ROL Project Success

One of our major project successes in the last 12 months was the work undertaken to support the development of Unison Project’s, ‘The Reserve, Dakabin’ which saw the reconfiguration and sub-division of land at 307 Old Gympie Rd in Dakabin.

Inertia provided full services throughout the project as it moved through the tendering phase and into construction acting as the Superintendent covering Contract Administration through the construction phase, resulting in a successful on-time and to-budget delivery.

But as with any project the early stage works were crucial due to the site’s challenging nature, and that’s when our flood engineering experts take the reins. Inertia’s Senior Civil Engineer Nathan Green was at the forefront of the flood modelling and design that saw a major increase in usable land and a seamless development application.

“The project at Gympie Rd is a great example of what can be achieved through utilising a thorough and complete approach to flood modelling and engineering.”

Drone footage from DAC Constructions

It started out as a rural 4-hectare site with a local waterway through the centre of the site owned by one of our long standing clients. The plan was to convert the site into a childcare centre and a 39 block land subdivision on either side of the water.

However, mid-way through the original development application of the greater site, Council’s flood planning policies changed which introduced a different approach to flood risk. The term ‘Medium Risk Flood Hazard’ which in effect states no fill is permitted within this area, posed a number of challenges and resulted in a significant reduction in available land across the site.

By effectively collaborating with Council, the project team and the client, we established that at some point in this site’s past, some unlawful earthworks had been undertaken which skewed the extent of the flooding on-site. Thanks to our team’s thorough understanding of Council policies, we were able to use a Mapping Change Request application and Earthwork applications over the site to undertake detailed flood modelling without unlawful earthworks in place.

“Through our flood modelling and acute understanding of the changing local planning guidelines we were able to reclaim 2500m² from the medium risk flood area. Without undergoing this process, the childcare centre would have reduced 50% in size and the land subdivision would have lost up to 8 lots. In the end, our ability to understand the site ensured that the ROL application for the project was approved, and we were seamlessly able to press forward with the childcare application and the 39 lot subdivision application.”

Our client has kept the childcare centre and sold the land subdivision to Unison Projects, who have now created ‘The Reserve, Dakabin’.

Although a challenging site, it goes to show how it is possible to achieve great outcomes by being innovative in terms of project design. ‘The Reserve’ is a prime example of how a subdivision project can create outstanding blank canvases for people to build their dream home.