The Brief
Activity centres play a critical role in creating more connected, liveable and sustainable cities. By accommodating more homes and jobs close to transport, shops, services and community infrastructure, they can support greater housing choice, stronger local economies and more walkable neighbourhoods.
The challenge is to plan this growth well. Councils and government agencies need clear evidence about where additional density can be accommodated, what form it should take, and how planning controls can balance delivery, design quality, and public benefit. This requires more than dwelling targets or generic height settings. It requires careful testing of local conditions, development feasibility and the cumulative impact of change across a centre.
Our Approach
We work with councils and government agencies to translate growth objectives into clear built form strategies, frameworks and controls.
Our work includes built form frameworks, capacity analysis, planning control reviews, visual impact modelling, strategic site testing, and research into innovative planning tools.
We test how different built form settings perform across a range of site conditions, helping clients understand real spatial outcomes to help identify where growth can be supported, and what controls and tools are needed to achieve viable, high-quality outcomes.
Our advice is grounded in practical knowledge of how buildings are designed and delivered, so recommendations are not only policy-aligned but feasible and buildable.
Our advice is visual, evidence-based and practical. We help decision-makers, stakeholders and communities understand the trade-offs between growth, feasibility, design quality and local character.
Impact
Our built form strategy work helps clients move from broad growth ambitions to implementable planning outcomes.
By grounding advice in spatial testing and analysis, we provide a clearer understanding of what planning controls are likely to produce in practice. This supports more informed decisions about housing capacity, built form quality, amenity and local character.
The result is a stronger evidence base for activity centre planning — one that supports housing delivery while giving councils, communities and the development sector greater clarity about the type, scale and quality of change expected.
Built Form Strategy for Activity Centres
Turning growth ambitions into clear, evidence-based planning outcomes.
The Brief
The challenge is to plan this growth well. Councils and government agencies need clear evidence about where additional density can be accommodated, what form it should take, and how planning controls can balance delivery, design quality, and public benefit. This requires more than dwelling targets or generic height settings. It requires careful testing of local conditions, development feasibility and the cumulative impact of change across a centre.
Our Approach
We work with councils and government agencies to translate growth objectives into clear built form strategies, frameworks and controls.
Our work includes built form frameworks, capacity analysis, planning control reviews, visual impact modelling, strategic site testing, and research into innovative planning tools.
We test how different built form settings perform across a range of site conditions, helping clients understand real spatial outcomes to help identify where growth can be supported, and what controls and tools are needed to achieve viable, high-quality outcomes.
Our advice is grounded in practical knowledge of how buildings are designed and delivered, so recommendations are not only policy-aligned, but feasible and buildable.
Our advice is visual, evidence-based and practical. We help decision-makers, stakeholders and communities understand the trade-offs between growth, feasibility, design quality and local character.
Clients
- Maribyrnong City Council
- Boroondara City Council
- Yarra City Council
- Whittlesea City Council
