As new estates and high-rise buildings get wired and fibred for fast broadband, developers are providing virtual neighbourhoods as well as the usual footpaths and parks.

When Jane Holt and her family bought into the newly minted Springthorpe estate in Melbourne a few years ago they moved into the community long before their house was finished.

That’s because as soon as they signed the contract they were given access to www.springthorpeonline.com.au, the dedicated and secure community portal the developers had already built.

“From the moment I logged on I had a way to be part of the community,” Jane says.

“Not only could I see the sorts of issues people were talking about as they built homes, but I could get leads on services, and make contact with my neighbours and local groups.

“It made a big difference to the whole experience.”

Virtual or online communities like Springthorpe’s are based on distinct residential projects – master-planned communities, high-rise buildings or, most recently, retirement facilities.

This may still be fairly new, but the pace of deployment is increasing.

The developers behind Springthorpe, Urban Pacific, may have been one of the first but some of the country’s biggest companies – Brookthorpe Multiplex, Delfin Lendlease, GEO Property Group and Austcorp – have picked up on the trend and incorporated the principle into projects right around the country.

It follows a similar pattern in locations like New York, where a decade-long building boom resulted in a huge increase in condominium apartments, and the online services to manage operations and connect residents.

Austcorp’s Scott Biggs created the company’s first community intranet for the high-end estate Coomera Waters in Queensland. He says the appeal is in achieving much better communication – between residents, and between the company and residents.

“Because we had a community title scheme across the whole community it made sense to set up something like this so that we can contact and inform residents regularly and efficiently.

“It also enhances community life – something we’ve had great feedback on so far, and it’s certainly an option we would look at again.”

Using community portals for information, feedback and ease of administration is an obvious benefit.

For residents that can mean secure, online storage of all the information related to their home or apartment, such as plans, permits, working drawings – you name it.

But it also provides a great vehicle for the long-term management of developments, particularly when it comes to common assets.

Bryan Forby, whose company Community Living looks after several planned estates and high-rise buildings in Victoria, says online portals have improved the flow of information, particularly for issues relating to owners and bodies corporate.

“We can deliver all of our information online and by email and so have been able to cut the administrative costs substantially.

Bryan says a Macquarie Bank survey of the industry showed that his company achieved much lower disbursement costs.

“As we can’t guarantee that everybody will log on regularly, we still deliver accounts by mail, but that will change as the use of portals in communities develops.”

Evolution of neighbourhood intranets is something that is already happening as the communities themselves change, high-density and medium-density projects enter the mix, and the technology improves.

Mark Davis of Key Vision, a company that has spearheaded the concept of community intranets since 1996 and developed 18 to date, believes their potential is still relatively untapped.

“These intranets can serve populations of thousands, so there’s a lot that can happen over them as they mature and communities get used to them,” Mark says.

“Social networking is just one area that is happening as residents form groups, share experiences, advertise their businesses and chat.

“But we’re also starting to see real commercial activity on some sites as owner corporations look for ways of funding them and businesses see new markets.”

“I think they will develop even more rapidly once people can link to them via mobile phones and be able to download discount coupons for products or services.”

Key Vision is also looking at ways of improving and simplifying the interface between the portals and the homes so that access becomes seamless. By the end of the year it plans to install in nine homes ‘always on’ iMacs that will act as a virtual bulletin board while doubling as the home’s media server.

But of course no one is saying that virtual neighbours can be any easier to deal with than real ones.

Mark says these specific community intranets, if they are going to succeed, must combine simple ways of participating with easily used technology, good management and sound financial support.

“You can’t just put up neighbourhood intranets and expect them to work by themselves.”

Morgan Strong of Creatop, a Queensland company also pushing into the area of dedicated community intranets, says hey also need a unique point of view and common interests.

His company built and manages several Queensland estate sites, including Coomera Waters and a new mid-density project in the heart of Brisbane called the Kelvin Grove Urban Village.

“I think a shared perspective certainly helps, but having said that, we’ve been surprised at the high level of participation on some of them,” Morgan says.

“For instance, the community portal at the EcoVillage development in Currumbin now has 42 groups.”

Most community portals are financed by the developers then gradually transferred to community control. Fees are generally about $30 a year per household, and everyone in the community has the opportunity to create content.

However, the level of activity varies widely across different portals, and finding a long-term model that works is an issue for most communities once they take charge.

Pam Barnes, a long-term resident of the Williams Bay development in Melbourne and a member of the committee running the community portal, says portals tend to go through various phases.

“The portal for our development was probably based on too small a population to start with, so now it’s an online community for the whole of the Williamstown suburb.

“There’s a lot of information on the site and many activities to join, but the committee overseeing it hasn’t met for a while and we really need to get back to that.”

Change is also on the agenda of the community group overseeing the Coomera Waters intranet. A survey of residents has been completed and they plan to revamp their site as a result.

“About 70% of residents said they use the site occasionally, and just over one-third are using it regularly,” says Bronwyn Farr, a committee member who is also employed to edit the site.

“We’re happy with that but believe we can make it even better by making navigation really simple and improving how information is displayed.

“The estate is still growing, so our population is still evolving. This portal is a great way to create a community, but it needs to reflect those changes.”