Lara estate ‘the best in Victoria’

A Lara residential estate is the best in Victoria, according to an urban developers industry awards for excellence.
Grand Lakes was the region’s first winner of best residential estate in 20 years of the Urban Development Institute of Australia’s Victorian awards.
The estate also won an award for environmental excellence.
The win put the Bisinella Developments estate in the running for a national award.
The company’s Richard Bisinella accepted the state prize in front of 700 awards guests at Crown Palladium last Friday.
“We’re proud to have brought these awards to the Geelong region. In particular, it’s a terrific honour for the town of Lara,” Mr Bisinella said.
The judges described Grand Lakes, which was completed earlier this year, as “a brave development” with “a strong focus on community, integration and connectivity”.
They were impressed by the centrally-located café which is situated next to a popular children’s playground and well connected to linear parks and pathways.
The 807-lot estate has 18 hectares of open space including ornamental lakes, wetlands and parkland, which occupy 20 per cent of the area.
Two-thousand residents have moved into the estate since it opened a year ago.
Bisinella Development spent more than $12 million on the estate’s public infrastructure, about $15,000 per lot.
Other features include a café, a community centre, playgrounds and a yet-to-be-built child care centre.