Alma Place, 24 Alma Road, Beechworth, Victoria

Proudly supported by Indigo Shire Council as part of the Sustainable Subdivisions Framework

​“The SSF was an opportunity that we couldn’t afford to not take up - for the benefit of ourselves, our grandchildren, and the environment in general. The philosophy and the requirements associated with the framework are consistent with our core values,” 
Mr Geddis.

Early establishment of new trees on the Alma Place site

​Subdivision summary
The proposed Alma Place development, located at 24 Alma Road in Beechworth, provides a good case study of how the Sustainable Subdivisions Framework (SSF) can guide and facilitate exemplary sustainability outcomes on a small residential development project.
 
Alma Place meets or exceeds the majority of the sustainability performance criteria outlined in the SSF across all seven categories. Key sustainability initiatives proposed include:

• Subdivision layout designed to optimise the solar orientation potential of 100% of lots and the retention of 30-40% of existing vegetation on site.
• Despite the small size of the development, a community park is proposed within the site to encourage social interaction, provide space for growing produce and water sensitive urban design (WSUD) stormwater treatments.
• An integrated stormwater management system, including rainwater capture and permeable landscape areas within private lots, rain-gardens, swale drainage, an ephemeral pond and retarding basin as part of the public realm.
• Consideration to the circularity of materials and waste, with recycled, renewable and low-embodied carbon materials to be utilised in civil and dwelling construction, and onsite waste management.
• Preparation of Design Guidelines, which will stipulate a range of sustainability criteria, including solar orientation, building envelopes, solar PV, battery storage and EV charging, open style fencing with landscape screening, rainwater harvesting and indigenous planting. The design guidelines will be registered on title, and house designs are to be vetted by a design review committee.

Subdivision stats
 
Developer: Alexander Geddis and Anne Geddis 
Development size: 1.121 Ha                                         
Number of dwellings: 7 single dwellings / 7 lots
Development Plan approved: December 2022
Subdivision Application approved: March 2023
Completion date: TBC               

Alexander and Anne Geddis discuss the plans with Indigo Shire Council

Key sustainable design commitments

1. Site Layout and Liveability

• Topographically responsive development to minimise cut & fill and allow for the retention of as much native vegetation as possible.
• Access and lot layout provides for the long side of future houses to be aligned east-west, allowing for optimum solar access.

2. Streets and Public Realm

• The development provides a common open space (community park) for the use of residents and visitors, to encourage interaction within the site. The open space will be held within common property. It is proposed that the community park will incorporate WSUD features and communal wicking beds for vegetable production.
• Open wire fences facilitate community interaction whilst respecting the semi-rural heritage of the area.
• Existing native vegetation will be retained where possible within the internal private road. Additional trees and shrubs will be planted to ensure at least 1 tree per 10 metres of street frontage. Verges are to be planted with native shrubs in lieu of grass.
• The road reserve will also incorporate rain gardens and drainage swales planted with native vegetation, to provide habitat to local fauna and assist with water retention and treatment on site.
• Narrower road pavements with no kerb and gutter facilitate stormwater infiltration, reduce urban heat and create a rural aesthetic.

 
3. Energy

• 100% of lots will have the capacity to orient new dwellings towards the north. All efforts have been made in lot location, orientation, and size to provide for maximum passive solar design principles to be implemented. Building envelopes will be established to encourage northern orientation.
• Passive Solar Design principles will be reinforced within the Design Guidelines for all new homes within the development. The design guidelines will be registered on title.
• Design guidelines will encourage all new dwellings to have E-Vehicle charging capacity within the residence.

 
4. Ecology

• The intention is to retain as much of the existing native vegetation as possible within the entire subdivision. Retention of tree canopy and habitat corridors has been considered from the outset in planning the development. It is estimated that at least 30%, and up to 40%, of existing mature native trees will be retained.
• Some trees will be removed to optimise passive solar design and access to year-round solar capture for dwellings. Some trees may also pose an unacceptable bush fire risk within the site.

 
5. Integrated Water Management

• A multi-faceted integrated stormwater management system is proposed, including water capture from dwelling roofs, pavements and overflow from property water tanks; and permeable gardens and rain-gardens; as well as inlet pits, street swale drainage and final discharge to an ephemeral pond and retarding basis as part of the community park.
• The Design Guidelines stipulate the inclusion of at a minimum 10,000 litre water tanks, permeability guidelines and the installation of WELS rated fixtures within 1 star of the best available.

 
6. Urban Heat

• Substantial tree retention and new planting is planned to maximise canopy cover across the site.
• Design guidelines will require lighter roof colours for all new dwellings.

 ​
7. Circular Economy (Materials and Waste)

• The existing passive-solar-designed dwelling is to be retained and form one of the seven dwellings on private lots.
• The design guidelines will encourage the use of renewable and recycled material in the construction of all new dwellings.
• The design guidelines will outline the suggestions to reduce the embodied energy of building material eg. fly ash content of concrete, plantation timbers or metal products produced using renewable energy.
• It is intended that a high proportion of construction material used in the private road infrastructure will be able to be recycled.
• Composting of organic materials will be encouraged onsite to supplement vegetable production in the community wicking beds.

Lop Left: Construction of the swale, for manging stormwater within the communal road
Top right: The approved plans, indicating proposed vegetation, lots and building envelopes
Bottom left, right: Significant retained vegetation on site

Challenges

• The proponent sought to achieve a semi-rural character to the development through informal and ecologically sensitive street and landscaping treatments, such as narrower road reserves with no kerb and guttering and gravel or landscaped shoulders, road pavement sealed to a rural standard and landscaped drainage swales. This approach was not easily facilitated by local engineering requirements which typically require roads to be engineered to a more formal urban standard. The applicant perceived that achieving council approval for the desired outcome would be too difficult and instead opted to create the internal street as a private road within common ownership. Whilst this provides the developer and future owners more freedom to control the street design and maintenance in the future, it also places an ongoing maintenance and insurance cost burden on these residents.
• There is a perception that it has become increasingly more difficult and time consuming in recent years to get permits for ‘alternative development’ typologies such as Alma Place. This is mirrored by the developer’s sentiments that approval processes have been unnecessarily complex and time consuming for Alma Place. 

​

Learnings

• The case study indicates that elevated sustainability can be achieved by applying the Sustainable Subdivisions Framework to even small subdivisions.
• Whilst the breadth of metrics within the SSF may be overwhelming to some less experienced developers and smaller project teams, the developer of Alma Rd reflected that the availability of such an extensive list of ESD interventions in this case provided a useful resource for their team.
• There is an expectation from developers that local government planners should be aware of, promote and be able to advise on sustainable subdivision initiatives.
• If local government planners do not have in-house sustainable subdivision experience, developers perceive approvals will be more difficult and slower. The Alma Rd developers felt they should be rewarded and encouraged for their high standards with a fast-tracked planning process.

​Industry events, webinars and other advocacy and communications have the ability to reach an audience who may not otherwise be aware of sustainability initiatives such as the SSF and have the potential to result in positive outcomes on the ground.
​

Conclusion
The Alma Place case study shows that the size of neither the development nor the developer is the determining factor in whether exemplary sustainability outcomes can be achieved. This development goes above and beyond to achieve a great result for future residents and local community, the region and the Victorian development community.
 
The Alma Place development’s achievements point to the fact that programs such as the SSF can provide substantial utility to developments of all sizes, and suggest the need for proactive and supportive advocates for the sustainable subdivision development across local government teams.

Sustainable Subdivision Participating Councils