Mulpha lodges application for stage one of $1 billion masterplanned Norwest Quarter community
The real estate investment giant Mulpha, developers of Norwest in Sydney's Hills District, has lodged its development application for the first stage its approved $1 billion masterplanned community, Norwest Quarter.
There will be nine slender residential towers containing 864 apartments across the whole of the masterplan, with 6,000 sqm of space allocated for cafes, restaurants, neighbourhood shops and childcare facilities.
The first stage of Norwest Quarter will see two of the apartment buildings constructed, homing a total of 196 apartments and more than 3,500 sqm of retail and commercial space, including a full-floor commercial gym, fresh food grocer, medical services, and restaurants.
The towers, located less than 400 metres from the new Norwest Metro Station, have been designed by two of Sydney's leading architecture studios, BATES SMART and Smart Design Studio.
"We started the design process by asking how people today want to live their lives and what sustainability, technology and community practices reflect their needs, lifestyle and aspirations."
Mulpha's head of developments Tim Spencer
The slenderness of the towers will allow for 70 percent of the site to be used for landscaping and amenity.
There will be an open-air plaza with retail and outdoor dining, a nature based play area, an amphitheatre for community events and other landscaped areas.
When complete, the Norwest Quarter masterplan will transform over 4.8 hectares of greenfield land into a vibrant village centre for over 2,000 residents.
BATES SMART and Smart Design Studio are working in collaboration with landscape architecture firm Aspect Studios, urban designers Terroir, and environmental sustainability firm Finding Infinity to design and deliver an innovative, environmentally led development with a unique nature-driven biophilic ethos.
The whole design process was about breaking down and identifying what truly makes a community sustainable – it was an inter-disciplinary design exercise that had to accept that for true sustainability the project had to have economic and employment drivers, social and education opportunities, bring health and wellness to the forefront and manage the built form and technology infrastructure super efficiently.
“The past year has reinforced our belief that we need to be holistically designing to achieve great communities to live in, not just designing stand-alone buildings.
Norwest Quarter will be a core pillar of the entire Norwest community that is anchored by 46 hectares of public open space and interwoven with 50 kilometres of pathways and 10 kilometres of cycleways, creating a walkable and cyclable city.