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Thanks to Jenny Simpson, the CEO of one of our partners - AWESOME Arts Australia – for this guest blog post.

We’ve been working with LWP these past 3 years in a partnership that is about connecting people through cultural activities, particularly involving families. Most neighbourhoods have a pre-existing culture that has evolved over several generations – so what happens when you move into an area that is still being built around you?

LWP stands for Live-Work-Play, and in keeping with their name, LWP is all about creating vibrant and healthy communities. For them it is much more than bricks and mortar. Of course, this starts with ensuring that the built environment contains lots of great public spaces including parks, venues, and really serviceable town centres. People take up residence and undoubtedly start using the facilities but the next step is about making the place ‘feel’ like home and, over time, a sense of community starts to emerge. Residents get to know one another; neighbours help each other out, events like festivals and markets take place and before long there is a collective sense of belonging and identity …a community!

At AWESOME we believe that arts and cultural activities can play a vital role in bringing people together, helping them to find common ground and contributing to the development of a community. I think that arts activities are particularly good because they tend to be fun, non-competitive and they enable people to express themselves in different ways. Arts activities for children bring families together, friendships are established and people get involved in their community.

So you might have seen us running school holiday programs, or presenting arts activities at the markets, bringing Mums together for Creative Bubs sessions...or even making a short film starring the residents!  Next time you spot us out and about running arts programs, come and say hi!

We are really keen to know what kinds of arts and cultural activities in which residents would like to participate in their respective communities and we’ll work towards making them happen. All ideas are welcome, so feel free to drop us an email at communityarts@awesomearts.com

 

This month’s blog post has been kindly provided by Ellenbrook Arts Administrator, Carol Harris.

LWP supports Ellenbrook Arts by arranging a Gallery space (on Main Street) and funding assistance for various events, exhibitions and more.

LWP understands the value of art in helping to build communities, and we believe community participation plays an important role in shaping the visual character of towns like Ellenbrook.

There really is ‘a lot to love at Ellenbrook’…

I’ve lived in and around Ellenbrook for 8 years now, and throughout this time I have seen many changes. But as the community grows in size and numbers, so does the ‘sense’ of community, thanks in part, to the wide range of events and initiatives provided (or simply supported) by LWP.

My involvement with Ellenbrook Arts allows me to see first hand how community organisations or activities can help bring people together. We work with many local schools and community groups, encouraging participation in arts-based activities to ‘connect’ people – with each other as well as their local community.

We are a not-for-profit organisation located in The Gallery on Main Street, a space kindly provided to us by the Ellenbrook Joint Venture, in support of our work. We run various exhibitions throughout the year with participation from local residents and schools, and members of our groups go out into the community to run art classes such as the popular ‘painting for beginners’ class at a local retirement home. 

Our current exhibition, ‘The Smarter Than Smoking Blossom Exhibition’ involved over 1000 students from 7 schools within and around the Ellenbrook area, and is currently on display at The Gallery or available - for the first time - to view online.

I am also involved in the running of the Grapevine Community Art Space, which since it opened has provided a space for a number of arts-based activities; including use by, Ellenbrook Art Group, The Swan Valley Camera Club, Ellenbrook Theatre Company, The Valley Artist Society, a beginners art group and a performing arts group.

Ellenbrook really is a great place for those looking for a true sense of community, and while the rate of growth is quite astounding, it’s retained beautiful natural bushland and has a wide range of parks and play areas, making it a very pleasant place in which to live.

Guest blogger: Carol Harris, Ellenbrook Arts member and local resident

Across all three of our master-planned developments in WA, the residents were treated to live music and festive spirit as they enjoyed their community Christmas concerts and events. But what really united people was the spirit of giving as people and businesses in our communities supported good causes.

Trinity at Alkimos was host to the Trinity Rockin’ Christmas Concert and evening market, attended by hundreds of families. The atmosphere was happy and upbeat, with many familiar faces from the Trinity community. Lots of families brought chairs and picnic blankets and had their evening meals in the twilight while listing to Slim Jim and the Phatts, along with about a dozen other musicians, before Santa arrive to hand out goodies to the kids. Organisers sold flashing novelties with proceeds donated to Ronald McDonald House.

At The Glades in Byford, our residents demonstrated their amazing spirit of giving, raising money for seven-year-old Hollie Hattingh to grant her wish for a bike of her own.

Hollie, a resident of The Glades, suffers from the very rare congenital ‘Kabuki Syndrome,’ which has left her with a range of long term health problems. To join her two sisters and other local kids on their bikes, Hollie needs a special, custom-made bike that will cost up to $12,000. At the time of writing, they have raised enough money, through raffles and donations, to purchase Hollie’s new bike as well as extra to go into a trust account for her future health care.

