Aiming high at Tamala Park

A CONSORTIUM of local government councils is taking the final steps to develop 170 hectares of land at Tamala Park in Perth’s northern suburbs.

The Tamala Park Regional Council, which represents seven local governments, closed its tender process last week to find a preferred proponent to develop the site into a master planned community comprising 2,500 dwellings.

The council was formed in 2006 to develop the land, and represents the Towns of Cambridge, Victoria Park and Vincent, and the cities of Wanneroo, Stirling, Perth and Joondalup.

The 170ha site is bordered by Neerabup Road to the north, the Mitchell Freeway and Neerabup regional park to the east, the Tamala Park landfill facility to the south, and an existing coastal foreshore reserve and the Indian Ocean to the west.

The residential development is independent of the landfill site, which has about 10 years of operation left, and will be converted to recreational parks and gardens once complete.

TPRC chairman John Italiano told WA Business News the council had received a lot of interest in its proposal, and was currently examining tenders from 12 prominent land development companies.

Mr Italiano said the council hoped to get a developer on board as quickly as possible to begin the development process.

“The quicker we can ascertain who the preferred tenderer is, the quicker they can get on with what they are doing, and get the structure plan signed off,” he said.

“It’s a process we have to go through, but we are getting there and it will be a really good project for all of the councils involved.”

The TPRC is hoping to have a preferred developer nominated before August.

TPRC chief executive Tony Arias said the council was confident the project would achieve the necessary federal and state environmental approvals, including those needed for Carnaby’s black cockatoo and the graceful sun moth.

“I’d like to think that early next year we’ll be on site constructing and into a pre-sales and marketing campaign,” he said.

According to Mr Arias, the Tamala Park development gave the council an opportunity to explore world’s best practice in sustainable development.

“We want to look at innovation as much as possible in things like management of drainage, in elements of urban design and in the development of open space, in terms of using water and how we irrigate the open space areas,” Mr Arias said.

“There is an opportunity for the project to be branded a bit differently and to be sustainable and to be perhaps a bit more innovative in some of the elements that it will provide.”

He said the site’s close proximity to the Clarkson train station was an important part of creating a sustainable community at Tamala Park.

“We want to maximise the opportunity for people to utilise that public infrastructure,” Mr Arias said.

“The railway station is a great positive that provides us with the opportunity to do some good quality, mixed-density development as the project matures.”