Melbourne residential development Settlers Run has taken home the 2011 UDIA (Victoria) Award for Excellence in the ‘Integrated Water Management’ category.

Daniel Smith, Victorian general manager of Medallist Developments, the company responsible for the development, said: “It is a great honour to receive this prestigious award and it really validates the hard work and effort of all involved in the project.”

“This award will be a source of pride for our entire organisation,” he said.

Smith said that Water Sensitive Urban Design had been a major focus for Settlers Run from day one.

“Right from the planning stage, we had the foresight to secure a recycled water license,” he said.

“This enabled the installation of pipes to deliver 120 mega-litres of Class A recycled water per year for large-scale irrigation of the golf course and the development’s parklands.”

“In addition, Environmental Sensitive Design principles were also adopted to ensure that all treatment systems met best practice to protect downstream areas. These measures included bioremediation filters, drainage swales, sedimentation ponds, retarding basins and wetlands.”

“We also introduced Design Guidelines to ensure all homes would meet the latest environmental standards, including the installation of approved residential water tanks to collect on-site water from house roofs and utilise it for toilet, laundry and garden irrigation.”

“These water efficiency have ensured the creation of a development that doesn’t rely on the community water supply for its large-scale irrigation,” he said.

He also said that under a world-first pilot project for golf course sustainability water usage at the development’s on-site golf course was completely sustainable.

“Approximately 80 per cent of the water used on the course is recycled and supplied by a nearby treatment plant, with remaining 20 per cent coming from water run-off that is collected in an on-site dam,” he said.

“Throughout the golf course, extensive lakes and wetlands have been constructed to naturally treat storm-water run-off, and a 30,000 litre recycled water tank was installed at the Golf & Country Club.”

“Many of the sustainability measures currently being tested at Settlers Run will be rolled out across more than 190 courses in 25 countries around the globe,” he said.

Settlers Run will now compete against winners from across Australia at the national awards ceremony in Perth in 2012.