Durham Green

Menangle, New South Wales, Australia

COMMENCEMENT DATE	2004
COMPLETION DATE	2008
CLIENT	Tulich Family Communities
BUILDING OWNER	Tulich Family Communities
DEVELOPER	Bonvale Enterprises
ARCHITECT	Bewster Hjorth
BUILDER	Patterson Building Group
CAPITAL VALUE	$43 Million

PROJECT

Floth was appointed the mechanical, electrical, hydraulic, vertical transportation and fire consultants to the development of Durham Green, a retirement village that offers a continuum of care from independent living to their Extra Services Aged Care Facility, The Manor. Durham Green is situated on a nine-hectare site and consists of a central facility containing 46 units and 168 villas. Due to the semi-rural location of the site, the retirement village does not have a connection to the Sydney mains sewer network. In order to manage sewerage and waste water at the village, Floth was required to design an onsite sewerage treatment system, which incorporated a recycled water distribution network.

The recycled water system utilises 100 percent of waste water generated at the village, which is used for toilet flushing and general garden irrigation. Since connecting to the Sydney Water sewer network was not an option, this worked in favour for the client as waste is managed onsite, and grey water is utilised within the village, saving on additional water costs.

Staging of the development was vitally important due to the limited water supply available to the site. Floth worked closely with the client and builder to develop a staging plan to ensure the peak demand did not exceed the available supply to the site. Consideration was given in the initial planning stages for the expected growth of the Menangle area, with Floth implementing a future plan for the village regarding waste water management. Floth designed the sewer drainage so that if a sewerage main is brought into the site, the village’s drainage can then be connected to Sydney Water’s sewerage system.

Street lighting posed an issue for the Floth team, as state planning codes required high levels of illumination but the site’s semi-rural location demanded that light pollution be carefully controlled so as to not adversely impact the small community. Floth undertook extensive modelling, careful selection of luminaires and pole heights, and worked closely with the Architect to ensure that windows were shielded where necessary.