Doug Leighton led the Boffa Miskell consulting team and an innovative engagement process with residents, many recent immigrants from SE Asia and the Pacific Islands. The team then refined the Masterplan to reflect CPTED (Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design) principles, identified the development sites and building envelopes, and coordinated six architectural firms in designing over 200 new and refurbished units.

A wide range of affordable housing types were created to meet different household and cultural needs. A new city street typology including LID (Low Impact Design) stormwater systems was also created. Boffa Miskell's landscape architects retained existing mature trees and created high quality public open spaces and streetscapes.

Talbot Park Community Plan won the Australasian Housing Institute’s Community Renewal Award in 2008 and the NZ Property Institute Urban Design Award in 2012. It has also been celebrated as an affordable housing case study and exemplar in several publications.