How the Kinma Valley masterplan was co-created
The creation of Kinma Valley was the result of a remarkable collaboration between Lendlease, environmental groups, local community members and top ecologists and zoologists.
Our masterplan for this exciting new community followed extensive consultation and input from many different groups, ensuring it both delivers on local needs and protects native fauna and flora.
Stretching over more than two years, workshops and design sessions led by a team of expert planners and ecologists considered all aspects of the future community with the views of participants incorporated into the final Kinma Valley design.
Habitat protection is an integral part of the Kinma Valley design, so we asked leading specialists to contribute to reports and oversee our land management plans.
We created a Community and Environment Reference Group to work more closely on community creation, and also involved regional wildlife care and rescue groups, community environmental educators and other local groups throughout the planning period.
Workshops were undertaken on many different elements of the community creation process, with the desires and needs of the community at the forefront in areas such as:
• Creating leafy green streets that encourage community connection and interaction
• Promoting a distinctive architectural style with clearly defined street entry for homes
• Designing community parks that blend into neighbouring streets and encourage people to gather
• Providing a genuine village heart as a place of discovery, allowing for evolution of uses
Kinma Valley Senior Development Manager, Tanya Martin, stressed how important co-creating with the community was for Kinma Valley, especially when considering environmental impacts and constraints.
“All this work has greatly influenced our plans for this community,” she said.
“Protecting and enhancing local environmental outcomes has been the key priority for Lendlease and we are extremely grateful to the environmental, indigenous and community groups that have worked so collaboratively.
“Our approach to the masterplan was to understand our environmental constraints first, so we could work around them, rather than expecting the environment to work around us.”
Mitch Taylor and Wayne Moffitt, from environmental consultancy 28South, had the task of ensuring the masterplan would be respectful of the native wildlife and their habitats.
Mitch and Wayne worked closely with University of Queensland Ecological Researcher, Dr Bill Ellis, to formulate a strategy resulting in the right balance between conservation and development.
“We looked at the community from a holistic perspective; how the site currently serves our koala populations and how the masterplan could benefit their habitats. We worked together with Bill, the masterplan team, urban designers, and engineers to submit our development application, which was approved,” Mitch said.
See the Kinma Valley masterplan here.