As the Chairman has indicated, Landcom’s charter is to broker solutions to meet the needs and priorities of Government, as well as the commercial realities of the private sector. Building strong relationships with both the public and private sectors and taking a leadership role in sustainability are hallmarks of this process.
It is pleasing to be able to report our achievements on all of these fronts this year, details of which you will find in the pages that follow.
Two projects that perhaps bring to life this charter in the most meaningful way are One Minto and the work we are currently undertaking with the Department of Ageing, Disability and Home Care (DADHC).
As readers of past reports may recall, One Minto is a massive redevelopment in which Landcom has partnered with the Department of Housing and Campbelltown City Council to revitalise and transform a former housing estate’s poor physical and social environment into a vibrant, modern community. It is achieving this by providing a mix of public and private housing, attractive streetscapes, generous open spaces and community facilities.
The close working relationship forged with Housing NSW at Minto has delivered notable benefits, and will continue to do so. Landcom is now working with the department to investigate renewal opportunities in other locations. We have also been asked to work closely with the department as part of the first tranche of the government’s nation-building stimulus package.
Landcom was approached during the year by DADHC, which sought our assistance and advice on the construction of group homes for people with disabilities. We established a builder panel and will take responsibility for managing the delivery of 26 homes over the next 12 months with the possibility of another 60 homes over the following two years. This relationship shows how Landcom’s development “know how” can be applied to issues and tasks outside our traditional span of operations and I expect this ability to have long-term implications for the way Landcom works with other Government agencies in future.
Our leadership position in sustainable development was affirmed in February this year when we were named one of the country’s top performing Government enterprises by the Australian Centre for Corporate Social Responsibility. We were recognised for our environmental, social and financial performance over the past three years, and for our sustainability and environmental capabilities.
Equally pleasing was the recognition received from our industry peers. Landcom projects received a range of prestigious awards this year, most notable of which was a national UDIA award for Prince Henry at Little Bay and a National Excellence Award at the Property Council of Australia Awards for Innovation and Excellence for Rouse Hill Town Centre. More details of these awards can be found here.
As always, our success in these and other projects relies in no small part on the creative talents and commitment of our development partners, and on the willingness of councils to allow us to be innovative in our projects. This leads me to a vital point: we are able to achieve such great results because we have strong relationships with a variety of stakeholders. Thanks to these relationships, issues are never consigned to the too-hard basket and we are invariably able to find sustainable solutions to complex problems.
Recognition is one thing, but the ability to influence sustainable development is quite another. A major achievement this year was the July 2008 launch of Landcom’s Boxed Set of Guidelines by the Minister for Planning at our Landcom Conference. This highly successful event was attended by 250 local and state Government representatives, development partners and industry consultants. Following the conference’s success, we embarked on a program of regional seminars to publicise the Guidelines and explain their role in helping deliver memorable and successful places. We received wonderful feedback on the value of this initiative, particularly from local government.
Awards and guidelines notwithstanding, the year was one of consolidation for Landcom in many of our projects. We continued to act as a catalyst to provide land where it’s most needed, roll out the required infrastructure and create jobs and investment in the housing industry. We continue, too, to seek every opportunity to produce housing that is more affordable for purchasers on moderate incomes. This continues to be one of our greatest challenges and one to which we continue to dedicate substantial effort and resources.
While we maintain good progress across our projects, we are constantly analysing and dissecting the business model to see whether there are other initiatives we can introduce to help the Government implement its policies.
I would like to make use of this opportunity to thank the Board, my colleagues and each and every one of Landcom’s dedicated people for the outstanding progress we have made this year. None of it would have been possible without you. Of course, much work remains to be done, but with your help we can build on already strong foundations to safeguard a bright future.
Sean O’Toole
Managing Directior