Whiterock’s first of five neighbourhoods is now complete. The Adventure Playground (foreground) opened last year before the first residents moved in.

Continuing its legacy of selecting high-quality sites, in 2015, Intrapac ventured its efforts on an elevated 375ha land parcel in the Ripley Valley Priority Development Area, adjoining the popular White Rock Conservation Reserve.

The site features a significant area of remnant bushland, 175 ha of which will be maintained as a permanent conservation zone, defining a distinct, nature-based character for the emerging Whiterock community.

Building upon the site’s key qualities, Whiterock’s vision focuses on creating a great lifestyle for residents through access to services and amenities and participation in a socially sustainable community intertwined with nature. The project will create around 2,300 homes, with a mixture of medium and low-density dwellings that will house around 6500 people in the future.

The Whiterock visioning process centred on creating a thriving neighbourhood inspired by a community-first approach. Captured in a dedicated Community Development and Infrastructure Plan, they have defined the ideal social characteristics of the future community and then considered the physical infrastructure and other initiatives required to support this direction.

The key aspirational characteristics include:

Active and connected

Whiterock’s linear parklands connect to existing trails within the White Rock Spring Conservation Area

Whiterock will be a neighbourhood that promotes and encourages an active lifestyle and a vibrant social life. The master plan is punctuated by linear parklands that follow the site’s natural water flows and connect homes with existing trails within the White Rock Spring Mountain Conservation Area.

This area is an established walking, hiking and mountain biking destination with a selection of trails of varying difficulty set amongst remnant bushland, with Whiterock becoming a direct link into the conservation reserve. The project’s linear parklands will feature retained trees and extensive new landscaping that extend the bushland trails into the residential area.

A network of walking paths will enable most residents to reach the village centre within a 10-12-minute walk. The composition of the central village is key to this active lifestyle, according to Intrapac Property CEO Maxwell Shifman.

“We’ve got a future village centre which is planned to include retail and commercial space, a community centre, plus a nearby primary school and sporting fields, creating a hub of activity, close enough to residences to encourage walking and cycling to school, recreation and trips to local conveniences”, says Shifman.

In addition to the main oval and sports grounds, five further parks will be positioned throughout the residential areas, with a dog park, several playgrounds and general recreation spaces.

Collaborative, inclusive and resilient

A supportive and resilient community capable of informing external partnerships are key aspects of the Whiterock community vision.

Shifman explains that Intrapac won’t be leaving the development of these community characteristics to chance, “We are shortly recruiting a Community Development Officer whose role will be to develop programs and initiatives that seed social connections among the growing Whiterock community and to pursue external partnerships that facilitate this.”

Their role will be to develop a community events program to provide opportunities and encouragement for residents to come together via partnerships with local government, education providers and surrounding communities.

The early delivery of social infrastructure is also designed to support this vision. Intrapac’s QLD State Manager, Michael Kahn, explained, “We are currently converting a home in the display village into a temporary community hub. This is being delivered alongside the first sports ground very early in the development program, ensuring the residents will have access to spaces where they can engage in community-building activities from the beginning of their life at Whiterock.”

As the development matures and the primary school, retail centre and purpose-built community hub building are established, these community connections will be further reinforced.

Physically and socially cohesive

The project has also been well thought out regarding the inclusion and location of services to promote physical and social cohesion.

“Much consideration has been given, not only to accessibility and walkability within the project but also regarding how the project connects with surrounding transport nodes and amenities”, says Shifman.

White Rock has been designed to support a future bus service through the new community and to provide walkable access to a planned future Ripley Valley train station that will be an extension of the Springfield Line.

“The planned primary school, sports grounds, and town centre collocation are intentional. This creates a critical mass of social activity at the heart of the Whiterock community and ensures the school benefits from direct access to the sports grounds. A community centre and plaza will be located at the heart of the town centre and connected with retail facilities”, explained Shifman.

Whiterock’s co located sports reserves, primary school, playground and Town Centre are designed to create a central hub of activity easily accessed via the Greenlink park network to promote walkability.

Environmentally sensitive and aware

The collocation of the Whiterock development and the conservation zone provides the opportunity to educate residents about the White Rock Conservations Estate’s ecology and biodiversity and develop a sense of local custodianship. The Community Development Officer will work with local schools to develop educational programs and seed local action groups. Signage, including maps and information about the conservation area, will be provided at key locations.

The planned linear parklands follow the site’s natural hydrology, incorporating swales and water filtration systems that contribute to a comprehensive water-sensitive urban design response that removes pollutants from stormwater before it is returned to the water table.

Remnant bushland within the conservation zone will contribute immensely to creating a sense of place throughout the Whiterock development providing a bushland backdrop, views of Spring Mountain, and showcasing endemic plant species. The landscaping throughout the linear parks and streetscapes will draw inspiration from this, extending natural habitat and further contributing to biodiversity, adding “thousands of trees”, says Shifman.

“The project will aim to secure a coveted EnviroDevelopment certification and will be Intrapac’s 8th EnviroDevelopment accredited project.”