Living in Harmony on the Sunshine Coast

Living in Harmony on the Sunshine CoastHarmony, a new $3 billion master-planned community on the Sunshine Coast, has been 12 years in the making, and the project team has used that time to consider the fine-grain detail that builds coastal character.AVID Property Group’s development, set at the heart of the Sunshine Coast on 378 hectares, will deliver more than 4,800 homes for 12,000 future residents. The community, which is conveniently located near Maroochydore and Mooloolaba and 90 kilometres from Brisbane, will be enhanced by 100 hectares of open space and the future delivery of a 15,2 sqm town centre.More than 9,000 construction jobs will be generated during the project.General Manager Bruce Harper says after 12 years of planning, Harmony is being released to market as the Sunshine Coast’s economy takes off.The Sunshine Coast’s population is set to increase by 13.5 per cent over the next five years, with an estimated 16,125 additional dwellings required to accommodate new residents. “With growth in jobs, low vacancy rates and large projects such as the Sunshine Coast University Hospital, airport upgrades and enhancement to the Maroochydore City Centre underway, this is a good time for new development,” Harper says.Construction of Harmony’s display village will commence in early 2017. Once complete, it will be the largest display village north of the Brisbane River, and will showcase 43 home designs from 23 builders. House and land packages start at $370,8.”We have achieved a high level of environmental sustainability on site, with green space, orientation of dwellings and stormwater management carefully considered,” Harper says, adding that the project has achieved EnviroDevelopment six leaf accreditation.The secret to Harmony is found in its unique site, says the project’s urban designer and RPS Australia’s regional technical director Peter Egerton.”We don’t see this as a greenfields site, but instead an urban redevelopment project. It’s infill with lots of existing infrastructure already around it. This has influenced our masterplanning approach, enabling us to link into open spaces, existing road networks and community facilities.”Harmony is “completely surrounded by open space”, Egerton says, which ranges from natural creek corridors and regional recreation parks to district sports fields and kids’ playgrounds.”We have every type of park within the one community – and we’ve designed the masterplan so that residents are always two-to-three minutes away from a park.”Harmony’s roads are not the preserve of cars. Tree-lined streets provide for shaded walking, and every street has footpaths to encourage healthy and active living. “People will never run out of walking options,” Egerton adds.”We consider the public realm to be from front door to front door – not letterbox to letterbox. That’s what people see when they are walking the dog or riding a bike.”The advantages of Harmony are in the attention to detail,” Egerton adds. “The character we will create won’t come from the town planning, but what we do in the fine grain – the fencing, the types of trees we put in, the footpaths people walk on, the wayfinding. It’s this character that grows over time.”The AVID Property Group is responsible for a portfolio of industrial and residential developments in key growth precincts across Australia, including broad-acre and infill subdivisions, more than 8,0 residential lots and 640 hectares of industrial land. Learn more about Harmony.