Cedar Woods' Bushmead wins residential excellence award

25 September 2019

Cedar Woods’ Bushmead estate in Perth’s foothills has taken out UDIA’s Residential Excellence Award (more than 250 lots).

The awards showcase quality and innovation across the urban development spectrum in WA.

Bushmead is located 16km North-East of the Perth CBD and features unparalleled access to retained bushland for residents and the broader community to enjoy.During planning stages, Cedar Woods recognised the suburb of Hazelmere had strong industrial connotations. The Bushmead development was going to be urban infill set amongst a natural bush setting, far removed from the industrial environment of Hazelmere. Cedar Woods lobbied with local councils and government for the site to become its own suburb, Bushmead 6055.

Cedar Woods State Manager WA Ben Rosser said the diversity of home sites offered at Bushmead allowed a range of buyer types to purchase within the semi-rural estate, whilst providing buyers an opportunity to contribute to and be a part of a growing community.

“We wanted to ensure we created a connected, engaged community with house and land packages at varying price points enabling a greater range of buyers to have the opportunity to be a part of it,” Mr Rosser said.

A highlight of Bushmead is Cedar Woods’ partnership with community development specialists Creating Communities to embed a focus on building a strong community in Bushmead.

Through engagement with residents early on in their buying process, Cedar Woods has been able to work alongside residents to develop a vision for Bushmead, to co-design community and sustainability initiatives and build custodianship over the natural environment and neighbourhood.

Initiatives have included a neighbour speed dating event, establishing a program where residents celebrated the pouring of their house slab with a party on their lot, training and capacity building for residents to deliver their own events, and engaging with local stakeholders in environmental partnerships.

“Bushmead residents have since embraced our ethos by spearheading their own community-building activities and clubs – a testament to the success of our community engagement program,” Mr Rosser said.

The UDIA award judges acknowledged the strong community engagement within the Bushmead estate within their judges’ comments as follows:

Residents are actively involved in community events, sustainability initiatives and planning for their local area. The judges were particularly impressed with the high proportion of resident referrals, demonstrating an extremely high level of customer satisfaction and the overall quality of the estate.

Cedar Woods’ Bushmead estate was also a finalist in the Excellence in Marketing and Environmental Excellence categories.