Botanic Highfields: Retirement resort approved by Toowoomba council

A sprawling 231-lot retirement village worth $56m is set to transform 10 hectares of Highfields into a luxury resort-style community for seniors.

Concept art for the Botanic Highfields retirement facility off Browne Road in Woolmer, which was approved by the Toowoomba Regional Council.

A massive retirement village has been approved for a 10-hectare parcel of land north of Toowoomba, creating more than 230 lots for new dwellings in the process.

Gold Coast developer Damien Gwynne of the CW Group was given the green light last week by the Toowoomba Regional Council for Botanic Highfields, a 231-lot over-50s resort off Browne Road in Woolmer.

The project, believed to be worth in excess of $56m, will be delivered in 10 stages and create communal facilities such as a clubhouse, lawn bowls green, swimming pool, gymnasium, cinema, function area, art room, lounge/games area and library.

Overhead layouts for the Botanic Highfields retirement facility off Browne Road in Woolmer, which was approved by the Toowoomba Regional Council.

Botanic Highfields will also feature a new green space and landscaping buffers covering nearly 10 per cent of the site.

The project will cater for three-bedroom houses on most lots and will operate on a land-lease model where occupants own the dwellings but not the land.

According to the assessment report by council officer Richard Green, the development was still considered code-assessable even though the average lot size of 260 sqm was far lower than the 500 sqm acceptable outcome in the low-density residential zone.

Concept art for the Botanic Highfields retirement facility off Browne Road in Woolmer, which was approved by the Toowoomba Regional Council.

“Though this exceeds the density requirements of AO4.1, the low-key nature of the development ensures it will appropriately integrate with the character and amenity of surrounding residential allotments,” the report said.

“The design and layout of the premises allows potential sources of nuisance and impact to be appropriately managed to ensure the development will not adversely affect surrounding amenity or cause environmental harm.”

Botanic Highfields was proposed back in November last year, as part of CW Group’s plans to create housing for more than 600 families.

Mr Gwynne said the company planned to dedicate a third of its land — about 30 hectares — for a natural flora and fauna habitat under the protection of the state government.

“It makes me very excited and super proud to be investing in Toowoomba, to be offering so many employment opportunities through our group but more importantly to build a community that are going to want to be,” he said on the website.

It comes amid a boom in over-50s projects across the Toowoomba region, with developers like Aliria, GreenFort and GemLife all moving resorts forward at varying stages.