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Urban agriculture within a Precast Africa integrated development — raised beds and orchards between homes.

Integrated development

A settlement that services itself. — Integrated off-grid development applies the volumetric precast system at precinct scale — homes, townhouses, apartments and a mixed-use centre laid out around the infrastructure that supports them. Water treatment, solar generation and urban agriculture are planned as part of the layout, not appended to it.

Integrated off-grid development applies the volumetric precast system at precinct scale — homes, townhouses, apartments and a mixed-use centre laid out around the infrastructure that supports them. Water treatment, solar generation and urban agriculture are planned as part of the layout, not appended to it.

Scale
Precinct — 10 planned zones
System
One volumetric precast family
Servicing
On-site water, energy and food

01The masterplan

One layout, read three ways.

The same masterplan resolved from arrangement to zoning to a photoreal study. Each state is drawn on the identical footprint, so the zoning boundaries and the buildings they describe sit exactly where they will be built.

Conceptual masterplan of a Precast Africa integrated development, showing the road network, central wetland spine and building placement.The same masterplan overlaid with ten numbered and colour-coded development zones.Photoreal aerial visualisation of the same masterplan at golden hour, with rooftop solar across the development.

01The arrangement

Perimeter road, a central green spine and buildings placed to face it. Density steps down from the apartment precinct in the north to full-title homes on the outer edge.

Conceptual layout. Zone areas, unit counts and servicing capacities are set per site against its own land, bulk-services and planning conditions.

02Zone concepts

Ten zones, each with a job to do.

Every zone in the masterplan is worked up as its own concept — what it contains, how it is reached and what it contributes to the precinct around it.

  • 01Arrival & access

  • 01Security gate

  • 02Full-title homes

  • 03Townhouses

  • 04Apartment precinct

  • 05Mixed-use centre

  • 06Civic & recreation

  • 07Wetland & park

  • 08Urban agriculture

  • 09On-site water treatment

  • 10Solar energy

03Resource flows

Outputs from one system are inputs to the next.

The servicing zones are planned as a loop rather than a set of separate utilities. Treated water returns to irrigation, organic waste returns to the soil that grows food, and generation sits on the roofs it serves.

Indicative flows. The servicing strategy for any given scheme is set by its own yield, demand and consent conditions.

Diagram of integrated resource flows between water treatment, energy generation, housing, waste processing and agriculture.
Water — Harvesting & treatment
Rainwater and greywater are captured, settled and treated on site. Treated flow is held for irrigation rather than discharged, which is what lets the agricultural zone run through a dry season. Treated water → agriculture.
Energy — Generation & mobility
Photovoltaics sit on the roofs and carports they serve, with storage and vehicle charging in the same precinct. Generation is placed on built surfaces, not on land that could carry housing or food. Power → community.
Community — The residential core
The homes and shared ground every other system exists to serve. It is the demand centre of the diagram — the point every flow either feeds or draws from. Demand centre.
Manufacturing — Volumetric modules
The same precast room modules used across every building model, delivered finished and craned into place. One product family supplies the whole precinct. Modules → community.
Waste — Separation & recovery
Waste is separated at source, with organic fractions composted on site. What leaves the development is the residual only; the rest is returned to the soil that grows food. Compost → agriculture.
Agriculture — Food production
Greenhouses, raised beds and orchards taking treated water from one end of the loop and compost from the other. The output returns to the community that produced both. Produce → community.
Select a node to trace its flows

04Sustainable community

Five systems the precinct is planned around.

Water, energy, living, waste and agriculture — the five strands that decide whether a development can carry itself once the contractor leaves site.

  • Water

  • Energy

  • Living

  • Waste

  • Agriculture

05The development

The precinct at eye level.

Photoreal studies of each zone as it would be experienced from the ground — the approach, the streets, the centre and the landscape between them.

  • Gatehouse and controlled entrance at golden hour.

    01Arrival & gatehouse

  • Street of single-storey full-title homes.

    02Full-title homes

  • Townhouse rows around a shared landscaped court.

    03Townhouse precinct

  • Walk-up apartment buildings facing the central green.

    04Apartment precinct

  • Mixed-use centre with shops and cafés at ground level.

    05Mixed-use centre

  • Clubhouse, courts and central lawn.

    06Civic & recreation

  • Boardwalk through a constructed wetland.

    07Wetland boardwalk

  • Raised beds and orchards within the development.

    08Urban agriculture

  • On-site water treatment works.

    09On-site water treatment

  • Rooftop photovoltaic arrays and solar carports.

    10Solar energy

Take it further

Bring us a site.

Integrated development is set per site — its land, its bulk services, its planning conditions and its market. Send us the parcel and we will work the layout against it.

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