Warralily landscape works win again

THE waterway restoration at the Warralily estate in Armstrong Creek has picked up another award.

Earlier this month, landscape company Australian Ecosystems won the Landscape Victoria 2017 Landscape of the Year Award for its “Connewarre Project” that has restored the creekline at Warralily.

Works included seed collection, growing and planting more than a million locally indigenous plants, and installing hectares of rockwork, mulch and habitat stags.

The project also won awards for Use of Plants in the Landscape, Landscape Management and Maintenance, and the Natural Built Environment.

The restoration has seen the transformation of a previously degraded waterway into a series of wetlands, watercourses, parks and walking paths.

Stretching several kilometres through the estate, the project captures and treats stormwater, protecting the downstream environment, and has become a haven for waterfowl, frogs and native fauna.

According to the Landscape Victoria judges, the Armstrong Creek restoration is a “major environmental project that is immaculately detailed, making it a community success – a beautiful place for walking, playing and enjoying the outdoors for humans, and through natural rock placement and the use of tree stags as habitat areas, a sanctuary for wildlife too”.

“This is a stellar project for Victoria and an incredible showcase of the use of plants in the landscape.”

Other awards won in the past two years include Stormwater Australia’s national award for Excellence in Integrated Stormwater Design, the Australian Institute of Landscape Architects National Award for Land Management, and being named as a finalist in the Victorian Premier’s Sustainability Awards.

Australian Ecosystems director Brendan Condon said the project’s success came about because of the vision by Warralily – particularly project manager Jeremy Minter and project landscape architects GBLA.

“Warralily’s creekline is now a great example of how we can bring nature back into our suburbs and is a shining example of what can be achieved for all Australian housing estates.”

Mr Minter said winning the awards demonstrated that a highly skilled and dedicated team of consultants and contractors, along with the support of local council, could create special places for native flora and fauna as well residents.

“This is a bespoke landscape restoration project that will leave an important environmental legacy in the region.”