Back to life

From a working quarry to one of Brisbane’s most eligible – and elevated – new residential communities, this is a story of bringing a landscape back to life, and into its own.

The development team at Frasers Property Australia are no strangers to difficult challenges. From abandoned breweries and disused docks to former hospital grounds and even a colonial immigration building, there have been plenty of sites over the years utterly transformed by the company’s talent for urban renewal. Some, like Sydney’s Central Park, have gone on to be the most awarded projects in the country. Others, like Melbourne’s Burwood Brickworks, have achieved new global standards of sustainability.

None though, offer a more dramatic contrast between former use and future vision than the Keperra Quarry in Brisbane.

Located just 9kms north-west of Brisbane’s CBD, Keperra is a suburb notable for its leafy streets and the imposing presence of Enoggera Hill, part of the heavily wooded Taylor Range escarpment that runs all the way from the D’Aguilar Range to the Gallipolli Barracks. Located on the western side of Enoggera Hill lies the Keperra Quarry, which supplies Brisbane with granite and bush-rock for retaining walls, landscaping features, and road aggregate.

The almost 50-hectare site is now owned by Frasers Property Australia, who have plans to create a new residential community for those seeking to live a more elevated life.

Where some developers would be daunted by the quarry’s scarred and scalloped surfaces, the team from Frasers Property’s Queensland division saw the potential to do something transformative and special.

“The redevelopment of the quarry is without doubt complex and challenging,” says Frasers Property’s General Manager Development, Scott Ullman. “By the same token, we love a challenge. We love a problem to solve. And we’ve been able to approach this site in a way that absolutely solves the challenges around verticality and those hard rock faces. It takes vision and determination, but I couldn’t be more excited about the possibilities we have here to create a really fantastic place to live.”

So how do you transform a former quarry into a sought-after residential enclave for approximately 550 homes and still maintain 45% of the site for open space? The key, says Damian Thompson, Lat27 Director and the project’s landscape architect, is to bring the landscape back to life – regenerating, reforming, and reconnecting it with surrounding natural elements, including woodlands and sky.

“The thing that strikes you immediately when you drive up on the site is the views. Because you’re at an elevation that’s up to 190m above sea level, there are these incredible panoramic views that take in Moreton Bay and the Glasshouse Mountains,” says Damian. “It’s just incredible that this exists so close to the city. As landscape architects, it’s really rare because we get to deploy all of our technical thinking, research, and skills to find a new way for that landscape to colonise the quarry face. What we’ve got in Australia is a very resilient, adaptable landscape. And we’re going to nurture that la landscape to colonise the quarry face. What we’ve got in Australia is a very resilient, adaptable landscape. And we’re going to nurture that landscape to recolonise with this place.”

The plans for the project include an array of architecturally designed townhomes; land allotments with flat building pads between 100m and 170m above sea level; residents’ centre including gym, pool and community spaces; village green and ample places to exercise in the outdoors while taking in the breathtaking views. Layers of landscaping will help create thresholds through which people will move from street level to shared communal spaces to private living.

“There’ll be a welcoming central heart to the community,” says Damian. “The residents’ centre will be a place to meet and mingle with friends and neighbours, or spend some time enjoying the amenity in quiet contemplation. You’ll be able to go for a swim or stretch out and relax under the shaded dark green foliage around the pool, enjoying that beautiful subtropical landscape and superb climate we’re known for up here. And as you move out to the outer edges of the precinct, the landscape will have more of a connection back to the bigger macro eucalypt woodlands of the hill.”

The vision for the landscape reformation has been captured in the irrepressible style of local Brisbane artist, Paperhands (aka: Holly Nielsen), commissioned by Frasers Property to produce an original artwork to feature in the project’s marketing material. Showcasing the many species of botanicals to be reintroduced as well as the interplay of earth, sky, and stone, the painting imagines the verdant future Frasers Property has planned for the site.

“When it came to redeveloping this former quarry,” says Frasers Property Development Director Ryan McDade, “where many looked and saw only complexity, we saw a unique canvas offering unlimited potential. We think Holly has captured that beautifully, and it’ll be exciting to see the artwork come to life in the recreation centre for people to enjoy when they come up and visit us.”

“You’ll be able to go for a swim, or stretch out and relax under the shaded dark green foliage around the pool, enjoying that beautiful subtropical landscape.”

This exciting new community is under construction and expected to launch to the public in early 2022. For sales enquiries and more information, visit keperraliving.com.au or contact Frasers Property on 13 38 38.

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