Bernborough Ascot

Lendlease, in partnership with the Brisbane Racing Club, is delivering an integrated retirement living and aged care community, located within the wider Brisbane Racing Club precinct at the Doomben Racecourse.

The precinct is underpinned by health and wellbeing initiatives for the enjoyment of residents, while also demonstrating leadership in its ecological sustainable design.

Bernborough Ascot is one of the most sustainable retirement communities in Australia, having secured its 6 Star Green Star Communities rating in March 2021. Bernborough Ascot provides a vibrant place for the community to live and connect.

The $270 million precinct is being constructed over stages, with the first stage, a building of 69 apartments, open to residents in October 2020, and broader stage 2 precinct open in 2023. A third stage is currently under construction, with an expected date of opening in mid-2027. 

WSP has played a key role throughout the project; our Mechanical, Hydraulics, Sustainability and Fire Engineering teams were initially engaged in 2018 to deliver the original design and construction, which has been critical for supporting the future connectivity of the stages, while our Sustainability team supported Lendlease in achieving their initial Green Star Communities rating.

Image credit: Lendlease

Enhancing social cohesion and resident wellbeing

Offering an integrated retirement living community, with an innovative continuum of care strategy from retirement living to aged care, the precinct will support the health and wellbeing of residents with spacious homes, including 300 independent living apartments and penthouse-style homes, easy access to public transport, along with a range of lifestyle amenities to foster community engagement.

Some of the design initiatives that enhances social cohesion and enabled the Green Star Communities rating to be achieved, include:

• Community food garden
• Significant green space, walking paths, rooftop gardens and recreational facilities (pool, spa, gymnasium)
• Community activities and events (book club, poetry club, yoga, bowling club)

Delivering sustainable outcomes for all

Working closely with the client to deliver the Green Star Communities rating, our team provided Future Ready advice on key trends such as climate change and community resilience.

The precinct has been designed to reduce resource consumption through on-site initiatives that will in-turn reduce energy and water bills for residents, including:

• Solar Photovoltaic (PV) cells to offset the communal area power
• Rainwater tanks to enable irrigation water supply
• Efficient HVAC systems within the retirement living apartments, designed to achieve an average NatHERS rating of 7.4 Stars

Another key consideration of the design is its responsive to climate trends. Initiatives have been incorporated to reduce the impacts of the heat island effect and support the health of vulnerable groups of people, through:

• Passive design strategies
• Light coloured roofs
• Significant greenery

Our team also developed a Community Resilience Plan to help inform the residents of climate change impacts, as well as the management measures and emergency plans that will be implemented across the site.

Bernborough Ascot has also been recognised globally for its demonstration of leadership, achieving first place in the 2020 GRESB Sustainability Ranking for the Asia Pacific region in the Residential Non-Listed category. GRESB is the global environmental, social and governance (ESG) benchmark for real estate assets.