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Community consultation

Uniting is committed to ongoing engagement with Estate users and community members to refine the concept master plan and meet the modern-day needs of the Waverley community.

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Learn more about the Uniting Waverley concept master plan

Video feature - Waverley Estate Care: Ageing in Place

Farhad Haidari, Principal Architect from Architectus speaks about Uniting’s vision of care for the future of the Waverley Estate.

A place for connecting ​

The concept master plan for Uniting Waverley aims to bring together residential aged care, retirement living, assisted living options with a menu of in-home care services, a seniors’ gym and more, in one convenient location.

The village heart

Our aim is to create a village heart that will become the vibrant centre of the Estate, enhancing the physical, emotional and social wellbeing of our residents, clients and the community. It will be about creating spontaneous opportunities for connection; those informal conversations with like-minded people that foster a sense of belonging.

We are planning to achieve this through the creation of internal and external facing community facilities, landscape zones and points of activation to encourage seamless links to the surrounding community. These features will also be designed to provide added security and safety.

Grounded in a vision to create one community, rather than separate service hubs, the principle idea is for the heart of the Estate to have a high level of visual access, and liveability to ensure people can effortlessly connect.

Welcoming the Waverley community

Our aim is to share the heart of the Estate with the community. Under the concept master plan, the public will have access to a wide range of services designed to boost health and wellbeing.

We want the community to enjoy the peaceful heritage gardens and the beauty of the architecture.

Our dream is for the broader Waverley community to grow stronger and build on its solid foundations. To realise this, we want to encourage people from all walks of life to come together and contribute to a vibrant place for connecting.

Person-centred aged care

At Uniting, we support people as their needs change through offering a continuum of care services. Uniting is an advocate for quality aged care, a thought leader and innovator in the aged care sector.

For more than a decade, we’ve pioneered a person-centred model of care that gives people the power to shape their day, their way. Under this model, we don’t take a “one size fits all” approach to care. Instead, we embrace the things which make someone uniquely themselves.

By taking the time to develop a close relationship with our residents, we honour their desire to express who they are, make their own decisions about the support they receive, and contribute to their community. It’s personalised care, based on individual needs. We know from experience that this innovative way of living has positive impacts on the health and wellbeing of our residents and clients.

Uniting supports the aged care reforms that arose from the Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and Safety. We have operated our household model of care, which reflects some of the recommendations, for some time, and have already been implementing other principles in the reforms.

Uniting will be designing aged care at Uniting Waverley in line with the latest sector-wide thinking, to respond to the facilitation of care in smaller households. The concept design of the new aged care home aims to create a familiar and homelike experience, where residents are set up for a good day, every day. It’s just like home, with specialised 24/7 care.

Independent living with care

Our vision is for Uniting Waverley to represent a new benchmark in inclusive seniors living. We are proposing to offer the benefits of privacy, security and independence, together with the support of a caring and vibrant community.

The concept master plan proposes a wide range of purpose-built, Gold Liveable Housing-standard apartments designed to make life easy and enjoyable. Gold Liveable Housing is generously sized and accessible.

We’re committed to supporting older people to live independently at home, as their needs change. In designing the apartments and community facilities, we will aim to support easy continuity of service delivery, both within their home and across the Estate.

Under the concept master plan, the apartment buildings have been carefully integrated into the overall design of the Estate, to provide opportunities for social connection with other residents and the broader community. We hope to offer residents access to a range of community facilities designed to support their health and wellbeing. These may include a seniors’ gym, hair and beauty salon and café.

As a mission driven organisation, making quality affordable housing attainable to vulnerable sectors of our community, including older people, is a priority for us. We’re proud to share that we intend to provide a portion of the independent living apartments as affordable housing.

Local investment and jobs

Uniting has been providing community health and aged care services in Waverley for over 100 years. We’re committed to continuing this journey and investing in the local community through this redevelopment.

Expanding and enhancing our existing services at Uniting Waverley will see over 100 new jobs created for the local community. This will bring the total number of people employed at Uniting Waverley to over 450.

Video feature - Waverley Estate Collaboration

Farhad Haidari, Project Architect from Architectus and Michael Barnett, Principal at Arcadia speak about their collaborative approach to respecting the Waverley Estate project’s rich history of heritage and landscaping.

