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The new ACT suburb of Crace is being developed in joint venture between the Territory’s Land Development Agency and Crace Developments Pty Ltd.  The latter is a consortium with CIC Australia as lead partner and project manager.  The other consortium partners are Defence Housing Australia, Community Housing Canberra and Tatebrook Pty Limited.

The vision for Crace is to attract residents who would not normally consider a new suburb. The suburb’s catch cry ‘Crace changes everything’ reinforces its many points of difference.  It offers a range of living options from terrace homes in the urban ‘heart’ to spacious family homes in the surrounding suburban precinct.

Crace is ‘different by design’. A panel of architects and builders has produced unique designs for the suburban precinct and a Crace Pattern Book has been developed to set a design standard.  To ensure harmonious streetscapes, buyers need to choose a pre-approved house design, or have their house design approved, before being allocated a block of land.

A unique carbon trading agreement with Greening Australia is offsetting emissions during the construction stage, making the land development activities carbon neutral. The HIA has awarded the Demonstration Village and the suburb itself GreenSmart® accreditation, in recognition of the many sustainability initiatives, including leading-edge water sensitive urban design to reduce potable water use.

CIC has also committed to providing a comprehensive response to the affordability challenges of the current ACT market, by making at least 15 per cent of homes at Crace available at prices below the government’s affordability threshold.

Crace has already garnered its share of awards. At the ACT Master Builders & Boral Excellence in Building Awards in June 2010, CIC Australia and PBS Homes Pty Ltd took out the award in the Medium Density – Townhouses & Villas category for the architecturally designed terraces in Crace’s demonstration village. The Mio terrace was named as the Best Display Home for less than $300,000. At the same awards one of the Crace panel builders, Classic Constructions won Best Display Home, more than $275,000 for their Crace display home, The Surrey.

The Crace marketing program has also won many awards, including the highly coveted Marketing Excellence Award at the 2010 Urban Development Institute of Australia’s National Awards for Excellence.  In 2009, the marketing program won in the New Brand category at the Australian Institute of Marketing’s ACT awards, as well as picking up two awards for excellence at the local print and design industry’s Page Awards.