Gurner Avenue Austral

Liverpool, NSW - Dharug Country (Cabrogal Land)

Addressing urban heat and stormwater challenges in Western Sydney, the 58-hectare Gurner Avenue master plan in Austral sets a benchmark for climate-responsive, pedestrian-focused greenfield development.

Led by e8urban on behalf of Landcom, the award-winning master plan for Gurner Avenue tackles the systemic challenges facing rapid growth in Western Sydney. Located adjacent to the Western Sydney Parklands, the 58-hectare site presented complex geometry and deep superlots that required a fresh approach to suburban infrastructure, environmental performance, and public domain design.

The spatial framework moves away from car-dominated streetscapes by establishing low-speed shared zones. By significantly reducing asphalt footprints, these human-scaled streets create safe, multi-functional spaces where pedestrians and slow-moving vehicles coexist, shifting the priority back to neighborhood life and active transport.

Environmental resilience is embedded directly into these streetscapes through integrated water-sensitive urban design (WSUD). Rather than treating stormwater as a drainage problem to be hidden underground, targeted green infrastructure captures and retains water on-site. This nourishes the urban canopy, restores natural site permeability, and directly combats the region's severe urban heat island effect.

To resolve the challenging site depth without resorting to homogenous housing blocks, the master plan deploys a diverse spectrum of housing typologies. Interspersing detached homes, semi-detached dwellings, duplexes, and terraces maintains high urban legibility while maximizing development efficiency. Approved at Development Application stage, Gurner Avenue proves that climate-responsive engineering and high-amenity urban design can be seamlessly combined at scale.

2024 Winner of the Australian Urban Design Awards.

"The Gurner Avenue Austral master plan project demonstrates that urban design innovation and excellence can be achieved in greenfield development. It addresses the pressing challenges of urban heat, canopy and community interaction by implementing best-practice, pedestrianised low-speed street design. While the streetscape was designed to comply with relevant Austroads standards, significant deviations from the ‘business-as-usual’ approach required the design team to undertake extensive stakeholder engagement with the Liverpool City Council, the NSW Department of Planning and Environment, and Transport for NSW. This engagement was critical to the approval process and has delivered much-needed innovation in greenfield street design, with potential for broader application."