Villawood Breaks Ground on $18m Sunbury Redstone Club

Villawood Properties has begun building a $18-million resort-style residents club at its 2500-lot Redstone masterplanned community in Sunbury and says such facilities translate into stronger sales. The club will become the developer’s 11th such facility. The ClarkeHopkinsClarke Architects-designed club is to feature heated swimming pools, splash decks, sports courts, a gymnasium, cafe, function venue and childcare facilities. Villawood chief executive Alan Miller said the clubs addressed community integration challenges in greenfield developments. “We have people who come to live here from all different places. They don’t know who their neighbours are going to be. They want to meet new people and make new friends,” Miller said. The facilities provide what Miller described as “a melting pot of activity”, while Villawood executive director Rory Costelloe said the clubs served as modern equivalents to traditional community infrastructure, such as churches and scout halls. “It’s our job as developers to make sure that all these people come to these new communities and get a chance to meet each other,” Costelloe told The Urban Developer . “We want them to feel connected. The clubs have a big function space that holds at least a couple of hundred people for weddings, 21st birthdays, community meetings, AGMs, or just group activities like Pilates classes.” The clubs serve as immediate social infrastructure, functioning as community hubs years before government-provided amenities typically emerge in new suburbs. They also stage events, provide programs and classes across age groups. ▲ Villawood executive director Rory Costelloe, chief executive Alan Miller and Sunbury MP Josh Bull. The model delivered measurable sales benefits, Costelloe said. “Once clubs are built, we’ve seen improvement in prices and sales rates in the order of 20 to 30 per cent for sales rates, and listed prices in the order of probably 5 per cent,” he said. “And it attracts more owner-occupiers because investors don’t like paying owners corporation fees on behalf of tenants, which suits us fine,” Costelloe said. “We get a higher percentage of owner-occupiers and what comes with that is better garden care, nicer presentation—it’s just a better quality community.” Club Redstone’s curved architectural form draws inspiration from surrounding landscape features, incorporating warm textured bricks and rust-red facades reference regional soil characteristics. The sustainable design features generous glazing across two levels, oriented to capture views and natural light. ClarkeHopkinsClarke Architects partner Ngaio Chalmers said Club Redstone represented the first clubhouse project integrating childcare facilities, creating “an active, communal meeting place for people of all ages”. The Redstone project follows Villawood’s $14.5-million Club Alamora that opened at Tarneit in May. The developer has more clubs planned, including another at Sunbury, this one at its Kimberley project, two developments at Adelaide, one at Cairns and two Moorabool projects near Geelong. ▲ The clubs are the single biggest, and best, difference between Villawood and other developers, Miller said. Villawood’s club model delivered measurable financial benefits to residents through annual owners corporation levies of around $1000. The facilities provided gymnasium access typically costing $1000 annually elsewhere, eliminated home pool installation and maintenance costs, and the high-end amenities boosted property valuations, the developer said. Construction by Jardon Group is scheduled for completion in the spring of 2026. Costelloe said each of the facility incorporated lessons from previous developments. “Each time we just learn about functionality and changing trends of what people actually want,” Costelloe said. “This one has more work-from-home space and integrated childcare, which helps attract owner-occupiers and younger families.” Villawood has continued its community-focused expansion across Australia’s eastern seaboard growth corridors with the developer breaking ground on its $250-million Baya community at Southern Redland Bay in Queensland last month.

Villawood Breaks Ground on $18m Sunbury Redstone Club

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