Warralily wins national environmental award

The Warralily development at Armstrong Creek has taken out the Environmental Excellence Award at the 2019 Urban Development Institute of Australia National Awards for Excellence against a strong field of finalists.

Warralily was Victoria’s only winner at this year’s national awards event held in the Gold Coast on Thursday night, strengthening the estate’s position as the most awarded urban environment in the Geelong region.

Warralily director Mark Casey said that it was an honour to be recognised by Australia’s peak industry body UDIA National, as “the best of the best” for “our commitment to innovation, sustainability and community development with the capacity to transform people’s lives for the better”.

“From the project’s inception, our vision was to create a truly modern and liveable community where the urban environment lived in harmony with the natural environment,” Mr Casey said. “Our early focus on rejuvenating Armstrong Creek laid the foundation for the community’s distinctive sense of place and intimate relationship with its landscape.”

“This sort of outcome can only be achieved when clear project objectives have been established and diligently delivered on a consistent basis from planning through to on-the-ground implementation.”

Mr Casey acknowledged the City of Greater Geelong for the foresight to implement a dedicated team to assist developers in bringing the dreams of the Armstrong Creek growth corridor to reality.

The 380-hectare greenfield site, positioned between the Geelong CBD and the Surf Coast’s iconic beaches, is the
largest and leading development in the growth corridor.

Civil, landscaping and infrastructureinvestment to date has hit the $780 million mark, 68 stages are complete and over 550 lots are currently under construction.

“Geelong has a fantastic community with great lifestyle features that are increasingly sought by homemakers – with everything on offer here, it’s not surprising that Warralily has experienced unprecedented interest from local and Melbourne buyers,” Mr Casey said.

The thriving community of over 7,000 residents enjoy the very best of contemporary urban design with retail, education, sport and community facilities on their doorstep and ready proximity to the coast and connections to Geelong and Melbourne.

Warralily general manager of development Mark Whinfield said the project team’s mission was the development of an authentic community where its residents would live, work and play close to nature.

“An important part of ensuring the project vision was carried through in the delivery was a committed and passionate project team who have been working on the project since its commencement,” Mr Whinfield said.

“The transformation of Armstrong Creek and the open space network has been a priority – creating an environment with high biodiversity values and linkages to quality community assets and services; the schools, community hub, ovals, Warralily Village and the homes of our residents.

“Importantly, as well as creating a beautiful landscape, the rehabilitation and re-construction of 2.8 kilometers of the degraded creek corridor has delivered an exemplar of integrated stormwater management and protected the sustainability of downstream internationally recognised Ramsar wetlands.”

Mr Whinfield said the win was a proud moment for the development team, “particularly our urban design project manager Jeremy Minter, and the many contractors and stakeholders who together have established development processes and a quality benchmark for other projects in the region to follow”.

“Among the many involved we acknowledge key stakeholders including the City of Greater Geelong, Barwon Water, SMEC Engineering and Surveying, Core Projects Agents, GBLA Landscape Architects, ANZ Banking and Group Winslow Constructors,” Mr Whinfield said.

“This award comes with thanks to our purchasers who have chosen to make Warralily their home and are actively engaged in building a healthy and welcoming community.”

At a time of great economic transformation and growth in the Geelong region, the Warralily development has provided strong economic benefit through employment, investment and attraction for more than nine years.