A brand-new suburb will soon rise from the rural paddocks nestled between Cardup Siding and Hopkinson roads.
‘Constellar’ at Cardup Junction will be a master-planned community developed by Gold Estates and Richard Noble & Company.
The two have worked together in partnership for over 80 years.
“During that time, we have proudly played a role in the development of some of Perth’s most well-known and sought-out suburbs, from Maylands, Mount Lawley, Inglewood, Bayswater, to Bull Creek, Trigg, Leeming, Bicton, and Atwell,” Managing Director of Richard Noble Alex Gregg said.
“And more recently we’ve been responsible for the creation of a number of vibrant new communities in the City of Cockburn, including Thomsons Lake, Parkside, Wentworth West in the suburb of Success, and Eden Green and Vivente in Hammond Park.”
Civil works are currently underway at the 118-hectare site in Cardup, which was purchased by Gold Estates around 20 years ago.
And if all goes according to plan, the first 400-plus lots will start being released for sale by the end of this year, with the very first residents potentially welcomed by the end of next year.
Constellar will be made up of 1300 new residential lots in total, creating a new community on the outskirts of Byford numbering around 3000 people.
According to the plans, the available homesites will consist of a range of larger homestead lots, traditional suburban lots, and higher-density townhouse lots along a pedestrian-centred main thoroughfare.
The larger lots will front Cardup Siding Road to ‘transition’ from the rural lifestyle blocks opposite – a condition to satisfy planning approval.
In time, the estate will also include a high school, primary school, commercial/entertainment centre, district sports oval and nine community parks.
The boulevards of gums that are a feature on the existing site will be retained as an asset for the new community, and the plans show an intention to leave enough space to line any new streets with trees and greenery.
The new estate will run alongside the Tonkin Highway Extension and have access to it via Orton Road, once it’s completed.
And Transperth has indicated that it intends to create a new bus route from the new Byford Station through the estate at some point in the future.
A large number of objections to the new estate were put forward by Cardup locals during the planning approval process. They voiced a wide range of concerns, but common amongst them was a fear that the density of this new estate and the traffic created by two new schools, would shatter the rural and equine idyll they bought into.
Many were also concerned about the effect the development would have on stormwater run-off into their properties.
Nevertheless, the WAPC Statutory Planning Committee approved the structure plan last year.
While Gold Estates has been in the business of land development for well over a century, Constellar will mark a first for the company.
On Wednesday, the Shire of Serpentine Jarrahdale became the first signatory to a ‘community compact’; a contract designed to bring the shire, local businesses, community organisations and residents together alongside Richard Noble & Company to “foster an inclusive, supportive and sustainable community”.
“From the earliest stage, we knew that we wanted community and connection to be the cornerstones of this project, and for the last four years we’ve been engaging with the Cardup community to better understand the values, attributes, and aspirations of our local stakeholders,” Chair of Gold Estates John Atkins said.
He explained that three key themes emerged from initial engagement with community stakeholders: employment, environment, and community – what is known by urban planners as the ‘triple bottom line’ of sustainable development.
And he’s hoping that many more community members will be signing on in future to help guide the project. A few were there at the official signing on Wednesday.
This all sounds lovely in principle, but how will it work?
When the Examiner asked for a more detailed explanation, there was little more forthcoming.
The best we got was that this was an evolving concept which will become more defined as it progresses, and that the company is choosing to remain flexible until they hear ideas from the community.
The concept of a community compact is not actually a new one in the industry.
Master-planned communities (MPCs) have been a phenomenon on the metropolitan fringes of the Australian landscape for the last five decades or so.
They’ve sprung up as a housing solution to population booms, and an alternative to circumvent the negative social effects created by urban sprawl through willy-nilly subdivision.
The pandemic has only supercharged their appeal, with the social impact of lockdowns and supply shortages triggering a rethink on how to make neighbourhoods more resilient.
At the heart of MPCs is the ideal of building ‘inclusive’ and ‘liveable’ communities, where residents are active participants in these utopic micro-societies.
And the idea of community compacts, or at least community involvement in the planning and functioning of these MPCs, has been a documented feature of several across multiple capital cities since the turn of the century.
But it does appear to be a novel process in these parts.
The shire’s Director Development Services Andrew Trosic said this was the first time he’s ever encountered an initiative of this kind.
“It’s quite unique,” he said, and added that he felt the company had done its homework, taking notes from planning mistakes in Byford.
Unfortunately, despite the ‘sustainable community’ marketing hype behind MPCs, academic studies have shown they don’t always live up to the hopes and dreams they sell. In America, the phenomenon of gated communities has often created a fractured, and segregated society leading to the coining of the term ‘Fortress America’.
In Australia, the more successful MPCs show a proactive approach by developers to both create a built environment and a program of activities that encourage social interaction. These activities could include a welcome program; development of community programs and activities as more residents move in; community newsletters and social media forums; a ‘community initiatives fund’ to support community-driven development initiatives; and ongoing consultation.
By facilitating these opportunities to engage with developers, their neighbours and their environment, it allows residents to build a sense of connection, belonging and ownership.
While the Constellar community compact might be very light on detail at the moment, Byford Secondary College Principal Paul Jones said the folks from Richard Noble, Creating Communities, and Gold Estates had “already engaged in real and tangible ways” with the community.
He said they’d reached out a few years back and had “begun discussions about how our college and these organisations could work together to support genuine community development”.
“I can say that this in itself was unusual, because I’ve worked with a number of developers in a number of schools, and I have not experienced such an overt commitment to building community,” he said.
The first example of the developers putting their money where their mouths are was a promise to come on board as an industry partner for the SJ Career and Enterprise Expo hosted by Byford Secondary College. They have committed to funding this year’s event to the tune of $10,000.
Mr Jones said he’s also excited by the promise of a new high school, with the area’s growth quickly outpacing the capacity of the local high schools.
But the schedule for the development of both the new primary and secondary schools at Constellar will be dictated by the state government.
Hard lessons were learnt by those pioneering families who moved into the Sienna Wood estate in Hilbert over a decade ago.
Promises of a primary school and town centre are only just now being realised, with both due for opening next year.
Meanwhile, those kids who were supposed to attend the new primary school within walking distance of their homes are now high school-aged.
A 2021 study by Buys, Newton and Walker which sought to highlight the lived experiences of residents in emerging MPCs, discovered that, for many residents, their feelings about their chosen community, and their direct involvement in that community were directly connected to “the length of time it takes for promised planned infrastructure to materialise”.
“Communities come alive at Constellar” is the tagline for the new Cardup Junction estate.
But, as always with new developments, only time will tell if the stars align to make that plug a reality.
