In late 2015 Spiire’s Landscape Architecture team began a conversation with Stockland about what 10 years of development at the Highlands Estate looked like. One component of this that came to the fore was the amount of waste generated from the development and this led to the question of how the byproducts of development could potentially be spared from landfill.
The primary objective of our landscape architects was to reuse or re-purpose a number of surplus, found and dumped objects and materials within a Park setting.
Fast forward four years and Sustainable Park now provides the community with a unique, informative and playful park and conservation zone that includes a number of creative play pieces, interpretive and sculptural elements that demonstrate how materials previously deemed as ‘rubbish’ can be incorporated into the fabric of an exciting, informative and exploratory landscape.
The main challenges with designing and delivering the Park were the non-standard elements being accepted by council, the unknown quality of some of the materials available and the potential issues of safety compliance for all the custom items. The whole project team were venturing into unchartered territory and the element of the unknown required a great deal of flexibility and resolving issues during fabrication and construction.
The Park has two key themes: Sustainability and Conservation. The Sustainability theme focuses on the creative repurposing of surplus materials and sustainable methods of construction and ongoing maintenance of the Park. The Conservation theme highlights a commitment to protecting indigenous flora and fauna. A key objective of the Park was to present both themes in a playful and informative way that would inspire the community to embrace and celebrate the philosophies of sustainable living and conservation in their private lives.
Since opening, the Park has been hugely popular with the local community and the main Nest play tower is becoming something of an icon in the wider area.
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