Thousands turned up for The Glades Christmas Market and Concert, getting into the Christmas spirit. On the night, people were invited to tour The Glades to check out the residents’ Christmas Lights Contest. The winners were Candice and Michael Cook of Rubery Lane (see photo).

At Ellenbrook, the home of LWP’s head office and our first and biggest development, residents enjoyed the Ellenbrook Christmas Festival.  In its second year, the festival is a bringing together of a number of community driven events, together with two that LWP hosted, under one banner for marketing purposes; thus allowing small local groups access to a much broader marketing power.  This year LWP was joined by The Shops and support from Community News.  This is the essence of what we do as a company – seed and enable local support to assume control over a period of time, creating sustainable events and entertainment.

The festival included Christmas markets, Carols by Candlelight at Woodlake Amphitheatre, a Rockin’ Christmas Concert, an art exhibition and a pantomime.

The family-friendly concert featured Slim Jim and the Phatts and the Ellenbrook Youth Performance Group. Ellenbrook Theatre Company performed a sneak peak of their pantomime, Sleeping Beauty, which  showed for several nights before and after Christmas.

We also ran a small photo competition for Ellenbrook residents, asking them to submit a photo of what they love most about Ellenbrook. The winner (who submitted a great picture taken at Rainbow Waters water playground, Main St – below) received $250 and a further $250 to donate to her charity of choice.

Once again, the residents in our communities have shown they understand what’s really important in the season of giving.

For many people who have purchased in one of our communities, they have probably never given a great deal of thought as to how the suburb’s identity was planned and the history behind a name.

In many places around the world, villages, towns and cities evolve over a long – sometimes very long – period of time, and continue to evolve naturally.  Their characters are dictated by twists and turns in styles, thinking, and causes of the day. They are built in a piecemeal fashion, creating the wonderful depth of character so many love.

When we start conceptualising a new master-planned community, we don’t have the luxury of decades or centuries. We have to find a way to replicate this evolution so that the development of a place’s character can be implemented at the beginning of development. 

We consider a number of factors in this process:

(a)  The site location and features – where is it located; what are its connections; what is its terrain, views and proximity to other development?

(b)  The history of the location – who settled there; what is the early history, both indigenous and European; and how has that impacted the lives of those living nearby;  

(c)   LWP’s core  master-planning principles of diversity, scale, community and sustainability;

(d)  Built form trends and built form of the location.

These, taken together, are distilled into the essence of the community we are going to build and create core place drivers. 

Planning and design teams then use these core place drivers to ensure that the place ‘hangs together’ – down to small details such as street naming themes, a development name that has meaning and history, key character elements, landscaping, materials, colours, finishes, public art and so on.

Ellenbrook  for example is named after Lady Ellen Stirling, the wife of Perth’s Lieutenant-Governor, Sir James Stirling.

Ellen Stirling was known for her qualities of youthfulness, playfulness, a passion for learning, modern thinking, vibrancy, tolerance and acceptance – which were and still are very much the inspiration behind the design and planning of the Ellenbrook community.

Throughout the Ellenbrook town centre, Ellen’s personality is reflected in the public artwork and landscaping.  Likewise the focus on a place of beauty, vibrancy and warmth was important in the overall layout of the villages throughout Ellenbrook.

One of the key town centre roads is named for her (Ellen Stirling Parade) and a major distributor road  (Drumpellier Drive) after the Scottish  ancestral ‘seat’ of the Stirling family

Meanwhile our Trinity at Alkimos development has taken inspiration from its natural surrounds and the history of the area.

The overall design inspiration for Trinity is based on the character and charm traditionally found in European market towns. The area, Alkimos, is named after the Greek-owned merchant ship which was wrecked on the nearby coast in 1963.

Trinity is also made up of three (the ‘trinity’) distinct villages, each of which reflects the landscape in which it is located – either ridge line, valley or coastal. Each of the three villages will eventually feature a market ‘space’ which we hope will become the heart and soul of the community and of course ties into the area’s history as well as the name of our newest WA development.

Urban planners, place planners, landscapers, designers, developers, the local community and many more people all provide input into the creation of our developments, which is why at LWP we are confident we do it better than most. 

So next time you wonder “what is in a name” at one of our developments, have a chat to one of our sales team and find out the unique story behind your future home. 

 

LWP is now into its fifth year of partnership with the YMCA, experts in delivering community development and health programs.