Frequently asked questions and answers

Uniting has been providing community health and aged care services in Waverley for over 100 years. A number of the current buildings and facilities are coming to the end of their useful life and we’re committed to investing significant capital to ensure we can continue to support the local community.

We’ve been planning for the future and looking at ways we can restore and enhance the Uniting Waverley Estate for many years to come. Our vision is to continue to support the Waverley community by providing quality, person-centred aged care and community services, that respond to people’s changing needs. Our proposed services will promote health, wellbeing and connection, in welcoming settings that conserve and respect Uniting Waverley’s rich history.

The heritage buildings at Uniting Waverley are in excellent condition, as we have been respectfully using and maintaining them for over 100 years. Uniting is committed to preserving and celebrating the heritage buildings.

Under the concept master plan:

  • The main Edina manor and War Memorial Hospital buildings will be retained.
  • The Ellerslie, Banksia and Wych Hazel homesteads will be retained.
  • Other heritage buildings on the eastern side of the Estate such as the chapel and the heritage gates on the corner of Bronte Road and Birrell Street, will be retained.


Uniting is also committed to respecting and conserving the heritage landscape spaces, restoring and enhancing them for the future.

The Estate is listed in the Waverley Local Environment Plan (2012) on the Register of the National Estate and the National Trust Register.

This listing includes the main Vickery/Edina Building and the Banksia, Wych Hazel and Ellerslie buildings.

Council has undergone a process to have the Estate listed on the NSW Heritage register, but it was determined by Heritage NSW that it did not meet the requirements at this time, and sufficient protections are afforded under existing listings.

The concept master plan has been designed to honour the heritage of the Estate by:

  • Re-interpreting the original carriageway with an accessible pathway, which moves through the landscaped gardens
  • Creating a lower or western garden acknowledging this original Estate feature
  • Celebrating the original entry to the Estate by retaining the historic gates on the corner of Birrell Street and Bronte Road
  • Ensuring the use of the site remains true to the historic and current use of the land.

We’re passionate about celebrating and building on the history of the site through conservation, while honouring the Vickery family’s significant legacy.

The concept master plan has been guided by consideration of how the Vickery family legacy could be conserved and celebrated. In aiming to offer a variety of care and support options at home, in independent living, assisted living or formalised aged care, Uniting is continuing the family’s legacy of service.

We’re committed to respecting and conserving the heritage landscape spaces at Uniting Waverley. Inspired by the 19th Century landscaping values of the Estate, the proposed landscaping aims to celebrate and enhance the beauty of the heritage buildings and provide a variety of layered spaces.

The historic plantings will be celebrated and preserved where possible, while the gardens and landscaping are proposed to be expanded. Planting designs that aim to maintain the ecological zones while acknowledging contemporary community needs, are included in the concept master plan.

We recognise that Birrell Street’s strong ‘boulevard’ character makes it significant and distinctive in Waverley. To improve this appeal, we are proposing a new, publicly accessible link between Church and Birrell Streets, to enhance the site’s garden public character and pedestrian access. New streetscape plantings will bring the look and feel of the Estate more prominently into the surrounding streets.

The master plan is at the indicative concept stage. Uniting is supportive of Council’s site-specific Development Control Plan. We would be looking to retain as many trees as possible. This will be informed by more detailed master planning, tree reports and senescence planning to ensure we create a concept proposal that affords the best possible ‘whole of Estate’ concept for the future.

We’re looking to retain the leafy, green look and feel of the site. This includes maximising the opportunity to retain and protect existing healthy trees where possible, replace old or damaged trees and improve the ecological features on the Estate.

The landscape plan will be informed by the Waverley Council Development Control Plan and is subject to Development Approval.

Uniting has endeavoured to balance height and scale across the Estate in this indicative concept master plan. We’ve respected the heritage buildings and landscaping, and considered the design within the context of the residents’ needs, the Estate and the broader community.

This meant considering the setbacks from the street, building heights that were appropriate to the context, and how the heritage assets could be conserved and enhanced. These considerations were based on the development principles of the statutory bodies. We will continue to consider these items throughout the next phase of the process.

To the lower end of site, the heights are 15m to the perimeter and 21m to the middle. At the eastern side of the Estate there is a blanket 15m height limit. Uniting supports Council’s site-specific Development Control Plan, which considers the curtilage and existing view lines to heritage items, and outlines principles for development.

