Future residents of Denman Prospect could enjoy colour-co-ordinated foliage if Capital Estate Development's amended landscaping plan is approved for the suburb.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
The plans, currently awaiting Territory and Municipal Services approval, feature specially selected deciduous street trees designed to bloom in unison.
Denman Prospect CED project director Nick McDonald Crowley said the vibrantly themed "revamp of tree species in the area" would tie into Canberra's pronounced seasons.
"Particularly around autumn the idea is you'd see yellows in one precinct, cherry foliage through another and darker purples in another area," he said.
"As you drive through any Canberra suburb and you can see there are themes to the trees there … but as far as I am aware this is the first time where there has been this larger-scale theme of colour."
The selections for the suburb are mainly deciduous, providing a lush canopy of shade in the hotter months and more light through the frosty winter when the plants thin out.
However, to accommodate the needs of local wildlife there will be a fringe of eucalypts and native plants on the estate perimeter.
Mr McDonald Crowley said there was no cause for concern that existing species would be ripped out and replaced.
He confirmed there were no high-value trees within the first development stage, 1A, and said the seven or more high-value eucalypts identified in the second stage, 1B, would be retained.
The developer revealed the first piece of public art for Denman Prospect would be a towering kinetic sculpture by Phil Price.
The New Zealand sculptor's work is well-known to Canberrans with works on Yamba and Drakeford Drives as well as the magnificent 'Journeys' kinetic sculpture at the entrance to Canberra Airport.
The vision was to create a "remarkable suburb" at Denman Prospect, Mr McDonald Crowley said.
Along with being the first Australian suburb to mandate solar power installation for every dwelling it's also the first to implement The Big Issue's Homes for Homes initiative on a suburb-wide scale.
Sales transactions in the suburb are estimated to generate $1.4 million to reduce homelessness in the capital with 0.1 per cent of the purchase price of all land parcels sold by CED donated, and a caveat on every land parcel to encourage owners to make the 0.1 per cent donation with every future transaction on the home.
Large-scale investment, outside the current scope of works, in a footbridge to link residents to local infrastructure and sights was under consideration, Mr McDonald Crowley.
"We are looking at the hierarchy of paths and how we can get people connected to infrastructure because there is a lot locally that the ACT government has invested in to date," he said.
"There would be a significant cost component associated with it. It's very much in the ideas bucket at the moment so the detail has not been resolved."
