Cedar Woods wins Forrestdale tender

West Perth-based developer Cedar Woods Properties Ltd has won a state government tender to develop the Harrisdale Village estate in Forrestdale, through a joint venture with the Department of Housing and Works.

About 640 dwellings will be built on the 30-hectare site, which will incorporate a mixed business precinct fronting Ranford Road.

The town centre will include commercial offices, childcare facilities, cafes, and a community hall.

Cedar Woods managing director Paul Sadleir said higher density housing was a key objective of the project’s design.

“One of the things we really wanted to drive was a good mix of studio apartments, villas, town houses and traditional dwellings, probably at the smaller end of the scale,” he said.

The project will also target first homebuyers by promoting the government’s shared equity scheme.

Mr Sadleir said a number of sustainable features had been included in the design of the project, such as solar hot water systems, rainwater tanks, greywater diversion and water-wise landscaping.

“We spent a lot of time building in sustainability, getting a mix between the cost of delivery and sustainable features,” he said.

The Harrisdale project will require capital expenditure from Cedar Woods of about $100 million and is expected to take seven years to complete.

Pre-sales are due to begin early next year, with construction to commence in the 2009-10 financial year.

Structure and subdivision plans for the site have already been approved.

The Harrisdale project is close to Cedar Woods’ other major residential project in the area, ‘Cambridge Waters’, which has 200 apartments and town houses.

Sales for the Canning Vale estate are close to being finalised.

The Harrisdale project is the second recent government contract to be awarded to Cedar Woods, with the developer undertaking the redevelopment of the Carine Tafe site, through a joint venture with LandCorp.

Mr Sadleir said the company would be bidding for several other state government joint venture projects that are expected to be put to tender later this year.

Among these are the Golden Bay and Amarillo sites, near Rockingham, which are both within the jurisdiction of the Department of Housing and Works.

Meanwhile, Cedar Woods has added to its management team by recruiting former Housing Industry Association WA executive director, Sheryl Chaffer, to manage its building and sustainability area.