What are ‘nature-based cities’ and why should buyers care?

As Australia’s population grows and cities swell with new developments, sustainable design principles have never been more important. 

A nature-first approach to mitigate the effects of climate change has become standard in other parts of the world such as the UK, but Australia is lagging, says Paul Hameister, founder and executive chairman of Hamton Property Group.

In fact, Australia’s environmentally sustainable design (ESD) rating tools have no minimum mandatory requirements for living landscapes.

“We’ve always wanted to do more, and we know other developers who want to do more, but the ESD rating tools just aren’t there,” Hameister says. “In Australia, you can have a five-green-star rated building that’s concrete and glass with not a blade of grass.

“The focus is on reducing emissions, which is laudable, but there hasn’t been enough attention paid to protecting and re-establishing nature. We need both for the health of the environment and for communities.”

Hameister launched Nature Based Cities a few years ago out of frustration with the slow pace of change while advocating for landscaping-based updates to ESD rating tools.

The not-for-profit brought experts together to develop nature-based design research, guides and tools for developers to incorporate more living landscapes in the design and construction of their projects.

Nature Based Cities commissioned the University of Melbourne to analyse the last 20 years of academic research globally. For the first time, it brought together all the benefits of green open space and living landscapes in developments – including the proven health benefits, both physical and mental, of being connected to nature.

To argue his case to the broader developer community, Hameister then engaged property and planning consultants Urbis to assess the financial premium of co-locating residential real estate with nature and green open space. 

The result was commercially credible research that shows a nature-based approach financially benefits developers and owners alike.

“The outcome was just mind-blowing in terms of the price premium, increased capital growth and rental growth,” Hameister says.

Occupying a 1.6-hectare site in Hawthorn, six kilometres east of Melbourne’s CBD, Scotch Hill Gardens will be the first development to follow the Nature Based Cities principles.

The six buildings were designed by Woods Bagot in collaboration with Tract landscape architects to embrace the existing natural landscape.

The former campus of the University of Melbourne will be home to a collection of premium residences set within a lush botanical setting, with more than 40 per cent of the site reserved for a variety of living gardens.

Just four existing trees on the site were considered significant in the original planning assessment, but Hamton is retaining 77 of them, planting an additional 151 and taking a “landscape first” approach by designing around them, with the result that every residence will have views of a tree canopy or garden.

An ecologist has been engaged to ensure the gardens aren’t merely ornamental. “It’s important that they’re actually providing habitat,” Hameister says. “If you don’t like the sound of birdsong, it’s probably best you don’t buy here.”

For Jan Talacko, director of environmental consultancy Ark Resources and member of the Nature Based Cities advisory board, Scotch Hill Gardens is destined to be a “lighthouse project” proving the universal benefits of a nature-first approach. 

Looking at the existing ESD rating tools, Talacko says “it seems like a contradiction that you can have a green-rated building without greenery”.

“To focus only on reducing carbon by reducing energy consumption ignores the urban heat island effect,” he says. “Creating significant greenery is an ignored piece of the puzzle that delivers a tangible benefit to residents through their health, wellbeing and connection.” 

Talacko hopes that Scotch Hill Gardens will set an ambitious yet attainable standard for Australian developers to follow. In the UK, he points out, it is already imperative for every new inner-urban development to prove a net gain in biodiversity.

“We can do so much better here in Australia,” he says. “It’s time to prove it.”

To find out more about Hamton’s latest development, Scotch Hill Gardens, visit scotchhillgardens.com.au