Community Development and Sustainability

Ellenbrook - a benchmark community

Ellenbrook, our largest and most awarded project, has proven a benchmark for community sustainability. Please click here to find out more about community development in Ellenbrook. Community development in other projects can be found on the project websites. Please see Our Communities.

LWP’s overall aim is to make a long-term contribution to the environmental, social and economic fabric of the communities in which it works and to secure the business advantages this offers, including bringing together the short and long-term requirements of its stakeholders.

Through its Corporate Sustainability Strategy, LWP commits to formalising its sustainability measuring and reporting system to provide regular reports to the board and the community, placing sustainability centrally in the joint venturer’s corporate reporting framework. 

Ellenbrook was the incubator for many sustainability ideas – some of which are still considered innovative today, and others that have become industry-wide best practice.  Quick Ellenbrook Factsheet

 These include:

• Schools in Houses and Offices. In the first stage of Ellenbrook’s development, houses and offices were constructed and adapted to function as schools for the children of the first residents until numbers were sufficient to support the construction of a primary school.
• Rear laneway houses with reduced front setbacks to houses and vehicle access to garages at the rear of the lots. This encourages greater community interaction in the streets and parks.
• A mix of housing densities to cater for a wide range of purchasers.

• Energy efficiency requirements. Since 1999, these have been incorporated into our Design Guidelines.
• Development of cottage lots. Small (under 400 sqm) lots with frontages ranging from 15m down to 6m to cater for smaller households.
• Extensive Bike and Hike trails connecting all residents to all parts of the town and villages.
• Promoting street life and community interaction by using passive solar design principles, varied building setbacks, laneways, front verandahs and street tree planting.
• Establishing a Community Trust Fund to finance the appointment of a Community Development Officer and provide seed funding for community groups and infrastructure from an early stage.

Some sustainability initiatives are common to all LWP developments including:

• Constructing learning centres, crèches, playgroups and drop-in centres early in the development phase as a means of creating focus and sense of place for the first residents who move in.
• Basing a permanent information and sales centre in each development to create a sense of activity and focus for the project.

• Designing geographical networks that encourage residents to get to know their neighbours, to walk or cycle rather than drive, and to enjoy the parks and open spaces by applying cutting edge urban planning principles.
• Reflecting the natural contours of the land and integrating native bushland into the new landscape, respecting the uniqueness of the natural environment in which the development is located.

• Including LWP’s unique ‘eco-logical’ front garden design packages in all land sales to help purchasers create sustainable gardens.
• Implementing Public Art programs which create a sense of identity.

 Download a fact sheet on our approach to Sustainability here.