Bushmead redevelopment
RPS has provided a range of environmental services and planning expertise to support the redevelopment of a disused rifle range site in suburban Perth.Â
Challenge
Located in the suburb of Hazelmere, Bushmead is a 273 ha site once used by the Commonwealth for Defence and police rifle training. With the land sitting idle, a proposal to redevelop a portion to accommodate residential housing was formed. A Conservation Covenant was lodged on the site and areas earmarked for conservation along with two zones where homes could be built.Â
With a requirement to remediate any lasting impacts from the site’s former use and a number of other environmental constraints to consider, Bushmead's developer, Cedar Woods, called on RPS to support environmental investigations, planning and approvals for the project. Â
Solution
Environmental sustainability is a key focus for Bushmead’s development and its design centres around the conservation, protection and rehabilitation of surrounding flora and fauna. Key considerations included the presence of spent bullets that could pose a contamination risk, remnant vegetation of high conservation value and a neighbouring poultry farm with an odour buffer zone that extended into the Bushmead site.
To navigate these constraints and secure positive planning and development yield outcomes for Cedar Woods, our team undertook contamination and remediation investigations, flora and fauna surveys, an Environmental Assessment Report which underpinned the site’s re-zoning, and developed key management plans.
Environmental assessment and land use planning
Our team undertook the detailed environmental investigations required to form a clear understanding of areas suitable for residential development (88 ha) and conservation areas that should be protected (185 ha). Vegetation has been protected through the retention, restoration and protection of the best quality vegetation and additional revegetation is ongoing at the site.
Informed by our Environmental Assessment Report, referral under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999, Bushland Management, and Foreshore Management Plans, both State and Federal environmental agencies have acknowledged that the redevelopment of Bushmead will improve the overall condition of the land.
Contamination management
RPS contaminated land specialists completed detailed site assessments and prepared contaminated site management documents as part of voluntary audit process. This approach allowed Cedar Woods to include a Voluntary Audit Report from the Contaminated Sites Auditor in its Development Application (DA) for Bushmead, avoiding a contamination condition and allowing the development to proceed more quickly.
Urban water management
RPS continues to support the redevelopment through hydrological services and preparation of its Urban Water Management Plan (UWMP). This has included developing a stormwater management strategy and undertaking stormwater modelling and designing water treatment and storage areas in line with regulatory requirements and water sensitive urban design principles.
RPS worked closely with the project team to determine preferred location of bioretention areas and flood basins and has provided support for planning and civil design inputs while preparing the UWMPs.
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