How to connect with your community when moving into a new housing estate

A brand new – and often more affordable – house is a major drawcard for home buyers looking at moving into a new housing estate.

But will you be able to find your way to everyday amenities, and how can you make new friends and feel like you belong in what can be a large and sprawling development?

Nino Babani, Mirvac’s development director of masterplanned communities, says people have an innate desire to belong to something.

“No one wants to feel isolated and because isolation is such a growing health problem in today’s society, the onus is on us to make community occur,” he says. “It’s not just a cliche, it goes to the very essence of what people want.”

Here are four useful ways to help you connect.

The info pack

It can be tempting to ditch that glossy info pack that comes with your house keys – after all, you’ve already bought the house, what else do you need?

But that info pack is likely to contain details of all your local amenities, not just within the new estate but also nearby, from transport nodes to shopping malls, sporting and medical facilities, schools and childcare centres.

Ed Krushka, a senior residential project director at Stockland, says clients are provided with a welcome pack as soon as they buy their block of land.

“It will give advice on what’s around the local area, what’s in the project and how you can sign up to our email list for updates on construction, when roads go in or when parks are built.”

Social media

In the age of social media, most projects come with their own Facebook page, an initiative set up by the developer and then often maintained by the new community.

This is just one of the jobs performed by the community officer assigned to larger housing estates, with the aim of fostering social connections.

“We create and incubate a Facebook page and then try to move back and let the organic growth of the community take over,” says Babani.

Entire websites are not uncommon for large developments like Mirvac’s Googong, a new township 16 kilometres outside Canberra. The website provides information on the retail and community facilities within the estate, including the Club Googong recreation centre and new schools built to serve the new residents.

Lendlease community partnership manager Judith Field suggests new residents also visit the websites of the local council, chamber of commerce and bus companies to help familiarise themselves with a new neighbourhood.

Meeting points

Parks, cycleways, walking trails and barbecue facilities are now integrated into most new housing estates, providing communal venues for meeting fellow residents and spending time outdoors.

Stockland has gone one step further, partnering with local government and sporting bodies to build an AFL oval and a 16-court tennis centre within Highlands, a masterplanned estate in Craigieburn.

“We’re committed to really harnessing community early on, through dedicated amenities in the early stages of the plan,” says Krushka, who sees health and wellbeing as a major ingredient in making new residents feel comfortable. “By working on these partnerships with local councils and sporting organisations we can get really world-class facilities.”

Parkrun is another chance for new residents to get to know one another. The five-kilometre run is held weekly around Highlands Lake and averages 100 participants each Saturday.

Attend social events

If you’re serious about getting to know your neighbours, it pays to attend social events held in the early days of the establishment of your estate.

Recently, Googong hosted a Halloween street party that attracted thousands of people, while at Crest in Gledswood Hills, 500 people turned out for a community fair to celebrate the opening of Galloway Green, a 6000-square-metre park built for local residents.

Residents at Lendlease’s Jordan Springs celebrated the Hindu festival of Navratri recently, while at Cloverton, a Stockland estate 40 kilometres north of Melbourne, the Dwyer Street Cafe held a pasta night that attracted first-home buyers and young professionals.

Field says once a community begins to gel, the locals tend to band together and create their own opportunities.

“At Ropes Crossing, for example, a group of residents joined together and established what they called a focus group, taking on the role we had previously: running events, organising community clean-up days, holding regular meetings with council and other agencies to discuss any challenges,” she says.

“This is important because when we finish developing the community, we want to leave it as resilient as possible.”