DKO Sydney Director Nick Byrne said density done well improved quality of life, but residential density alone could not make a successful urban centre. “Australia’s growth corridors need more housing, but they also need places where people genuinely want to live,” he said.

The masterplan positions Leppington Town Centre as a connected civic precinct rather than a standalone residential project. Civic infrastructure, the studio argues, should sit at the heart of a town centre, not on its periphery. The precinct is designed to function as a new generation civic amenity, where public life, residential living, retail activity and commercial opportunity exist together within a transport-connected neighbourhood.

The precinct, to be built on rural paddocks close to transport hubs, will deliver eight residential towers, 1,500 apartments, more than 30,000 square metres of commercial and retail space, and a four-star hotel and conference centre. The housing mix encompasses affordable housing alongside build-to-rent (BTR) and build-to-sell apartments, addressing housing supply while integrating a range of tenures within the same precinct.

The approach to retail within the masterplan reflects a position DKO has held across a number of mixed-use projects: that ground-level retail and hospitality should be treated as urban infrastructure rather than commercial floor space appended to a residential podium. Throughout the Leppington precinct, ground-floor retail, food and beverage and local services have been integrated at street level, with the intention of activating laneways, supporting local businesses and creating consistent opportunities for incidental social interaction.

The Leppington project is expected to serve as a benchmark for future mixed-use development across Australia’s growth corridors, with the studio arguing that investment in public realm delivers compounding social, environmental and economic value over time.