The Views Subdivision
The Views at Sanctuary Rise Development is a residential subdivision, delivering 311 lots over six (6) stages. This subdivision was designed to enhance economic productivity and affordable living within the community of Toowoomba while providing needed residential land supply.
When working on the Civil design of the residential lots, Kehoe Myers took into consideration the commitment and focus our client had on delivering important outcomes to benefit the community and the surrounding environment in the following key areas:
The Views features efficiently designed, smaller land parcels that minimise land prices and improve living affordability. This provides greater opportunities for new and first-time buyers to secure their position on the property ladder. With scenic rural views and proximity to shopping centres, schools and the Toowoomba airport - this sustainable subdivision caters for the growth in demand for residential land in the Toowoomba region.
With all design aspects we aimed to capture the natural beauty of the surrounding parklands and views as much as possible, with infrastructure designed to suit the terrain. The site is flanked to the north and west by the existing Council bushland reserve, connected by a network of fire trails. Due to its steep terrain and inaccessibility, the public use of the adjacent bushland reserve before the development was made difficult. Investments have been made in landscaping enhancements such as improving public access to the fire trails, revegetation using native plantings, the use of open grassed areas, and the provision of shade structures and play equipment. These will encourage the public to better utilise and value the reserve.
We believe that The Views is a comfortable and welcoming residential development that reflects the Toowoomba culture and community values. Investments have been made, in negotiation with Local Council Parks & Gardens officers, to provide improvements to the adjacent bushland reserve that will encourage the surrounding residents to engage in bushwalking and other active recreation activities, promoting healthy lifestyles.
The Views presented a rare and unique development opportunity for the city of Toowoomba, which required leadership and vision to undertake and execute. There is no doubt that the elevated aspect of the subdivision atop Cranley escarpment provides commanding views over Oakey and the Darling Downs to the northwest for residents and visitors alike. However, it also presented some unique challenges to the design team that required significant innovation and “out of the box” thinking to address.
The design focuses on both the aesthetics and the functionality of the development. The infrastructure is designed for any future increase to the amenity of the land for future upgrades. The steep terrain presented a challenge in maximising the utilisation of development space against the visual impact and technical civil engineering challenges involved. These challenges were met with engineered retaining walls, keyed securely into the founding bedrock, and innovative stormwater drainage solutions.
“Out of the box” thinking included the management of overland stormwater flows such that runoff volumes down the escarpments did not exceed those experienced before the development. The remainder of the developed flow was piped to multiple detention basins within the nature reserve at the bottom of the escarpment, which has been fully landscaped to blend into the reserve environment. The basins’ design incorporates tenable water quality bio-retention components to outlet stormwater in a much more environmentally better way.
The steep escarpment grades exceed the maximum allowable by Council for traditional pit & pipe drainage systems and severely restrict access for the safe operation of some construction vehicles & machinery. Our innovative solution was to design unconventional flexible High-Density Polyethylene (HDPE) pipelines, continuously electro-fusion welded on site and anchored into the ground with sizable restraint anchor anchors. This design allowed the pipes to be continuously fed into the trench from the top of the escarpment (minimising the amount of machinery required on the steep embankment during construction), whilst providing the flexibility and secure anchoring to make the steep pipe grades possible. This approach has already proved successful in Stage 1 of the development and has allowed for the successful completion of this development.
