The 270 acre site at 639 Currumbin Creek Road comprises 80% bushland. It contains over 20 different types of community facilities, including a community hall, kitchen, large pizza oven, bali huts, ball court, playgrounds, oval and cafe. It is home to extensive wildlife, about 350 adults and 120 children, 65+ kangaroos and several small businesses. The estate also has grid-connected solar power, edible landscapes, permaculture, waste minimisation and recycling.

The ecovillage project has been developed on degraded farmland on the exurban fringe of City of Gold Coast, a major resort city on Queensland’s South East Queensland coast. The developer, Land Matters Currumbin Valley, has rehabilitated the site and is protecting its environmental integrity and biodiversity by preserving 50 percent of the site as an environmental reserve. The Ecovillage at Currumbin was first conceptualized by John Mongard Landscape Architects in 1999. The concept plan, planning precincts and building/landscape codes were prepared as part of the development approval plans by Julia Watson and others for JMLA.

The developer’s vision was to inspire sustainable living and development practice awareness by creating a residential community that exemplifies World’s Best Practice in Ecologically Sustainable Development. The Ecovillage has transformed the notion of a suburb, with minimal fencing, productive trees on streets, overland storm water and lake harvesting and onsite water and waste. The building and landscape codes have created highly sustainable homes with low carbon footprints. The community is the most awarded estate in Australia, with over 33 accolades, including “The World’s Best Environmental Development” (FIABCI Prix D’Excellence Award 2008).