Reaching historic heights – BaptistCare’s $2.5 billion Macquarie Park intergenerational housing gets green light

BaptistCare this week has announced a historic milestone. It’s $2.5 billion intergenerational housing development has made it through one of the system’s biggest hurdles, State Significant Development (SSD) approval. The monumental plans, set to transform a section at Macquarie Park has been in the works for half a decade. Now one step closer to breaking ground, the reality of a master plan, that indicates around 2000 new homes and care places across the full gamut of housing, residential apartments with affordable housing options, seniors housing, residential aged care and student accommodation, is gaining traction and excitement.

Lofty ambitions

Forging ahead in unique waters, BaptistCare’s messaging has grown in confidence and volume to indicate its desire to break the blueprint of care from the status quo. From speaking about, to planning for, the organisation has now won concrete credibility in its vision to pursue intergenerational care, a type of care that has immense research behind its benefits.

BaptistCare has shown its appetite to bet on the risk of the new in a project whose scale is substantial. Between being “pleased” with the SSD approval for the Macquarie Park master plan, approved by NSW Department of Planning, Housing and Infrastructure, the group recognises this step as a “landmark moment”. Six years ago planning began, with BaptistCare noting that the journey was guided by community and stakeholder feedback, thoughtful design and focused commitment to facilitate a “vibrant intergenerational community.”

Central to the plans to substantiate the intergenerational vision and offering, BaptistCare has highlighted the master plan approached, rather than avoided, four of Sydney’s most dire crises; Affordable housing shortage, ballooning demand for aged care and seniors housing, more student accommodation and easy access to public green spaces, these four challenges were met head-on in what has been described as a “well-connected site in one of the city’s fastest-growing precincts”.

Excited for the new

BaptistCare’s CEO, Charles Moore has lent his voice to the group’s excitement about the master plan approval, sharing it marked the beginning of something genuinely exciting.

He says, “we have been part of the Macquarie Park community since 1962, and this is a proud new chapter in our story here.”

“This is not just a development. It is a demonstration of what happens when you hold firm to a vision, listen deeply to your community, and have a determination to persist.”

Moore notes, “from the early days of planning, we set a clear vision and values for the future of our Macquarie Park community,” said David Cowdery, BaptistCare’s Chief Property and Development Officer.”

“We wanted to create a unique, intergenerational community that was innovative, smart, green and sustainable, connected to country and centred around its residents, workers and neighbours. This vision has never wavered.”

Collaborative design

Far from a rigid design journey, the leadership team have shared that the Macquarie Park master plan has evolved from its original design. While maintaining core elements of the original vision, feedback from the community, council and NSW Planning were incorporated to shape the approved approach.

“We believe the approved design reflects a great outcome for a high-density urban environment and encapsulates what the community told us they wanted to see,” says Moore.

“Each piece of feedback we received through the consultation process was essential to creating the plan we have today. The approved design is better for it, and the community should feel proud that their ideas and voice have been central to the final plan.”

Key to BaptistCare’s process, the group has noted its hope to facilitate strong, connected and resilient communities through the provision of homes and purpose for people of diverse, “walks of life, at all stages.”

The master plans, they share, is a tangible culmination of that mission.

Reach

For analysts reviewing the plans, the impact has been welcomed as prolific and needed. The group has shared the plans, highlighting that across the site, the approved master plan is set to deliver homes and care for a cohort of around 3,000 to 4,000 residents of all ages and backgrounds.

Around 950 residential apartments look to be completed, with affordable housing a key housing offering. Care for around 600 seniors, through independent living units and residential care beds have been championed for contributing to the immense numbers required with each passing year. Student accommodation will meet the crisis met by hundreds of young academics, and all these groups, along with the public, are to be served by a large public open space. The one-hectare park is seen by expert urban planners, psychologists and other experts as a vital place of peace and wellness for all people in the area.

The planning team additionally highlight that the development is set to provide close to 2,000 jobs each year during construction and around 1,550 ongoing further jobs once operational. Municipal and commercial leaders have praised the impact these figures will have on the local economy and growth impacts to come.

Design vision

In addition to the intergenerational residents, the design team has shared that the urban square at the centre of the build was prioritised to support easy connections for pedestrians, cyclists and cars across the site, and to seamlessly flow into the surrounding environment.

Cowdery notes, “We have been deliberate about every aspect of this design: how the buildings meet the street, how green space flows through the site, how it connects to what is already great about this part of Sydney.”

“The community, council and Department shaped this with us, and that shows in the result. This is what thoughtful, well -located density looks like.”

Working alongside BVN, TSA Riley and Colliers Urban Planning, BaptistCare shares it was a collaborative process to design, refine and finally submit the development plan.

Daniel West, Director of Planning at Colliers Urban Planning shares that after six years of work, all involved are gratified by the development approval, particularly due to the size, complexity and ambition of the project.

“Projects of this scale and complexity are few and far between. Guiding the planning of a $2.5 billion, high -density, multi -use precinct through the NSW planning system, from early visioning through to approval, has required agility, technical depth and persistence at every stage,” West says.

“Working in close partnership with BaptistCare over many years to help translate its vision and higher mission into a deliverable planning outcome is something we are incredibly proud of.”

West recognises, “the integration of affordable housing, seniors living, aged care, co -living, market housing, retail and a publicly accessible one -hectare park sets a new standard for site renewal and high -density precinct creation with a social purpose.”

Intergenerational benefit

BaptistCare resource allotment has reinforced its commitment to plan for intergenerational care, to move project scope and ambition to land this focus. They indicate that the Macquarie Park master plan is set to benefit thousands of people at all stages of life alongside the need for the build to remain a “special place for the community for many years to come.”

“BaptistCare is committed, through the Macquarie Park masterplan, to deliver housing options for everyone in this community,” Moore says.

“It’s exciting to be continuing BaptistCare’s legacy at Macquarie Park while also future-proofing housing and care.”

The organisation has said that no change is immediate on the site for current residents in its existing aged care homes, or for any employees. It will be business as usual while work will continue to process further required planning approvals at consecutive phases and building within the master plan.

BaptistCare has highlighted that alongside progressing through the further stages of planning and development, it remains committed to engaging, “openly with residents, families, employees and neighbours”. Advocates and industry insiders welcome the collaborative commitment in this journey to break ground on this historic and much needed intergenerational housing plan.