Sustainability, now and in the future
Villawood Properties has been setting the benchmarks for increasingly sustainable housing for years.
It has runs on the boards, awards in the showcase and, critically, ready assets on the market with more planned for the future.
It mandated 7-star NatHERS precincts in its communities years before government. It tipped household water and solar use on its head to international acclaim. It introduced microgrids to mainstream housing projects.
Securing Our Water Supply
Villawood supports government initiatives that help to secure water supplies in years to come. Its Aquarevo community recycled South East Water’s former Cranbourne sewerage plant into a state-of-the-art water/energy showcase – with savings of 70% water and potentially more with electricity. It also has its own in-house sewerage treatment.
Villawood Properties and South East Water collaborated on Aquarevo, to show that there’s a better way to use water at home – without losing the health and liveability that water offers. Every Aquarevo home will save up to 70% drinking water as they will be plumbed with three types of water: drinking water, recycled water and rainwater.
Wetlands and Drainage Systems
At Delaray, Clyde North, the project resurrected a degraded Clyde Creek with 60,000 native plants, and a major new wetland, taking out the current Urban Development Institute of Australia (Vic) Sustainability Excellence award.
Three different and highly-engineered stormwater systems at Wandana, near Geelong, helped Villawood win the 2022 UDIA (Vic) Best Residential Development Award under 250 Lots.
Biodiversity Offset
Villawood has bolstered biodiversity by donating a block of bushland to forest reserves for every residential block it sells – around 600 hectares to date, with lots more in the pipeline. There’s another sweet side to Villawood’s sustainability efforts, as well.
Villawood’s donated biodiversity bushland, in Bendigo, provides habitat for the bees that underpin the environment’s health – producing two tonnes of Kamarooka honey which it gives away in 1kg tubs each year.
Award Winning Initiatives
For 35 years Villawood has led the way in innovation and sustainability to create award-winning communities.
2023: Delaray Wetlands, Clyde North: UDIA Award Excellence in Sustainability
2023: Care Worker Support Program: UDIA Award Excellence in Marketing
2022: Club Rathdowne Residents’ Club: Great Place Award
2022: Wandana: UDIA Best Residential Development Award – under 250 lots
2021: Montego Hills: UDIA Queensland Residential Development Award
2020: Montego Hills: UDIA Queensland Residential Subdivision Award Winner
2019: Aquarevo, Lyndhurst: Environmental Excellence, UDIA Awards
2019: Delaray, Clyde North: Best Residential Development, UDIA Awards for Excellence
2018: Armstrong Mt Duneed – UDIA Community Engagement Excellence Award
2018: Tony Johnson – UDIA Lifetime Achievement Award
2017: Armstrong, Mt Duneed, UDIA Award Excellence, Masterplanned Community
2017: Rory Costelloe – UDIA Lifetime Achievement Award
2017: Aquarevo, UDIA 6-Star accreditation Enviro Development
Energy Efficient Communities
Fully gas-free communities at its major Redstone and Kimberley projects at Melbourne’s Sunbury, as well as interstate and in precincts in other masterplanned communities, including Geelong.
Seven-star energy precincts in communities, including Geelong, well ahead of government regulation, with lot layout designs and building guidelines to improve efficiency of passive heating/cooling. A ground-breaking micro-grid network, The Solstice, at its Rathdowne community in Melbourne’s to minimise energy costs.
Sustainability principles and practices are integrated into all aspects of the Villawood business such as:
- Low‐energy street lighting.
- Recycled timber and aggregates.
- Low embedded energy playgrounds.
- Sustainable landscaping elements requiring less water and maintenance.
A Sustainable Future For Our Communities
New Villawood projects in the pipeline are aiming to deliver:
- Up to 25% of all housing to be affordable housing delivered by VillaRange (9-stars NaTHERS Standard Rating)
- Up to 25% of housing net zero
- 8-star NaTHERS Standard Rating housing precinct
- 7-star NaTHERS Standard Rating to all housing
- Minimum 3.3kw Solar PV to all housing
- Provision of battery capabilities
- No reticulated gas
- Public electric bike charging stations
- Public EV charging stations
- Solar street lighting
