ResidentialPatrick LauWed 03 Jun 26
Landen Approved for Bella Vista Homes After Flooding Redesign
A $298-million Landen development in Sydney’s north-west has won approval after design changes in response to flood risks.
The Transport Oriented Development project at 40 Memorial Avenue and 1Z Free Settlers Drive, Bella Vista received a number of submissions related to flood risk as well as onsite and offsite flood impacts.
Landen may now proceed with four residential buildings in two stages, with an unchanged yield of 438 apartments and six townhouses, after elevating two buildings by 1.4 metres.
The project has been upsized from a $100-million 2023 version, which proposed 224 homes across six buildings.
The 20,511sq m site is about 30km from the Sydney CBD, 12km from the Parramatta CBD and 850m from the Bella Vista and Kellyville Metro stations.
A floor space ratio of 1.96:1 will now yield 50,272sq m of gross floor area, with Turner-designed apartments leaning towards larger, family-oriented typologies.
The 134 three-bedroom apartments and townhouses make up 30.2 per cent of the housing mix, and the 20 four-bedroom and penthouse units make up 4.5 per cent of the mix. A 7 per cent affordable component by GFA will also be included in the form of monetary contributions.
Two basement levels will contain 504 car parking spaces and the ground level will have 201 bicycle spaces.
Under the amendments, two of the buildings have been elevated, and ground plane and lobbies have been redesigned in response. Loading docks, ramps and other services have also been adjusted.
Residents will now be able to shelter in place during Probable Maximum Flood events. Scenarios resulting in flash flooding on the site would evolve too quickly to allow evacuation during peak flood depth, according to modelling associated with the application.
Impedance from a bridge over Elizabeth Macarthur Creek, which is the subject of a separate existing approval, may cause increases of flood levels up to 300mm upstream.
However, the bridge was decoupled from flood impacts of the buildings in follow-on modelling. Engineering adjustments have now been made to address stormwater, on-site detention and flooding of the buildings, reducing impact on neighbouring developments.
Directly upstream and to the north of the development, Landcom is progressing with 1300 homes under the broader 3800-home Bella Vista Station Precinct.
In March, Landen head of property Shane Harding outlined a strategic pivot outside of Sydney, with planning risk a catalyst for plotting a 5000-lot pipeline taking in growth centres in regional NSW, South-East Queensland and Melbourne.
