Delivering water resilient communities

In March 2020 Stockland purchased The Gables, a 293 hectare masterplanned community at Box Hill in Sydney’s North West. The project is located close to rail and town centres and includes 75ha of parks and a large lake. Over the life of the project we will deliver around 1,900 homes to The Gables community.

Unique to The Gables is the way water is supplied to the project. New homes will be connected to a sustainable water network providing recycled water as well as drinking water, saving money for residents and reducing the burden on Sydney’s potable water supply. Recycled water can supply up to 70% of resident requirements, including gardens, toilets, washing machines, and irrigation of public parks and open space. The water recycling and supply system is operated by Box Hill Water, an independent utility providing recycled water and sewer services to the community, while Sydney Water will provide drinking water. Box Hill Water will harvest wastewater from household kitchens, bathrooms and toilets, extract clean water and provide it back to homes and public spaces through the recycled water purple pipes.

After witnessing one of the worst droughts on record during 2020, Stockland’s ambition to improve the water resilience of our communities and cities has never been stronger. We are reviewing opportunities to build greater water and drought resilience around the country. In fact, we will be introducing new strategic objectives into our projects that require all our masterplanned communities to investigate whole of water cycle management opportunities, which will result in water savings. With the purchase of The Gables we have made a great start.