Early investigations have considered solar access and overshadowing within the Estate and nearby residences. These reports are being finalised and will be available when the development application goes on public exhibition in mid-2022.

A Traffic Management Plan will be developed that outlines proposed measures to minimise the impact on the surrounding neighbourhood. In the concept master plan most of the parking is proposed to be placed in below ground basements. Access to these car parks will be carefully designed. All buildings will have sufficient parking. One of the principles is to reduce the number of cars and traffic movements above ground.

Uniting is an advocate for quality aged care, a thought leader and innovator in the aged care sector.

For more than a decade, we’ve pioneered a person-centred model of care that gives people the power to shape their day, their way. Under this model, we don’t take a “one size fits all” approach to care. Instead, we embrace the things which make someone uniquely themselves. By taking the time to develop a close relationship with our residents, we honour their desire to express who they are, make their own decisions about the support they receive, and contribute to their community. It’s personalised care, based on individual needs.

Uniting supports the aged care reforms that arose from the Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and Safety. We have operated our household model of care, which reflects some of the recommendations for some time, and have already been implementing other principles in the reforms. Uniting will be designing aged care at Uniting Waverley in line with the latest sector-wide thinking, to respond to the facilitation of care in smaller households.

The concept design of the new aged care home aims to create a familiar and homelike experience, where residents are set up for a good day, every day. It’s just like home, with specialised 24/7 care.

Our mission is reflected in our values and our ethical principles, in our person-centred care. We are mission-driven, rather than profit-driven.

Our values of being compassionate, respectful, bold and imaginative guide our work every day. We’re proud of who we are and our vision for the Uniting Waverley Estate encapsulates our philosophy of person-centred service to the community.

In August 2021, Waverley Council endorsed the main planning proposal and master plan, subject to amendments.

The second planning proposal is for the remaining lots on Birrell Street in Waverley, which were not included in the first planning proposal. This proposal has reached “Gateway” and been supported to proceed in the planning process by the Department of Planning, Industry and Environment. Waverley Council is expected to place the second planning proposal on public exhibition in late 2021.

Any future development work will be subject to the normal planning process. This includes the preparation and approval of Development Applications for the design and construction of any new buildings.

Uniting is only at the start of the planning process in seeking to obtain two planning proposal approvals. Assuming these are endorsed, Uniting will then submit Development Applications for approval. It is anticipated to take at least 2 years before any work can begin on site. Consequently, the current rental or independent living residents do not need to relocate at this stage.

Since 2017 the residents have been informed of the intention to redevelop the site and what this means for their housing situation.

All residents living in Bushell and Johnston Village have short-term residential tenancy agreements. Since 2017, all residents offered accommodation on the site were offered rental agreements only. As there is a shortage of affordably priced housing in the area, we have chosen to make these units available for people who need them, albeit through short-term rental agreements, rather than leave them empty as they become vacant.

Uniting is in negotiation with Waverley Council to provide a portion of affordable rental housing within the Uniting Waverley redevelopment. We will encourage rental or other residents who may qualify for this accommodation to apply for affordable housing through Housing Pathways, which is operated by the NSW Government Department of Communities and Justice. If our plans are approved, including those for affordable housing, it may be an option for some people to return.

Uniting will abide by the requirements of the Retirement Villages Act (RVA) and Residential Tenancies Act (RTA), as applicable to each resident’s contract. All aspects of the legislation that relate to residents’ rights will be honoured. This means providing residents of Uniting Conrad Beard Village who hold RVA contracts with at least 12 months’ official notice of the need to move.

As part of this, we will work with these RVA residents to find suitable alternative accommodation that is of approximately the same standard as their current home, in other independent living villages. Our obligation to find alternative accommodation in other retirement villages is applicable only to people on RVA contracts. We will help the other residents to find suitable alternative housing that meets their individual needs, which may include other Uniting villages, other community housing providers, NSW Housing Pathways or private rentals.

Each resident’s circumstances are different, so we’ll meet with residents individually to discuss their circumstances and support them to transition to their new home.

We acknowledge the stress and anxiety a redevelopment may cause, especially when it affects their homes. We are committed to continuing to keep the residents updated and supporting them.

We want to hear from you. Sharing your suggestions and comments will help us to continue to enhance the Uniting Waverley concept master plan. You can share your thoughts here.

 

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We want to hear from you. Sharing your suggestions and comments will help us to continue to enhance the Uniting Waverley concept master plan.

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