Hi, and welcome to December!
And just like that, the year has come to a close. It’s been a very hectic year for us – lots of ups and downs and having to shift gears a lot more than usual. Much like a lot of planning consultants, as so much of our work is around visual amenity evidence for VCAT, the first 6 months of the year were very quiet as a lot of developers seemed to be settling their planning mediations before the panel hearings – so we focused on bespoke and marketing 3D visualisation projects and developing new animation techniques using a lot of the artificial intelligence applications that were popping up everywhere.
This area is only going to grow further, so that effort has now been rewarded with a range of projects that we’ve completed over the last few months, utilising AI primarily for flythrough sequences across all kinds of projects – from private hospitals through to electronic controllers and everything in between.
The key we found is having high-quality visuals as beginning and end frames are essential for various sequences; otherwise, we found that the AI tech tends to produce unexpected results. It’s still a little bit like riding a bull at a Spanish torrido – but we are getting better at creating what we were hoping for with a lot more realism and a much better cost saving than developing a traditional flythrough animation that takes three times as long and costs three times as much.
By the middle of the year, though, things had turned around a lot, and the visual impact evidence projects have come back online as it seemed that Victorian developers gained a bit more confidence through stabilising materials and labour costs, and their sites that had accumulated needed to be broken ground on and planning applications lodged. We are now entering next year with a healthy pipeline of future projects to be delivered over the next quarter.
Media Articles of Interest
Aussie inflation spikes, shocking RBA
Reveal me rooms: How to design your home for self expression
Judi Carr – From Property Strategy to People Powered Sales
Episode 20 of The Land Pioneers Podcast closes out Season 2 with none other than Judi Carr, one of Australia’s most respected voices in land communities marketing.
With experience spanning decades and working with major developers such as Stockland, Judi has spent her career helping the industry put people, not process, at the heart of every decision.
In this season finale, Judi breaks down the fundamental drivers behind effective communication, the branding mistakes developers repeatedly make, and how PropSquad evolved from a simple insight into a powerful community-building tool and a revolutionary way to market land estates.
Click here to watch the full episode
The Secret Sauce to a Successful Build – Part 4: Architecture and Spirituality
Wrapping up our “The Secret Sauce to a Successful Build” series with Episode 4, Laszlo Baranyay, Director of LB Architects, delves into the spiritual dimension of architecture.
This closing conversation moves beyond form and function to explore how architects channel something unseen—a deeper essence that shapes spaces with meaning and emotion.
Laszlo shares a personal perspective on why architecture is fundamentally spiritual, revealing how vulnerability, intuition, and storytelling elevate a building into an experience. He also expands on the esoteric elements of mind, matter, and myth, showing how timeless design connects us to something greater than ourselves.
Click here to learn the connection between Architecture and Spirituality.
Driftwood Shores, Tuross Head
This month’s feature project is Driftwood Shores, an upcoming coastal community in Tuross Head, NSW.
Designed by the McCloy Group, the development features a relaxed coastal aesthetic, incorporating natural tones and gentle forms that blend harmoniously with the surrounding landscape. Our team prepared aerial and streetscape photomontages to assist with the relaunch of the Driftwood Shores website and associated marketing campaign.
Click here to see the architectural visualisation for this project
When disaster strikes, it often reveals more than it destroys. In this deeply personal account, MJ—our Marketing Coordinator at Eagle Vision—shares what happened when Typhoon Kalmaeigi tore through Cebu City on November 4, 2025.
What began as a quiet morning quickly turns into a fight for safety, a test of faith, and a powerful reminder of how resilience rises in the face of devastation. This isn’t just a story about surviving a typhoon. It’s about the strength of a mother, the unity of a community, and the urgent need for change.
Rising Waters, Rising Strength: A Story from Cebu
Hi, it’s MJ from the Eagle Vision team.
I was born and raised in the Philippines, a beautiful country renowned for its warm people and its tropical climate. But along with the sunshine comes something far more dangerous: our typhoon season. Every year, we brace ourselves for storms. And every year, many of us pray that this time, it won’t be our community’s turn.
On November 4, 2025, that prayer went unanswered for Cebu City.
At around 4 a.m., my family and I woke up to repeated honking from a neighbour’s vehicle and flashing police lights outside. At first, we thought there was trouble between neighbours. But when the pickup truck continued to circle the subdivision, we asked what was going on.
The message chilled us to the core: the nearby creeks were overflowing. Several neighbouring subdivisions were already flooding. We needed to prepare for evacuation.
Moments later, my cousin called after seeing Facebook posts showing water levels rising up to the roofs in surrounding communities. Panic washed over me. As a mother of three—and someone who cannot swim—my first instinct was fear. How do I protect my children? Where do we go?
My husband ran to the basketball court near the creek to check the situation himself. He came back with more bad news: the riprap had collapsed, and water had already reached the gate. The level continued to rise.
I packed whatever essentials I could—documents, food, water—my hands shaking the entire time. With cars clogging the exit of the subdivision and our house sitting in a far corner of Phase 5, it was too dangerous to attempt leaving. Instead, we moved upward—to my husband’s aunt’s three-storey home—hoping height would protect us where distance could not.
For hours, my husband stayed out in the rain, watching the creek’s rise inch by inch.
And then, by God’s mercy, the rain began to slow.
By 8 a.m., the water finally stopped rising. We were safe.
But many weren’t.
As we scrolled through Facebook updates, we saw neighbouring communities submerged, families stranded on rooftops, cars floating down streets, and homes destroyed. The devastation was heartbreaking.
Typhoon Tino (international name Typhoon Kalmaegi) would eventually take 269 lives, injure more than 500, and affect over 5 million people. Cebu alone recorded 150 deaths. Agriculture losses were massive. The damage—physical, emotional, and economic—was overwhelming.
And the truth is painful: much of this damage could have been prevented.
For years, many communities have raised concerns about inadequate flood control measures, substandard infrastructure, and delayed or insufficient maintenance of waterways. Whether due to mismanagement, a lack of oversight, or deeper systemic issues, the result is the same: ordinary people end up paying the highest price.
I grieve for everyone who lost their homes, their vehicles, their memories, and their loved ones.
My heart aches for parents who, like me, were trying to protect their children but didn’t have the option to move to higher ground.
This experience shook me deeply. But it also opened my eyes.
As much as this tragedy broke us, it also revealed something beautiful: the resilience of Filipinos. Neighbours helping neighbours. Strangers shared food and blankets. Communities were rebuilding together long before formal support arrived.
And I’ve come to believe this:
Sometimes God allows storms—not to destroy us, but to shake us awake.
To teach us lessons we would never learn in calm weather.
To make us stronger for the chapters He has prepared ahead.
Despite everything we’ve been through, life moves forward. And so do we.
If you’re reading this, I hope my story reminds you of two things:
- Never underestimate how quickly life can change—and how strong you truly are when it does.
- We all have a responsibility to demand better, build better, and protect our communities so that tragedies like this never have to repeat themselves.
I survived the typhoon with my family—but many didn’t.
So I share this story for them.
And for all of us who continue to hope for a safer, more accountable, and more resilient Philippines.
Thank you for reading. I hope this opened your heart the way the storm opened mine.
Marlou Jane Adlawon.
Wishing you all a wonderful holiday season ahead.
We look forward to being in touch with you in 2026 with lots more!
Stan Zaslavsky.