Civil engineering expertise and project management capabilities will deliver 20,000 residences for Aura development

Aura Residential Community

When growth brings people close to sensitive ecosystems, expertise is needed to reduce, or eliminate, any impact. The Aura development, covering 2,310 hectares in Caloundra on the southern Sunshine Coast is one of Australia’s largest master planned developments. When complete, Aura will deliver 20,000 dwellings for up to 50,000 residents. Located upstream from the Ramsar wetlands, home to migratory birds, and adjacent to bushland containing rare, endangered frog species, the site has significant water quality constraints.

This means the treatment, and subsequent quality, of storm water run-off entering the wetlands must be ‘world’s best’—we made it better than that. Through the development of an innovative storm water treatment train, incorporating streetscape rain gardens, ‘end of line’ wetlands and bio-retention, we significantly increased the quality of storm water run-off reaching the wetlands.

Our role on the project also includes civil engineering expertise and project management capabilities. We provided conceptual and detailed design for civil engineering components, including the design of bulk earthworks, trunk roadworks, stormwater drainage and water quality treatment, trunk water supply infrastructure, trunk sewerage infrastructure and a sewer pump station. The Ramsar Convention on Wetlands of International Importance is an international treaty for the conservation and sustainable use of wetlands.