THE UDIA AWARDS FOR EXCELLENCE PROVIDES INSIGHT INTO THE CHANGING NATURE OF DEVELOPMENT IN WESTERN AUSTRALIA AND EMERGING TRENDS. FOUR OF THE DEVELOPMENTS ARE EITHER TRANSPORT ORIENTATED DEVELOPMENTS (TODS) OR CONTAIN TODS WITHIN THE DEVELOPMENT.
The TOD concept underpins development from around the world and is based on the premise of having residential density (apartments and units) within walkable catchments of the train station or other transport hub. It has been widely accepted that people will walk for ten minutes to catch (quality) public transport. The area of a TOD is calculated based on the distance a person walking at 4.8km per hour can travel which creates a walkable catchment of 800 metres and an overall area of 2 square kilometres.
TODs occur all over the world; in the City of Paris, for example, all dwellings are less than 500 metres from a subway station. In Copenhagen the 1940’s Fingerplanen (Finger Plan) saw five fingers of high density stretching out along the rail line from the “palm” of the CBD.
The award winning developments in this year’s UDIA awards for Excellence reflect Perth’s increasing diversity and growing acceptance of a more dense way of living. Winning the medium density award was the Kingston Apartments at Cockburn Central. The development has 189 dwellings ranging from 50sqm – 89sqm and is within 200 square metres. To provide a high level of amenity, the four buildings in the development share a recreation area which has a lap pool, gym, outdoor cinema, barbeque and pizza oven.
The Village at Wellard (winner of the large residential development category) and the Invita Apartments (winner of the Affordable Category and located within the village), are developments focused on the Wellard Train Station. The Invita Apartments are 30 per cent lower than Perth’s average price, ranging from $280,000-$330,000 and have a six star energy efficient design. The Village is the larger precinct and will become home to 3,500 people in the future.
Winner of the Masterplanned community, Brighton in Perth’s north, has been delivering homes for 13 years and, when completed will be home to more than 25,000 people. From the outset the plan was to deliver dense urban villages round transport and town centre nodes. The first trains will depart from the Butler train station in just two weeks from tomorrow, an exciting time for residents and another milestone for Perth as we grow into a diverse and more sustainable city.