Developers of Beveridge’s Mandalay estate, Newland Developers, took home the Great Place Award from the Urban Development Institute of Australia Victoria Awards for Excellence last week.
The award recognises best practice in interdisciplinary design, development or renewal, and activation, of people-centred places.
The award also celebrates the integration of natural and built environments and fosters greater human interaction.
Newland Developers senior development manager Rod Binedell said the award was the culmination of the vision of Mandalay, conceived a decade ago.
“The reason we entered Mandalay into this new award is because the development is one of those wonderful opportunities you don’t get very often when you’re a developer,” he said.
“It’s a really unique opportunity because when it commenced, it was isolated and wasn’t tacked onto other developments so it was a wonderful opportunity to create something different, but what we wanted to do was create a sense of community.”
Mr Binedell said creating that sense of community wouldn’t have been possible without the developers’ partnership with Mitchell Shire Council to bring services to the estate that were the foundation blocks of building a community.
“Like Field of Dreams, we had to build the infrastructure to enable the community to grow and our partnership with Mitchell Shire was so crucial to bringing in services to the development that are the foundation or the building blocks for a community,” he said.
“Council assisted us with the Greater Beveridge Community Centre, an almost $7 million facility which is a wonderful addition to the other bits and pieces that are already there.
“And now in conjunction with the Department of Education, there’s a primary school about to open.”
Mr Binedell said Newland Developers was proud of the community Mandalay has become.
“We’re immensely proud of it and thankful that our vision has been adopted and continues to be by so many people that buy or rent there and call Mandalay home,” he said.
The award also recognises Mitchell Shire Council’s Greater Beveridge Community Centre, which features two kindergarten rooms, two maternal and child health rooms, consulting suites, multi-purpose rooms and indoor and outdoor gathering spaces.
Mitchell Shire Mayor David Lowe said the award recognised the excellent outcomes that could be achieved for community with good design, forward thinking and the provision of quality community facilities.
“It’s really important that people have a sense of place and that they are able to come together to create new connections,” he said.
“We are very proud of what has been achieved with the Greater Beveridge Community Centre and we are thrilled that is has been featured as part of this award.”
