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 Site Ecology
 Place Making
 Estate Design
 Access and Transport
 Materials and Recycling
 Water Management
 Energy Management
 Climate Change Adaptation
 Sustainability Management

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Browse Fact Sheets by topic: Site Ecology

Design for Open Space

  • Site Ecology
  • Place Making and Social Sustainability
  • Estate Design
    • Content rating:
    • 3 stars
    • Commissioned Content: Commissioned Content

New residential estates need an integrated and connected open space network that meets the needs of residents and surrounding habitats and to provide a variety of recreational opportunities whilst addressing local catchment and stormwater management needs.  Within an estate, open space provides opportunities to preserve and enhance natural elements of a site, facilitate social interactions and encourage a healthy lifestyle.

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Tools and rating systems for land developers

  • Site Ecology
  • Place Making and Social Sustainability
  • Estate Design
  • Access and Transport
  • Materials and Recycling
  • Water Management
  • Energy Management
  • Sustainablity Management
    • Content rating:
    • 3 stars
    • Commissioned Content: Commissioned Content

This factsheet showcases some of the existing tools that are available to guide land developers in achieving more sustainable subdivision or precinct-scale development. It is likely that we will see more emphasis on tools and rating systems for this scale of development in Australia in the near future.

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Indigenous Flora and Fauna

  • Site Ecology
    • Content rating:
    • 3 stars
    • Commissioned Content: Commissioned Content

Indigenous flora and fauna needs to be considered/managed as a primary development planning stage, at the beginning of conceptualisation of a development project.

 
 

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Biodiversity in urban developments

  • Site Ecology
  • Estate Design
  • Water Management
  • Climate Change Adaption
    • Content rating:
    • 3 stars
    • Commissioned Content: Commissioned Content

Urban biodiversity exists in parks, street plantings, private gardens, vacant lots and along waterways. With development, urban environments can change quickly and dramatically because they are designed, constructed, managed and controlled by humans. It is important to understand the impacts and interactions of humans, the built form, and residual and emergent biodiversity.

 

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Soil Management

  • Site Ecology
  • Estate Design
    • Content rating:
    • 3 stars
    • Commissioned Content: Commissioned Content

Soil and its management is a fundamental part of any development project. Soil type, structure, and chemistry all need to be given due consideration – at the design stage, during development works, and following completion, in order to ensure that environmental values are not compromised, that contaminated or particularly reactive soils are not disturbed in such a way as to harm the environment, and that development features including landscaping, buildings, dwellings and structures are not compromised by changes to soil characteristics, such as moisture content, or soil chemistry.

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Whole of life costing

  • Site Ecology
  • Materials and Recycling
  • Sustainablity Management
    • Content rating:
    • 2 stars
    • Commissioned Content: Commissioned Content

Principally, WLC can be characterised as a systematic approach balancing capital with revenue costs to achieve an optimum solution over a construction’s whole life. Costs include internal resources, they also include risk allowances as required; flexibility (predicted alterations for known change in business requirements, for example), repair costs and the costs relating to sustainability and health and safety aspects.

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Microclimate

  • Site Ecology
  • Estate Design
  • Climate Change Adaption
    • Content rating:
    • 4 stars
    • Commissioned Content: Commissioned Content

Sustainable development achieves potentially greater levels of energy efficiency through the principles of design for climate and through utilising or influencing local microclimate conditions. It is possible to create a development environment which maintains conditions within human comfort zones without reliance on additional energy for heating and cooling.
 

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Landscaping Public Areas

  • Site Ecology
  • Estate Design
    • Content rating:
    • 3 stars
    • Commissioned Content: Commissioned Content

Developers need to think about the public landscape from a whole of project perspective early on during the development process. This will help to take advantage of any site specific qualities or characteristics and plan for their protection or enhancement. Such qualities or characteristics may include vegetation, soil health, and site hydrology.
 

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Ecological footprint

  • Site Ecology
  • Climate Change Adaption
  • Sustainablity Management
    • Content rating:
    • 3 stars
    • Commissioned Content: Commissioned Content

The ecological footprint or 'eco-footprint' is a tool to measure our ecological performance. It tracks how much individuals, organisations, cities, regions and a nation consume and compares this amount to the resources nature can provide.

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Siting

  • Site Ecology
  • Estate Design
  • Access and Transport
  • Water Management
  • Energy Management
    • Content rating:
    • 3 stars
    • Commissioned Content: Commissioned Content

The decisions that are made during the initial site selection and the subsequent site design will have a significant impact on the development's overall sustainability. A range of issues need to be considered, including where to actually site the community, how to incorporate the existing natural features into the design, where to place roads, dwellings, parks and community facilities and how this will all fit within the context of the existing community and the overall objectives of the development.

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