The Glades Estate, Byford

The site planning and landscape design focuses on the retention of mature avenues of eucalypts planted by early settlers to define property boundaries and provide windbreaks, the retention of areas of natural remnant vegetation, and the retention or re-use into the project of mature Erythrina trees planted by early settlers around their homesteads. Preservation of views to the nearby Darling Scarp also informed site planning, as well as the retention and enhancement of existing creek lines as recreational and ecological corridors that also perform an important drainage function. This planning strategy has embedded the natural and cultural heritage values of the site into the project, helping to establish a strong sense of place.

PLAN E was an integral team member in the planning and design of the village centre which establishes a distinctive heart for the estate, focussed around a lake and associated parkland with views to the Scarp; a defining feature of the district. The civic nature of the village centre has been reinforced with the completion of the ANZAC Memorial Park in 2015 which serves as the official ANZAC memorial for the Byford district and was designed in consultation with the local RSL and the Shire of Serpentine Jarrahdale.