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Too few developments present as innovative these days.
Abadi Gaia Adult Residential Village is distinctive by way of integrating resort living, environmental sustainability and medical services into a functional retirement eco-village.
It offers “contemporary continuum of care” with diverse dwelling options, facilities and programs addressing social wellness, mental wellness, health and care services and promotion of self-sustainability in an eco-village setting.
Abadi Gaia Adult Residential Village caters for the active ageing retiree, seniors and elderly in a whole-of-life design. The development includes:
189 ILU retirement village
81 high-care suites by way of 27 bed dementia ward and 54 bed aged-care ward
15 SDA ILAs by way of a special disability accommodation building [MS ward].
The development will be constructed progressively over six years.
As to ESD principles, Abadi Gaia has obtained the highest possible six leaf environmental rating from the Urban Development Institute of Australia, which involves yearly auditing for compliance.
The ratings are a nationally recognised independent process having gained formal acceptance and assessment fast-tracking in Brisbane and Gold Coast councils.
In this regard, an intense environmental design focus was placed upon creating high utility koala, fruit bat and black cockatoo habitats.
Historically, the site was previously stripped for logging and left barren until the early ’90s. Regrowth has occurred, and the site has retrieved some of its former glory but unfortunately hasn’t recovered its remnant vegetative structural form and suffers from degradation and weed infestation.
If unattended the site will continue to degrade; a condition arising from dispersive soils and the highly invasive guinea grass and lantana which constantly reseeds.
Guinea grass is a well-known barrier to the soft footed koala, significantly increases fire risk and degrades ecological values.
Attending to guinea grass reinfestation is highly problematic and requires an overarching management scheme which will attend to the perpetual operational requirements needed to remove, restore, maintain and correct site deterioration.
The developers acknowledge koalas intermittently walk across the site and, after completing two years of collecting field data, have demonstrated koala usage is very low to low.
Koala experts believe the low activity levels are related to roaming activity focused on the preferred forest red gum habitat of Woogaroo Creek and low site utility.
Notwithstanding, the developer intends to improve the site’s carrying capacity and restore habitats to a standard capable of sustaining several resident koalas.
With an impressive masterplan achieving a highly permeable footprint with a ~82.8 per cent koala permeability, ~89 per cent vegetated lot line and extremely low 15.5 per cent building cover.
Add an extensive suite of mitigation measures focused on restoring degraded environments, improving connectivity and site accessibility, and significantly bolster optimum feeding opportunities, they have a good chance of success.
Additional measures will reduce risk from domestic animal attacks, car strikes and bushfire.
The proposal has been designed to exceed the current Queensland Best Practice Koala Guidelines 2022, was settled after a detailed assessment process having been completed by the Queensland state government [SARA], Department of Environment, Science and Innovation [DESI-koala section] and local council environmental officers.
The project is testament to the development industry adapting to ever tightening environmental legislation.
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