We formed this partnership as a way of ensuring a strategic and ongoing program of community and health-focused workshops and clubs. Under the partnership, LWP employs a community development team seconded from YMCA (and other providers) to provide programs within our developments from the very early stages, before they have the organic infrastructure or local government input to sustain their own community activities.

At Trinity at Alkimos, for instance, residents are provided with weekly opportunities to join in free fitness classes, including Yoga, Bootcamp and Zumba. We provide these classes, delivered through the YMCA, at the parklands and community spaces in the development.

The residents are enthusiastic about their free fitness classes and attendance is generally strong. LWP considers the benefit twofold: firstly, we try to offer our residents a connected, healthy lifestyle with the provision of a network of cycle and walking paths – and this is reinforced by the free fitness classes.

Secondly, our events and classes bring people together in a regular, natural way, encouraging each person to meet and form relationships with other residents in each development – and relationships are the building blocks of any community.

At The Glades, YMCA has seeded a number of community programs for LWP, including a walking group and playgroup.  We are in the process of expanding into other healthy classes such as bootcamp or yoga (after community consultation).

At Ellenbrook, the community is now firmly established and Council has an established community development presence.  However, we still have strong ties with the community through sports sponsorships and the arts etc.

Another important component of the relationship with YMCA is its ability to auspice grant applications on behalf of the community, enabling access to a range of benevolent and government sources of grants.

We invite residents to give us information about the kinds of classes and events they want – recently we hosted a Residents’ Brunch at Trinity where people living there were able to meet the project management staff and YMCA and offer suggestions about the community program. We also worked with the YMCA at The Glades to organize a community survey to find out more about the residents’ interests and needs for recreational and fitness classes.

We look forward to many more years of developing genuinely vibrant communities in partnership with the YMCA.

 

 

In November 2012, LWP Property Group used the services of an external Public Relations company to carry out a comprehensive survey of the residents in our key developments, Ellenbrook, The Glades at Byford and Trinity at Alkimos.

We intermittently survey residents and investors in our developments to gauge their feelings about where they are living. For us, it’s a health check for our developments, allowing us to ensure the communities are cohesive, satisfied with the facilities and amenities, have pride in their homes – and to see if there are any gaps or problems.

The results of these surveys, across the board, were very positive and it was gratifying to see people associating LWP with genuine community building. One key topic was why people choose to live in these developments. The majority of responses mentioned four common factors:

• The sense of community;
• The safety;
• Facilities and public open spaces (or future plans for these); and
• The value for money.

 When we set out to plan Ellenbrook, we focused on four key attributes,

• Sense of scale
• Sense of diversity
• Community Planning
• Enhanced natural environment

Together, these attributes create the ideal environment to foster a happy, safe community, while providing an attractive environment in which to live.  Reviewed regularly throughout the life of a project, these attributes can be seen in all our master-planned communities. 

The survey results would indicate that our communities are delivering on key aspects of community creation.

We also asked about satisfaction with existing infrastructure in our developments and again, the majority of respondents were satisfied or highly satisfied with most of the facilities, including:

•  Quality and range of shops and cafes;
• Quality of landscaping and parks;
• Standard and choice of housing;
• Facilities for walking and cycling;
• Quality of the town centre; and
• Quality and choice of schools.

We asked respondents to rank facilities and services by importance to see if our priorities are aligned with those of our residents. This information did give us a good insight into what people value in a place to live – particularly with regard to shifts in trends and reinforces our current development strategies. For example, the interest in private schools has shown a decline in recent years, while people are showing more interest in lifestyle facilities such as entertainment precincts and recreation centres.

Of high interest and value to LWP was feedback on areas for improvement, which allowed us to plan to help our residents with lobbying local or state government, or to focus on attracting certain retail and commercial sectors to the developments.

 

How to look after your waterwise garden with Sabrina Hahn

LWP has enlisted native gardening expert Sabrina Hahn to star in a short gardening video, to show people how to create and maintain a waterwise garden using native plants suited to their local environment 

The video was filmed at Ellenbrook; which like Trinity is built on sandy ground. This is ideal for digging and planting, and favoured by many native plant species.

Sabrina breaks the planting process down into four simple steps: soil preparation, planting, irrigation and maintenance – demonstrating just how easy it is to create and maintain a sustainable garden.

LWP encourages residents to support sustainability by providing fully landscaped waterwise front gardens at all homesites within its master-planned communities.

