth of collaborative planning. This process helped foster many innovations in the master plan by engaging appropriate stakeholders with technical expertise to resolve issues and present the best options as a team. Open and honest dialogue allowed every opportunity to be explored and every constraint to be challenged before a consensus recommendation was put forward to the Steering Committee for resolution. As a result the Wungong Urban Water Master Plan is a highly defendable innovative product from a diverse team.
Landscape Master Plan to initiate design
In a design first, landscape architects from the University of Western Australia were engaged by the ARA to investigate how the local landscape could guide the character and structure of the suburban development. The landscape architects designed the master plan based on the key defining features of Wungong's natural landscape which include a high water table, five major drainage ways and the Wungong River. The Landscape Structure Plan proposed an urban development with an integrated urban water management system structured around a matrix of Park Avenues and Living Streams to maintain and enhance the area's natural and rural character.
Identification and preservation of indigenous sites
Aboriginal heritage sites in the master plan area have been identified as culturally and scientifically significant. The innovative planning process recognises that Aboriginal sites do not exist in isolation but comprise part of a cultural landscape with integrated social, economic, historical and spiritual associations. As such an unprecedented number of Aboriginal sites and site complexes have been incorporated into master planned public open space, environmental buffers and other compatible land uses to enable preservation of these sites, provide a unique framework for developing on-country interpretation and promoting broader scientific and public understanding of Aboriginal culture.
Avenues
An iconic of the master planned area are a matrix of park avenues that offer vistas, wind mitigation, habitat corridors, open space and an integrated storm water management system whilst retaining the natural character of the rural landscape. Park avenues will contain rows of Eucalypt-lined green space with a central swale that leads to the Wungong River. Each park avenue will take on a unique style whilst still performing a number of ecological functions. The park avenues create a meeting place for nearby residents and extensive pedestrian access throughout the development.
Interconnected matrix of all Open Space
Wungong Urban Water Master Planning has created an innovative matrix of open space. This interconnected system comprises park avenues, living streams, community parks, Aboriginal heritage sites, wetland buffers and wildlife corridors. The open space grid links all natural features such as the Wungong River and Neerigen Brook foreshores, conservation category wetlands and bush forever sites with community features such as school ovals, neighbourhood centres and the district centre. This design will connect physical and social neighbourhoods encouraging community interaction within an ecological setting.
Wungong Urban Water Place Codes
Placed based planning is an innovative approach to town planning which creates a greater variety of development, that responds better to individual sites and climatic conditions and forms a more sustainable and liveable place. Unlike traditional planning schemes 'Place Codes' allows a mix of uses integrating elements such as built form, building setbacks and frontages, streetscapes, public open space and landscaping. Seven 'Place Codes' will guide development from the intensive district centre to conserved passive open space with performance being judged not just by the plan but also the place in which it is located compared to the more traditional standards that apply to each lot in isolation.
Total Water Cycle Management
The Wungong Urban Water Master Plan recognises water as central to the development. Integrated water sensitive urban design, landscape architecture, water resource planning and environmental protection has created an innovative total water cycle that greatly improves the way stormwater is managed within a highly modified and sensitive hydrological environment. Restoration of the Wungong River, its wetlands and tributaries, reduced dependence of imported scheme water, innovative reuse of stormwater, and enhanced integration of water into the urban landform are all components of a total water cycle management strategy that will benchmark Wungong Urban Water as a model for sustainable integrated land, water and environmental planning.
District Solar Orientation
Wungong Urban Water Master Planning investigated relationships between district solar orientation and constraints such as topography, ecology, heritage, road layout, ownership and lot orientation. The results demonstrated that the highly desirable east west lot orientation is possible for up to 90% of the lots in some areas, significantly more than the Liveable Neighbourhood's target of 75%. This innovative solar orientation planning at a district level will make it easier for builders to achieve energy performance targets, for households to consume less energy and for people to enjoy the benefits of northern winter sun entering their main living areas.
Master Plan Project Team
The Wungong Urban Water Master Plan team comprises 64 people from 38 organisations over three years of collaborative planning. A number of groups and committees were formed to ensure the development of the Master Plan was guided by appropriate stakeholders contributing a diverse range of expertise.
The Wungong Urban Water Master Plan team (PDF, 16KB)
