Landscaping Victoria is advocating for the inclusion of landscaping on government housing supply policy agenda.
Australia needs more houses, but it needs them as part of greener, healthier communities built through collaboration across the design, construction, and landscape industries.
Australia is facing a generational challenge that demands more than lofty targets. With a federal housing supply goal to deliver 1.2 million new homes by mid-2029, the way we design, plan, and build must change. Success will depend on more than concrete and steel: it requires integrated thinking across architecture, construction, landscape design, and policy.
Silos are stalling progress
Australia’s federated system has created a patchwork of rules, standards, and approvals. Each state and territory operates differently, creating duplication, confusion, and delay. Architects focus on buildings, planners on zoning, and builders on delivery, but too often, landscape professionals are brought in last, when the opportunity to shape climate-ready, liveable outcomes has already passed.
This fragmentation adds friction at a time when the need for collaboration has never been greater
Housing targets without holistic design
The push for more homes risks being reduced to numbers alone. But if housing supply is expanded without integrating green space, urban cooling, and social infrastructure, we will deliver dwellings without delivering communities.
Mike Zorbas, CEO of the Property Council, warned productivity and innovation must go together.
“Cohesive project coordination and skills recognition are vital,” he said.
In practice, that means embedding landscapers, designers, and ecologists alongside architects and builders from the outset.
Greening the nation: more than aesthetic
Landscape design and construction is not just ‘the finishing touch’.
Well-planned landscapes add incredible value to housing projects by:
• Combating climate change – urban forests and green roofs reduce heat-island effects, sequester carbon, and manage stormwater.
• Boosting mental health – access to greenery has been shown to reduce stress, improve concentration, and lift overall wellbeing.
• Strengthening communities – parks, gardens, and tree-lined streets become places of connection, building social cohesion in growing suburbs.
• Protecting biodiversity – integrating habitat into housing developments safeguards ecosystems under pressure.
Stuart Penklis, CEO Development at Mirvac, put it plainly: “Leveraging innovations from adjacent industries can help make the housing challenge a little easier.
“Landscaping is one such lever, turning raw housing stock into sustainable, liveable neighbourhoods.”
The workforce challenge
Australia is not only short of tradies. It’s short of the skills needed to green the nation at scale.
Master Builders Australia estimates Australia will need half a million extra workers by 2029. This includes not only bricklayers and carpenters, but also landscape professionals who can plan and deliver tree planting, green infrastructure, and climateresilient open space.
Denita Wawn, CEO of Master Builders Australia, calls labour shortages “…the single biggest handbrake” on new-home production. A coordinated workforce strategy blending skilled migration, vocational training, and recognition of landscape trades is vital.
To its credit, the Victorian Skills Authority is engaging cross-disciplinary expertise through its Construction, Mining & Property industry advisory group (IAG) to help better understand what barriers need to be overcome to achieve net zero and housing goals at the same time as harnessing AI.
Put simply, we need to ensure we are developing workers for the jobs we will need in the future, which are perhaps not the ones that already exist, and may require a different approach to training and education.
Federated complexity in practice
A Victorian council may mandate canopy coverage targets for new developments, while a neighbouring state prioritises housing density with no greening requirements. This inconsistency hampers investment in green infrastructure and leaves communities with unequal access to the benefits of landscape.
A national approach to liveable, climateready design is needed so trees, gardens, and green roofs are not optional extras, but embedded in housing policy.
A systems-thinking call to action
Breaking down silos and elevating landscape within the housing conversation will deliver:
• climate-resilient homes and suburbs reducing costs and risks in the long term
• green spaces which improve both physical and mental health
• stronger communities through designed landscapes that encourage connection, inclusion, and pride of place
• sustainable productivity with collaboration across design, build, and landscape delivering higher-value outcomes.
As Tim Reardon, HIA Chief Economist, cautioned, short-term thinking around foreign builders and supply “…can only lead to fewer new homes being built”. The same applies to ignoring landscaping. We may deliver houses, but not homes.
Part of the same aim
Australia’s housing, climate, and workforce challenges are not separate. They are interwoven. The current federated structure draws unnecessary fault lines between them.
Landscape design and construction must be part of the solution, not an afterthought. By embedding greening strategies in every project, from tree-lined streets to backyard gardens, we can build more than housing supply. We can build healthier, more sustainable, and more connected communities.
Breaking down silos, aligning actors across jurisdictions, and adopting systems thinking is not optional. It is essential. The future focus needs to be on ensuring we do not just build more housing, but better places to live.
To see more from Landscaping Victoria, visit landscapingvictoria.com.au.
