Development Industry overlooked for its Environmental Contribution

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UDIA (VIC)

The Urban Development Institute of Australia (Victoria) today said that many interest groups attacking broad acre developments in Victoria seem to overlook the major environmental contributions being provided by the industry across Victoria.


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Tony De Domenico
Executive Director 
UDIA (VIC)
 

Speaking prior to the 2011 UDIA Awards for Excellence to be announced on Thursday, UDIA (VIC) Executive Director Tony De Domenico said, the development industry, which employs directly and indirectly 200,000 Victorians and represents 12% of Victoria's economic activity, collectively spends tens of millions of dollars annually on the environment.

"This includes the creation of parks and open space, increasing the number of wetlands, planting hundreds of thousands of trees, the development of water sensitive drainage and recycling of water."

Mr De Domenico said in many cases the industry is taking over degraded rural land and creating new environmental sustainable ecosystems that will provide permanent solutions for these areas.

"Environmental excellence in urban development that has been developed over the past two decades also reflects the aspirations of the housing market and is now a key part of marketing and establishing new communities".

"Not only do new housing projects provide people with somewhere to live, they are also reflecting market demands where new home homebuyers often make their decision to purchase on the environmental quality of the estate and lifestyle it offers."

Mr De Domenico said in many areas, such as water conservation and wetland development, the Victorian development industry, through its collective investment, environmental research and engineering, had led the way especially with infill and broad acre projects.

"The standard of entries in the 2011 UDIA Awards for Excellence was very good with some exceptional projects".

"There is little doubt that the Awards lead to recognition of 'best practice' which in turn soon becomes common practice as we have seen with major achievements and standards being reached in environmental planning and management".

"Finding techniques and innovations to achieve a market advantage promotes competition and ensures a healthy future for the industry and considerable benefits for the community," Mr De Domenico said.

The UDIA Awards for Excellence are in their 16th consecutive year and are generally held to be among the best and most sought-after of their kind in the industry. The Victorian submissions will be amongst the nominations for the national awards, which are decided in March 2012

Media Enquiries:
Ron Smith, Corporate Media Communications, UDIA (VIC) - Mobile: 0417 329 201