Client:

Villawood

Status:

Completed

Services provided:

Precinct Structure Planning, Masterplan preparation, vision workshops, permit approvals process, expert evidence

Streams:

Development Planning, Community Masterplanning, Strategic Urban Design

This is what we did:

Mesh commenced our long-term relationship with Armstrong back in 2009 when we were engaged by a developer consortium to lead the progressive design planning of the Armstrong Creek West Precinct Structure Plan (PSP), a high-level structural plan, which anticipated the framework for delivery of a Community of 14,000 people. We then got to work putting our high-level ideas into practice by preparing a large-scale master planned community on behalf of Villawood properties. The masterplan was for 175ha of land ultimately evolved over time under our guidance to deliver 2841 homes for Geelong. The community also included the design of a club facility and neighbourhood activity centre in collaboration with CHC, and a range of community facilities and parks.

This is how we did it:

Clear and ambitious vision was central to the success of this master planned community. Mesh facilitated vision workshops with the client, stakeholders, and Council to ensure the vision was shared and included initiatives beyond the standard expectation. Mesh distilled these into:

Initiative 1:

Streetscape network to promote an active, healthy lifestyle

Initiative 2: 

Distinct neighbourhoods of 150-500 dwellings

Initiative 3: 

Armstrong Creek as primary amenity & active lifestyle focus 

Initiative 4:

Activity Centre & Residents Club at the heart of the community

We worked diligently behind the scenes to ensure these initiatives went from sticky notes to funded projects. Mesh prepared and collated all inputs for the Development Contributions Plan, including commissioning of designs, strategic justification for projects and preparation of land budgets and negotiation regarding apportionment.

Mesh also provided the consortium expert advice on the ACW DCP, which included an in-depth review of the prepared DCP, with regard to methodology, implementation and overall structure. This involved providing expert evidence at both the Armstrong West and East DCP planning panels.

Awards:

2023 UDIA Consultant Excellence Award, 2018 UDIA Community Engagement Excellence Award, 2017 UDIA Masterplanned Development Excellence Award, 2016 UDIA Landscape Excellence Award and 2014 UDIA 6-star accreditation for EnviroDevelopment

Team:

Michelle Calleja, Leah Wittingslow, Chris De Silva, Micheal Turnbull, Jacob Peterson