Landscape Design Hope Island
Gardens, pool surrounds and outdoor living for Hope Island homes, planned around the estate's approval rules and built by one team.
Bella Terra Group is a landscape design and construction company based in Nerang that works in Hope Island. Our Hope Island work includes a pool with a stacked-stone water wall, rendered steps and planters down from the patio, and a side lawn between clipped hedges. We design gardens, pool surrounds, feature walls, paving, planting and lighting for homes in Hope Island Resort, Sanctuary Cove and the streets around them, and our own team builds what we design. Quotes are free and measured on site.
Most of Hope Island sits inside two gated resort estates, and each controls what is built in its gardens. Hope Island Resort runs under the Integrated Resort Development Act 1987 and Sanctuary Cove under its own Act of 1985, so landscaping there is approved by the estate before work starts.
That approval shapes the design from the first site visit. Each Hope Island project is part of our landscape design work across the Gold Coast: planned with you on site and built by our own team, so one company is responsible from the first meeting to the last plant. Our owner, Dion McGirr, manages each project personally.
The estate
What Changes in a Hope Island Garden?
Two things change a Hope Island garden: the estate’s approval and the ground. Hope Island Resort’s Architectural Review Authority looks after about 1,800 lots and meets every two weeks, and before landscaping starts it asks for each plant’s species, number and size, and the height and canopy each tree will reach.
The ground is the other difference. Hope Island was low, flat land, and parts of it, including the golf course at The Links, were raised with fill and river sand. Coastal land this low can contain acid sulfate soils, which turn acidic when dug up or drained.
So we settle the estate’s requirements, the levels and the drainage first. The pool surround, the walls and the planting are then designed to meet them, which keeps the approval straightforward and the finished garden dry.
The work
Our Landscape Design Services in Hope Island
Our own team carries out the work below under our QBCC builder’s licence, with the lighting wired by a licensed electrician. You don’t need to know what your estate requires before we meet. We work through it with you on site.
Pool surrounds and canal-side terraces
Many Hope Island homes back onto a canal or lake, and inside the resort estates the waterways are body corporate property. Pools in Hope Island Resort need an engineer's structural design, and work near a canal bank needs engineering as well, so we plan pool surrounds and terraces around the edge from the start.
Here's what our pool and terrace work covers.
- Pool coping and pool surrounds in natural stone and porcelain
- Stacked stone and rendered feature walls, including water walls
- Raised rendered planters and low retaining walls
- Terraces and paving laid to fall away from the house and the pool
- Garden, step and pool-area lighting, wired by a licensed electrician
Planting to the estate's guidelines
The resort estates set standards for what goes into the ground as well as what is built. Hope Island Resort, for example, asks for each tree's mature height and canopy before it is planted, and protects established trees from removal or pruning without written approval.
Here's what our planting work covers.
- Hedges and screening along boundaries and pool fences
- Feature trees chosen for their height and canopy at maturity
- Garden beds edged and finished in the mulch the estate specifies
- Natural turf, laid once the heavy work is complete
- Irrigation for new garden beds and lawn
A site visit is the right place to start. It lets us see the property, the estate it sits in and how close it is to the water before anything is priced.
During the visit we walk the site with you, measure it and talk through the layout, the materials and the planting, how each one wears, how much upkeep it needs and what it costs, so you can choose what suits your budget.
The process
Our Process
Every Hope Island project starts with how you want to use the space and what your estate allows. From there, it runs in three stages.
- Consultation and site assessment. We check the levels, drainage, access, any canal or lake edge and the estate’s requirements, and ask how you want to use the space.
- An itemised quote. Each part of the project is priced separately, so you can see what every element costs and stage the work if you prefer.
- The work itself. Once the estate has approved it, our team builds it, and Dion hands the finished garden back to you.
How Does a Hope Island Project Run?
A Hope Island project runs in six steps, with the estate’s approval before any construction. We settle the estate’s requirements and the design with you first, the estate reviews it, and only then do the levels, walls and planting go in. Building before approval risks changing or removing finished work.
- The estate's requirements. We start with what your estate or body corporate asks for, so the design answers its rules from the beginning.
- The design, agreed with you. The layout, levels, materials and every plant's species, number and mature size are settled together on site.
- Approval before work starts. The estate reviews the landscaping before anything is built. In Hope Island Resort a bond is paid on approval and refunded after final clearance.
- Levels and drainage. Much of the ground is filled, low-lying land, so the levels, drainage and any larger dig are checked before construction begins.
- Walls, paving and the pool surround. The structural work goes in while machinery can still reach the site and nothing finished is in the way.
- Planting and turf, last. Trees, hedges and turf go in once the heavy work is complete, so nothing is damaged by machinery.
Recent work
Recent Landscape Design in Hope Island
Three views of our Hope Island pool and garden. We keep our customers’ details private, so the photos do the talking.
Hope Island: a pool with a stacked-stone water wall, pale paving and a hedged boundary.
Hope Island: a side lawn between the patio and hedges in raised rendered planters.
Hope Island: rendered steps and a raised planter from the covered patio to the pool.
Why Bella Terra Group
Choosing Bella Terra Group in Hope Island
Our owner, Dion McGirr, has been in the trade for over 14 years, and our Hope Island work ranges from water walls and pool paving to hedging and turf. You can see more of it in our project gallery.
Each project is designed and built by the same company, under QBCC licence 15452813, with Dion managing the work on site. One client wrote, “We engaged Bella Terra to design and construct a complete pool and backyard renovation.” Another wrote that Dion “made some valuable suggestions on the design and layout.”
Quotes are free, measured on site and itemised, with no obligation to go ahead.
Questions
Frequently Asked Questions
How much does landscape design cost in Hope Island?
The cost depends on the size of the space, the materials and plants you choose and the work the site needs. In Hope Island the estate's requirements also play a part, including any engineering for a pool or canal-side work and the levels and drainage on filled ground. We visit, talk through what you want and provide an itemised quote at no charge.
Do I need approval before landscaping in Hope Island Resort?
Yes. Hope Island Resort's Architectural Review Authority must approve landscaping, pools and other exterior work before it starts. The application lists each plant's species, number and size, and the height and canopy each tree will reach, and a bond is paid on approval and refunded after final clearance.
Source: Hope Island Resort.
Is landscaping approval in Sanctuary Cove the same?
Similar, under a different Act. Sanctuary Cove runs under the Sanctuary Cove Resort Act 1985, which lets its principal body corporate control the size, shape, height, colour and placement of structures, and it oversees landscaping standards across the residential areas. Its application steps aren't published, so we confirm them with the body corporate before a design is finalised.
Who is responsible for the canal wall behind a Hope Island home?
It depends on how the lot is titled. On an ordinary freehold canal lot the owner is responsible for the revetment wall, while in community title estates council says the body corporate is, and the resort waterways are body corporate property. Check your title or body corporate before planning a pool, wall or terrace near the edge.
Hope Island and the Suburbs Around It
We’re based in Nerang, and we work right across Hope Island: Hope Island Resort, Sanctuary Cove, Santa Barbara and the streets around the marina.
If you’re looking for landscapers in Hope Island or nearby, we also work in Coomera, Oxenford, Helensvale.
Further afield? Get in touch. We cover most of the Gold Coast, and you’ll get a straight answer either way.
Written by Dion McGirr, who runs Bella Terra Group and has been in the trade for over 14 years. You can talk to Dion directly about your project.
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Let’s plan your Hope Island garden
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