The Point

Where

community

and

conservation

meet

Delivering an ecologically sensitive and sustainable community near a RAMSAR-listed wetland that will preserve and protect the environment for future generations.

Environmental sustainability is at the core of The Point, a popular, premier coastal community being developed by Moremac Property Group near the beautiful RAMSAR-listed wetlands of Swan Bay in Point Lonsdale, Victoria.

Client

Moremac Property Group

Location

Australia

Expertise

Urban Communities Development Management Environment and Social Impact Assessment

SMEC are a valuable part of our team for this most complicated project. We value their input.

———— Bryce Moore, Director of Moremac Property Group.

Bringing a sustainable vision to life

Since 2013, SMEC has provided planning, survey, environment, infrastructure and urban engineering services for the project, which consists of approximately 600 homes and a 170-unit retirement village surrounded by waterways, wetlands and parklands.

The Point’s centrepiece is a winding, five-kilometre, tidally flushed loop of waterway, around which the residential, commercial, open space and conservation areas are being built. Our specialist teams have been integral in the delivery of this key aspect of the community and are providing solutions to an array of challenges.

The landscape was heavily modified by past land uses, including grazing in the 1800s, shell grit mining from the 1940s to the 1980s and previous attempts at urban development, which have had a significant impact on the environmental integrity of the site.

We brought in specialists from across SMEC’s business, in environment, survey, geotechnical and engineering design, to create the solutions that deliver Moremac’s vision of a sustainable and genuinely environmentally-focused development.

———— Greg Healey, Team Leader, SMEC Urban Engineering

Moremac Property Group is focused on delivering the development sustainably, with positive environmental impact and significant gains in the future repair, protection and preservation of the ecosystem around The Point.

The development is being implemented in accordance with a comprehensive approval issued by the Commonwealth Minister for the Environment. This approval requires ongoing environmental management and the implementation of the development in accordance with strict controls.

Environmental excellence recognised by industry

The team’s careful work was recognised when The Point became one of the first communities to achieve the Urban Development Institute of Australia’s (UDIA) nationally recognised EnviroDevelopment certification across all six elements; ecosystems, waste, energy, materials, water and community.

The project also won both the Environmental Excellence Award and Judges’ Award Regional Victoria at the 2020 Urban Development Institute of Australia (UDIA) Victorian awards. Greg Healey, SMEC’s Team Leader of Urban Engineering in Geelong, has worked on The Point for the past couple of years. “Because of the complexity of the development and the diverse challenges we faced in the delicate environment, we relied heavily on team collaboration and shared knowledge,” he said. “We’re really proud of what we’ve accomplished together.”