Step 1: soil preparation

The first step is soil preparation, so it’s important to know what type of ground you’re working with. Some plants prefer sandy soil (Ellenbrook and Trinity) whereas others prefer clay-rich soil that can be found at The Glades.

You then need create a mix using ground soil, compost, a wetting agent, clay (if ground-soil is sandy), and a slow-release fertiliser. This will give your plants the best possible start and help them to adapt to their new environment.

Add water and keep mixing.

Step 2: planting

Dig a hole twice the depth of the plant’s base and water the surrounding soil, to reduce the stress on the root system. Once drained, remove the plant from its pot (if plant is pot bound – lots of roots tightly packed together, generally tease roots to separate), place in the hole, and fill with half ground soil and half mix.

Always leave a well around the plant unless you live in clay soils (where you should make a mound) so that the water drains down to the roots.

Use a coarse mulch to help retain moisture and reduce evaporation, but clear it away from the main stem to prevent fungal diseases. Water the mulched area well.

Step 3: irrigation

Native plants require little water, so reticulation through the winter months is not necessary. By late spring, your plants will need watering once a week, until temperatures reach the mid-30’s, when you should water them twice a week for their first summer.

Once established, you can water them once a week through the summer months too.

Step 4: maintenance

All gardens require some level of maintenance, even waterwise gardens. Use a slow-release fertiliser once a year and prune trees and plants regularly to encourage growth and keep them looking neat and tidy. Liquid fertilisers can be used when plants are flowering.

To watch Sabrina’s video, click here.

 

 

 

 

Huntlee is to be located in the Hunter Valley, close to Branxton on the New England Highway and it is currently in planning stage.

Mike shares with us his views on the approach LWP has taken to planning this new community in two blog posts as a guest blogger. 

The vision for Huntlee is a sustainable community, in which residents have independence of movement and have living, working , learning and recreational opportunities in close proximity; a series of compact, connected, mixed use and walkable neighbourhoods providing a diversity of housing and lifestyle choices; destination based village and town centre supporting a mix of uses (including schools, community, shopping, working  and recreation facilities); a community which embraces and capitalises on the amenity created through the natural corridors to the edges of the local creeks, waterways and ridgelines. 

This will be achieved through the following:

Design Approach

The neighbourhood design layout has been developed utilising the principles of Traditional Neighbourhood Design (TND). The traditional neighbourhood was the fundamental form of our most treasured settlement patterns in Australia through to the Second World War. The traditional neighbourhood, represented by mixed-use, pedestrian friendly communities of varied population mix, has proven to be a sustainable urban form.

Conventional Suburban Development (CSD), now the standard Australian pattern of growth, ignores historical precedence and human experience. Designed around the private vehicle, its low density consumes land at an alarming rate and produces significant traffic problems and exacerbates social inequity.

From the initiation of this project through ‘Visioning Workshops’, the principles and techniques of traditional neighbourhood development have been utilised throughout the development of the master-plan. These principles are outlined below:

Design Principles

Walkable Neighbourhoods

The neighbourhoods are limited in size so that the majority of residents are within a five minute walk of each centre (400 metres). The basic needs of daily life are available within these areas. By bringing the activities of daily life into walking distance, all people gain independence of movement particularly the young and elderly. Each neighbourhood has a discernible centre; typically a local open space or civic square which provides opportunity for a public transport stop and civic uses. The neighbourhood edges are also clearly defined through major infrastructure and landscape features. 

Connected Movement Network

Thoroughfares are laid in a fine grain network, providing alternative routes to most destinations. This allows most streets to have smaller widths with slower traffic, as well as accommodating parking, trees, footpaths and buildings. These streets are designed to accommodate pedestrian and cyclists as well as vehicles including public transport.

Mix of Buildings + Uses

There is a diversity of homes (large and small), outbuildings, small apartment buildings, terraces, live/works, courtyard houses, mixed use buildings and offices accommodated. These buildings are diverse in function but compatible in size and disposition on their lots. By providing a full range of housing types and work places, age and economic classes are integrated and an authentic community is formed.

Quality Open Spaces

Open space is provided in a range of forms including specialised squares, greens, corridors, parklands and reserves. Each type is defined by its size; landscaping and its surrounding uses (if any). Open space to be truly public should be overlooked by buildings and fronted by thoroughfares. To be fully functional it should be located on significant pedestrian routes or be adjacent to meaningful destinations.

Civic Buildings

Civic buildings and structures, such as schools and meeting halls, are located within open spaces, the termination of important vistas or at key junctions. By being built at important locations, these structures function as important landmarks and also encourage the gathering of community to facilitate the evolution of a true community.

