UDIA (VIC)

The Urban Development Institute of Australia (Victoria) today said the winners of its annual Awards for Excellence for 2012 reflected the high standard of planning and construction in residential communities throughout Victoria.

Tony De Domenico Executive Director  UDIA (VIC)

The Awards are in their 17th consecutive year and are generally held to be among the best and most sought-after of their kind in the industry.

Commenting on the 2012 awards UDIA (VIC) Executive Director Tony De Domenico said, "Residential projects in Victoria provided lifestyle opportunities which reflected a strong commitment to community development, environment and healthy living."

Mr De Domenico said, "The awards also reflected the high degree of skills within all areas of the property industry in Victoria which directly employs around 310,000 full time employees, contributes around 12 per cent of the state's gross domestic productivity, and continued to increase the quality of residential developments."

The following developments were awarded the highest accolade in their categories, of:

Master Planned Development - Winner
Stockland - Highlands, Craigieburn
Master Planned Development - Commendation
Lend Lease - Laurimar, Doreen

Residential Development 250 lots or fewer
Central Equity - Sefton Grange, Mount Martha
More than 250 lots
Peet Limited - Cardinia Lakes, Pakenham

Medium Density
red. c - Canopi, West Footscray

High Density
Michael Yates & Co in partnership with red. c - Claremont South Yarra
High Density Commendation
Lakehouse Apartments - The Lakehouse

Affordable Living
Women's Housing Ltd - Women's Housing, Bayswater

Urban Renewal
Walker Corporation - Main Drive Kew

Environmental Excellence
Evolve - The George, North Melbourne
Environmental Excellence Commendation
Monash City Council - The Euneva Project

Special Purpose Living
Bupa Wodonga, Bupa Care Services

Consultant Award
Karen Janiszewski
Landscape Award
Golden Sun Moth Park at Highlands

Judges Award
Mirvac - River Homes, Docklands

Mr De Domenico said, "The standard of entries this year continues to build a portfolio of exceptional projects being developed in Victoria".

"These UDIA awards benchmark '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 judging team of five, all of whom are skilled practitioners within the industry, traversed inner and outer Melbourne and country Victoria, extending as far as Wodonga, to view the projects entered in the awards.

Chairman of the Judges and past UDIA (Vic) board member Mark Bartley commented, "This year the projects offered a diverse range of product, facilities and amenity".

"We saw some excellent and truly deserving award recipients. Many developers are responding to the market and changing household demographics by offering a more diverse range of product."

Mark Bartley, partner at law firm HWL Ebsworth was joined by returning judges Mike Brickell, who is an architect, town planner and developer; Kathy Mitchell, Chief Panel Member of Planning Panels Victoria (PPV) and Past President and a Fellow of the Victoria Planning and Environmental Law Association (VPELA); Bernard McNamara, principal of BMDA Development Advisory, and; David Whitney, sessional member of PPV and past President of the Planning Institute of Australia (Victoria).

The judges noted in particular several projects which demonstrate clever design and careful planning to overcome site, engineering or topographical issues.

Mr Bartley commented, "We saw several impressive examples of sites with different problems to overcome. We saw former industrial sites and areas with planning or environmental constraints being rejuvenated with clever design outcomes."

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