Development Team

Owner/Developer/Master Planner
Landmatters Currumbin Valley Property Ltd.
Currumbin, Queensland, Australia
www.theecovillage.com.au

Architect
Graham Davis Architecture Office
Toowong, Queensland, Australia

Site Engineer
Bligh Tanner Property Ltd.
Fortitude Valley, Queensland, Australia
www.blightanner.com.au

Town Planner
Humphrey Reynolds Perkins
Brisbane, Queensland, Australia
www.hum-plan.com

Landscape Architects
John Mongard Landscape Architects
South Brisbane, Queensland, Australia
www.mongard.com.au

SPLAT
New Farm, Queensland, Australia
www.splat.net.au

Project Data

Website
www.theecovillage.com.au

Site Area
110 ha (272 ac)

Facilities
600 m2 (6,458 sf) office—of which 300 m2 now built
1,600 m2 (17,222 sf) retail—of which 400 m2 now built
700 m2 (7,535 sf) industrial—of which 300 m2 now built
4 multifamily units; 140 single-family units—of which 103 now built
6 hotel rooms—of which 0 now built

Land Uses
residential, office, retail, restaurant, hotel, parks/open space/land conservation, surface parking, agriculture/forestry/aquaculture, waste recycling, museum

Start/Completion Dates
May 2002–December 2007

Jury Statement

In a neat twist on the community’s self image, the Ecovillage at Currumbin has turned degraded farmland in Australia’s Gold Coast region into a demonstration community of best practices in sustainable and holistic living. Its success suggests an unmet market interest in environmentally and socially oriented real estate products.

Awards for Excellence: 2007 Winner

The Ecovillage at Currumbin
Currumbin, Queensland, Australia

The Ecovillage at Currumbin is an innovative 110-hectare (272 ac), 144-unit residential community that showcases best practices in ecologically sustainable residential development. Conceived and implemented with minimal resources by a small group of individuals who wished to inspire improved practices in land development, the project is being developed on degraded farmland on the exurban fringe of Gold Coast City, a major resort city on Queensland’s Pacific Ocean coast. The project site is seven minutes from the shore. The developer, Landmatters Currumbin Valley Property Ltd., has rehabilitated the site and is protecting its environmental integrity and biodiversity by preserving 50 percent of it as an environmental reserve, netting 80 percent of the property as open space.

Scheduled for completion in December 2007, the Ecovillage features diverse housing offerings clustered in “ecohamlets” to help foster social cohesion; a village center with 1,500 square meters (16,146 sf) of commercial space and additional community-oriented facilities; and the Ecovillage Interpretive Centre, which opened in December 2005. The interpretive center offers interactive educational demonstrations of the project’s sustainability initiatives, which target self-reliance in water, energy, and food supplies.

Although the Ecovillage is being privately developed, the Queensland state government has awarded it “EnergyWise and WaterWise” demonstration project status. Its planning and development involve significant partnerships with the community, universities, industry, and all levels of government. The Ecovillage sets a benchmark standard for sustainable residential development.

“Amidst the threat of global environmental crisis, we at Landmatters believe the challenge of this century is how to live and develop sustainably in harmony with nature to foster community and a modern quality of life,” comment Landmatters principals Kerry Shepherd and Chris Walton. “Our vision is to inspire awareness of sustainable living and development practices by creating a residential community that exemplifies the world’s best practices in ecologically sustainable development. Preceded by 12 years of global research and collaboration, the Ecovillage project has been a long and very challenging pathway with much adventure and hard work and questioning of standard development approaches. We have overcome considerable financial and regulatory impediments, and responded with a significant outcome that we hope can demonstrate positive change in the development industry and the global community.”

From the outset, Landmatters had reservations about the environmental impacts of standard development practices. It responded by formulating principles of sustainable development and using them to inform all development decisions. The developer focused on site-led planning to determine a mix of complementary land uses, and on the siting of buildings and infrastructure in ways that make the most appropriate, low-impact use of the land while also supporting the creation of a strong sense of place and enduring community. The design and planning processes were collaborative efforts involving extensive input from all stakeholders—including indigenous groups, local residents, regulatory agencies, and the general public. As a result, the project gained strong support from the community and regulatory bodies.

Development began with a site plan that minimized changes to the natural landform despite the site’s challenging topography. The development program focused on minimizing resource and energy impacts both during and after construction. By avoiding the loss of existing vegetation, encouraging native plant regeneration, installing wildlife corridors, and using cutting-edge integrated water quality measures, development has actually rehabilitated the land. The Ecovillage strictly enforces its environmental standards through a rigorous architectural and landscaping code. It also mandates the reuse and recycling of materials and waste in a permanent on-site facility.

The AU$45 million (US$38 million) project, which was innovatively funded by a mainstream bank, has experienced outstanding financial success. Marketing commenced in 2005 and has consistently achieved an 85 percent precommitment sales rate—in a region in which residential presales are rare. Sale prices in later phases have escalated more than 50 percent above their initial valuation. The Ecovillage’s marketing and financial success demonstrates to the development industry, government, and the general public that market interest in environmentally and socially oriented real estate products is strong.