FInd out about Huntlee

Visit Roberts Day website

In this blog post, we are fortunate enough to have Mike Day from Robert’s Day explain to use the importance of master-planning a development. Mike shares with us his views on the approach LWP has taken to planning this new community in our next two blog posts.

LWP’s planning of its mixed use town centre and walkable neighbourhoods within the Huntlee new town will address the shortcomings of the conventional suburban residential estates being laid out within metropolitan areas in the Hunter region and around our capital cities.

LWP and its internationally recognised design team has considerable experience developing diverse neighbourhoods modeled on the timeless character found in the most loved urban settings in and around our regional towns and cities. They include the following unique characteristics:

• Elements of the timeless town planning and artistic principles of the most memorable urban villages and neighbourhoods of inner Newcastle and Maitland, and other cities in established Australia, Europe and North American regional towns. 
• A series of discernible neighbourhood centres and well defined edges which will provide residents with a sense of belonging and a sense of place. 
• A series of signature tree lined streets with footpaths on each side of the road and a widened verge which will form unique continuous walking, cycling and exercising pathways connected to the regional recreation corridor. 
• A pattern of distinct “connected” neighbourhoods - with uninterrupted walking and cycling paths throughout the urban setting linking with forest and foreshore trails. 
• The enclosure of streets with a diverse range of housing and live/ work buildings which will create a distinctive urban setting yet to found outside the signature inner urban neighbourhoods of New South Wales’ regional towns and cities. 
• A series of well defined parks and plazas which will be framed by a diverse range of house types and will contain sites for future civic and cultural buildings and structures.
• An array of residential housing types including detached, courtyard, terrace, townhouses and apartments aligned along tree lined streets with foot paths on both sides of roads. 
• Along signature streets vehicles garaged at the rear of houses to enable deep front verandas to be designed to promote active street life and to provide more modest housing types to be incorporated in small streets servicing the rear of residential properties.

Visit Roberts Day website

We got our Group Sales Manager - Residential, Tony McEntee, to interview Danny Murphy for this blog about his predictions for the WA Property market, and here is what he had to say:

Q: What is the current status of the land market in Perth and regional WA?

A: At the more affordable end, conditions are beginning to reflect a more normal market.

Prices have bottomed out and the incentives and rebates so prominent in late 2011 are disappearing.  At the affordable end, the notion of a buyers’ market will be all but gone by Christmas 2012.

Due to supply pressures for affordable land, it is expected to become a ‘sellers market’ by mid 2013 with a resultant increase in prices.

Q: Is 2012 a good year for buying land?

A: Prices have clearly now bottomed with land activity up over 20% in recent months.

 With an outlook for price escalation in 2013, buyers will look back on 2012 as the perfect ‘buy’ time in this cycle.

Q: What is the overall land market like in terms of affordability?

A: List prices are much the same as last year, but rebates are disappearing very quickly.

Q: What’s going to happen to the land market over the next 6 months?

A: The land market should continue to improve in the Perth Metropolitan area – mainly at the affordable end, driven by demand from first home buyers and investors.

Q: Is there an adequate supply of ready land in Perth and regional WA to meet demand?

A: Supply pressures for affordable land in Perth will start to emerge in early 2013 due to the lack of funding for the industry and the lack of infrastructure.

Regional WA, with the exception of the Kimerbely/Pilbara regions, will have adequate supply, given likely soft market conditions for some time yet.

Q: Will first home buyers dominate the land market over the next 6 months?

A: First home buyers will be the most dominant segment due to lower interest rates and escalating rental costs. The smart move-up buyers will be active as it becomes evident that the market has bottomed.

There are also many ‘lookers’ out there who will realise that now is the time to buy.

Q: Which metropolitan areas will become ‘hotspots’ over the next 6 months?

A: New master-planned estates will become ‘hotspots’ for first home buyers due to their attractive facilities and services, however for the established market, areas close to public transport will be in demand as Perth’s traffic crisis worsens.

Q: What key factors will influence demand and pricing for land in the next 6 months?

A: WA is likely to remain relatively protected from external world and national issues for many years yet.

Pent up demand, lower interest rates, tight rental market and strong employment prospects will drive activity.  Once the recovery in demand becomes evident across all segments, there will be real pressure on prices.  This pressure is expected to emerge in early to mid 2013.

Q: What key factors will influence demand and pricing for land in the next 6 month How do LWP's land sales and prices compare to the previous year?

A: Given strong sales in the June quarter, the 2011/2012 year was relatively positive for LWP with over 800 sales, an increase over the previous year.