The Lake at The Gables - From Masterplan to Community

We started working on The Gables before it was even a suburb. Now we're commissioning the places at the heart of it.

From the first riparian precinct in 2016 to entry statements, bridges, sporting fields, public-domain works and now the parks and lighting surrounding the central lake, Haron Robson has completed approximately ten commissions across one of The Hills District's largest master-planned communities.

We started working on The Gables before Gables was even a suburb. Haron Robson first became involved in October 2016, when the project was still being developed by Celestino as the major Box Hill North master-planned community.

The scale was significant from the outset: approximately 4,000 homes organised around extensive riparian corridors and open space, active and passive recreation areas, sporting facilities, a town centre, schools and a major central lake.

A Masterplan

The original Oculus landscape masterplan, dated August 2015, shows the community structured around a substantial central landscape and water corridor. The associated precinct plan divided the development into Precincts A through I and identified the town centre, lake and school as key organising elements, with housing density and lot configuration responding to proximity to these facilities and the surrounding open space.

Our first involvement came through Precinct A, including the riparian corridor and adjoining pocket park. The early project team included Oculus and JWP, with Haron Robson introduced because Celestino and Council were looking for more than a conventional lighting and place making response.

The message at the time was clear: innovation would win points.

Alternative strategies, sustainable solutions, lower maintenance, reduced energy consumption and lower long-term running costs were all important considerations.

That first opportunity became the beginning of a relationship that has now extended for almost a decade. From a development to a suburb

The area was then principally part of Box Hill, with the development taking its name from the former Blue Gables and Red Gables dairy properties. The suburb of Gables was subsequently gazetted in July 2020.

Our involvement has therefore run alongside the transformation of the site from an early masterplan into an established Sydney community.

It has also continued through a major change in development ownership, from Celestino to Stockland, providing continuity of project knowledge as successive precincts, public spaces and community facilities have been delivered.

Ten projects across one community

Since 2016, Haron Robson has completed ten separate commissions across The Gables.

Our work has included:

• public-domain and landscape lighting;
  
• sporting fields and associated facilities;
  
• pedestrian and vehicular bridges;
  
• entry statements and arrival features;
  
• parks and recreation areas;
  
• pathways and landscape corridors;
  
• feature and architectural lighting;
  
• associated electrical infrastructure; and
  
• the central lake precinct.
  

The value of that involvement is the accumulated knowledge that comes from working repeatedly within the same development.

Rather than treating each element as an isolated project, we have developed an understanding of how the different precincts, landscape environments, recreational facilities and infrastructure connect — and how decisions around lighting, energy, controls, maintenance, public safety and amenity affect the community as a whole.

And now, the lake

The project has recently reached another important milestone.

We have just commissioned the first stage of the parks, sporting facilities and lighting surrounding the central lake.

That is significant because the lake was already one of the defining elements of the original masterplan when we first became involved.

Almost ten years later, what was once a major blue and green space on a planning drawing is becoming an operational public place — with parks, sporting facilities, paths, landscape areas and lighting progressively being completed and opened for the community.

Commissioning also brings the work full circle for us.

Our involvement has not stopped at concept design or documentation. It has extended through construction and into the field at night — inspecting, testing, aiming and adjusting the installed lighting so that the completed environment performs as intended.

It is where design becomes a real place.

The Gables — From Masterplan to Community

Ten projects. Almost ten years. One evolving community.

From the first riparian precinct in 2016, through entry statements, bridges, sporting facilities and public-domain projects, to the commissioning of the first stage of the parks and lighting around the central lake, our involvement has followed The Gables from an ambitious masterplan to a community being used and experienced every day.

Project Credits

Project: The Gables, Gables NSW - The Lake
Original Developer: Celestino Developments / Baiada Group
Current Developer: Stockland
Local Authority: The Hills Shire Council
Landscape Architect : Aecom
Lighting & Electrical Consultant: Haron Robson
Landscape Contractor: Landscape Solutions Plus
Project / Construction Management: Stillwater Project Management
Haron Robson scope: Public-domain lighting, landscape and feature lighting, bridges, entry statements, sporting facilities, parks, pathways, electrical infrastructure, commissioning and the lake precinct
Current milestone: Commissioning of the first stage of the parks, sporting facilities and lighting on the southerrn side of the central lake