Architecture
Master planning and site development.
Before there are buildings, there is a plan for the ground they sit on. Where the roads run, where the services go, how many units fit without the site feeling packed, and what happens in phase two. Get this wrong and every building on the site inherits the mistake.
What master planning is
Master planning is the layer above individual buildings. It decides how a whole site works: access and roads, plot or unit layout, services and drainage, parking, open space, phasing, and the relationship between what gets built now and what gets built in three years.
It matters most when a site holds more than one building, or when it will be developed in stages. Both are common here, and both are where money gets lost quietly, because a bad layout does not announce itself.
It shows up later as a road in the wrong place, units that overlook each other, a phase two that cannot be built without demolishing something from phase one, or infrastructure costs that were never in anybody's budget.
What we plan
Cluster housing and multi-unit residential
Layouts for cluster developments and multi-unit sites. The design problem is density against liveability: fitting the number of units that makes the development work financially, without the result feeling cramped, without units overlooking each other, and with parking and refuse handled properly rather than as an afterthought.
Subdivisions
Dividing a larger stand into smaller ones. Layout, access, and how the resulting stands are shaped and serviced, which is what determines what each one is worth.
School and institutional campuses
Campuses grow building by building over years, usually with nothing holding them together. A master plan sets where each future block goes, how pedestrian and vehicle traffic separate, and how the site works during construction while the institution keeps running.
Churches and community sites
A main hall, offices, classrooms, parking and the space around them, developed in phases as funds allow. Phasing is the whole problem, and it is a planning problem long before it is a building one.
Commercial and mixed-use sites
Multi-tenant sites, business parks and mixed-use developments, where the layout has to serve the tenants, the customers and the delivery vehicles at once.
A capacity study tells you what the land can hold, not what you will be allowed to build.
Those are two different questions, and only one of them is answered by looking at the site. A capacity study measures what fits: access, topography, boundaries, servicing, and the number of units the ground can carry. It does not tell you what zoning permits or what use is allowed. If you are buying, take the zoning and permitted use check as well. It is $100 at cost, and it is the cheapest part of the decision you are about to make.
What is included
- Site analysis: topography, boundaries, access, existing services and orientation
- A capacity study: what the site can realistically hold
- Layout options, compared honestly rather than presented as one answer
- Circulation for vehicles, pedestrians, service and emergency access
- A services and drainage strategy, produced in-house where the site allows and with an engineer where it does not
- A phasing plan, showing what gets built when
- A master plan drawing set and a written report
What it costs
- Site Capacity Study Credited in full against your master planning fee if you go ahead
- $120
- Zoning and permitted use check At cost. Optional, and recommended before you buy
- $100
- Master plan Priced per site, by area, unit count and complexity
- Quoted
Starting prices. Final quote after a free consultation.
30% deposit before work starts, 70% on completion. Files and access are released on payment in full.
How long it takes
A capacity study on a site you are considering is usually a few days, which is normally fast enough for a purchase decision. A full master plan depends entirely on the size of the site, so you get a date with the quote rather than after it.
What we need from you
If you are still deciding whether to buy, the first two are enough to start.
- The title deed or survey diagram, and the stand or lot number
- What you intend to build, and roughly how many units
- Whether it will be developed in one go or in phases
- Whether you already own the land, or are deciding whether to buy it
Common questions
When do I need a master plan?
When the site holds more than one building, when it will be developed in phases, or when you are deciding whether to buy a piece of land and need to know what it can carry. If it is a single house on a single stand you do not need one, and we will tell you so.
Can you tell me how many units fit before I buy the land?
Yes, and it is one of the most useful things we do. A capacity study on a site you are considering tells you what it can hold and what the servicing is likely to cost, which is what decides whether the asking price is a good one. Read the note above about zoning before you rely on it on its own.
Do you take the individual buildings on as well?
Usually yes, and there is a real advantage in the same practice doing both, because the buildings are designed knowing why the layout is what it is. But the master plan is a deliverable in its own right, and you are free to take it to any architect you like.
Start here
Tell us what you want to build
A house, a brand, a website, a system, or all of it. Send a message and we will map out the path from idea to reality.