Delaray Estate

Clyde North | Landscape Maintenance | Constructed Wetland

Delaray Housing Estate in Clyde North is a Villawood Properties project that features a very large constructed wetland, which has been designed to intercept, retain and treat large volumes of stormwater from the estate and surrounding areas, and to filter out pollutants and improve water quality. The wetland delivers additional benefits including urban cooling, habitat for local wildlife, and public amenity.

Following the landscape plan designed by MDG Landscape Architects, Australian Ecosystems(AE) were contracted to collect seed, propagate and plant over 60,000 aquatic and ephemeral plants for the project, as well as install and ameliorate topsoil, install jute mat and install guarding enclosures to protect vulnerable species from bird grazing. AE have also been contracted to maintain the constructed wetland complex for 2 years, in readiness to hand over the asset to Melbourne Water at the end of the maintenance period.
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The wetland and plant formats were designed to be compliant with Melbourne Water’s Wetland Design Manual. To ensure compliance with the manual, all shallow, deep and submerged marsh species were grown and supplied in 600cc plant formats, and all ephemeral plants were supplied in 93cc hiko cells or tubestock. The plant list included large numbers of Water Ribbons (Cycnogeton procerum) which is a very important wetland filtration and frog habitat species, and this species is also very palatable to several waterfowl species including Purple Swamp Hens (Porphyrio porphyrio) and Black Swans (Cygnus atratus)

Site preparation, topsoiling, jutematting and planting works were undertaken over the Spring and Summer of 2018/19, with all planting works completed by April 2019. The results have been outstanding, with plants achieving 80% coverage by Spring 2019, and the site being awarded PC by Melbourne Water without defect. The site is currently being maintained by Australian Ecosystems, with under 5% weed cover and over 95% survival rates of all plantings. The site is now a thriving ecosystem, and is a great centrepiece of Delaray Housing Estate and enjoyed by residents and visitors alike.
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What our clients said about us:
“Australian Ecosystems has delivered a best practice wetland at Delaray, and the results have been outstanding, exceeding our expectations for the site. The wetlands are establishing beautifully and are now a great asset to Delaray Estate. The results at Delaray are a testament to the expertise, professionalism and enthusiasm that Australian Ecosystems bring to wetland and drainage landscape projects.”
​- Rory Costello, Executive Director, Villawood Properties.