What we achieved during the year
During a period of unprecedented economic and market uncertainty, Landcom's focus on core business activities and our continued delivery of projects helped provide a stable environment for the development industry, which had been facing difficult times. At the same time we took a proactive role in assisting the state government to deliver its commitments under the federal government's nation building program. These unique circumstances shaped our achievements for the year.
DEVELOPING CONSTRUCTIVE PARTNERSHIPS
Landcom's ability to deliver complex projects is founded on the constructive partnerships we have
formed over many years. This year was no different. With the help of our partners, we devised innovative solutions for the delivery of our projects and, in turn, assisted them with their own initiatives. As well, new partnerships forged this year opened up potential new areas of business.
Delivering social housing: We expanded our working relationship with Housing NSW (HNSW) by assisting it to meet the state government's social housing construction targets under the Commonwealth's Nation Building – Economic Stimulus Plan. Our role is to manage delivery of 1,300 social housing dwellings within 18 months. Of these, we are directly delivering around 500 dwellings in 31 projects. We are also acting as a contract administrator for HNSW in
delivering another 800 new dwellings. Thanks to this and the Ageing, Disability and Home Care (ADHC) program, Landcom firmly established its credentials in the community housing sector, opening up new opportunities for us.
ADHC group homes initiative: A new relationship developed with the ADHC helped deliver its ambitious group home construction program across New South Wales. The close working relationships we enjoy with project home builders were instrumental in delivering significant time and cost savings, allowing ADHC to meet its commitments, while at the same time providing the home building industry with a new source of work. The program established a presence for Landcom in the rapidly changing community and social housing sector, and the number of homes we were scheduled to deliver increased several times during the year. We are currently supplying a total of 34 group homes state wide.
A groundbreaking conservation agreement:
Our facilitation behind the scenes was instrumental in delivering a groundbreaking conservation agreement between the state and federal governments for the Edmondson Park release area. This is the first time a blanket approval has been granted that will apply to all stages in the approval process without need for rereferral. The agreement provides a valuable model for other, similar agreements in Sydney's growth centres in future.
Delivering coordinated development: Our innovative delivery model for the Riverstone release area yielded results during the year. Following our active management of the area, Sydney Water was given the certainty it needed to commit infrastructure funding ahead of schedule. The water authority's decision was based on our pledge to deliver coordinated development, since this provides greater confidence that forward funding commitments can be recovered in a timely way.
Securing government funding: Our work in addressing risks, nominating infrastructure works,
coordinating applications and providing supporting documentation (including budgets and programs) helped the Liverpool and Penrith councils secure up to $15 million in interest-free loan funding from the state government. The money is intended to fund local infrastructure and bring direct benefits to future residents at Edmondson Park and Caddens.
FACILITATING URBAN REGENERATION
While we are committed to delivering strategic urban renewal projects in support of the Metropolitan Strategy, the coordinated delivery of larger-scale urban renewal projects remains a challenge for Landcom and the wider development industry. To facilitate this delivery, we worked behind the scenes during the year, helping government respond to the complex commercial and regulatory issues associated with urban renewal. We also made significant progress in our long-standing projects.
Green Square
Given the tight financial market and the subsequent need to provide a kick-start for this development, Landcom took a larger equity stake in the project during the year. In December, we entered into a heads of agreement arrangement with Mirvac and Leighton Properties to develop our site at the heart of the future Green Square Town Centre, a site that will be a catalyst for more development. Planning work also began on the construction of Dunning Avenue, the first stage of the Town Centre. In June we finalised negotiations for the relocation of NSW Police over the next 12 months from the site.
One Minto
Landcom's collaboration with HNSW to redevelop this former public housing estate by intermingling public and private housing gained momentum during the year. With private housing construction now well advanced, the first houses on the estate were handed over to HNSW tenants in December. In a new collaboration with the agency, we have agreed to work together on a masterplan for the Airds Estate, based on the Minto model. Together, we undertook extensive community consultation to gauge residents' views.
Discovery Point and Prince Henry
Construction continued on these major renewal projects during the year. At Discovery Point we worked with our project partner, Australand, on the next stage of this development, consisting of 88 units. All apartments on Site 4 sold off the plan in eight months, and construction on this part of the project commenced in March. Meanwhile, at Landcom's Prince Henry development, Stocklands commenced construction on the first of two gateway buildings at the entry to the site. This first building will provide 845sqm of commercial/retail space, including a supermarket, with 4 levels apartments above. All apartments were sold off the plan and completion is expected by the end of 2010. The second building is scheduled to commence in September 2010.
CREATING SOCIAL CAPITAL
The development of social capital is key to any healthy community. The challenge, however, is to find ways to measure what is largely intangible. Landcom's approach is to deliver what we believe are the building blocks for sustainable communities and then measure their individual effectiveness.
Learn2 initiative at Rouse Hill
Learn2 opened at Rouse Hill - a community hub designed to help local residents navigate the maze of life-long learning options in a "one stop shop". This service was developed by our project partners (Lend Lease, the GPT Group) with assistance and support provided by Landcom and the Department of Planning. This valuable initiative provides new ways to connect people.
Walking School Bus expands
Our Walking School Bus initiative continues to flourish. A new walking school bus was introduced during August 2009 at the John Palmer Primary School in The Ponds, and a second "bus" route opened at the school in September. Another walking school bus was launched at Kenthurst in March, with over 30 students enrolled at the start of the program.
New boost for My Neighbourhood
In May 2010, Landcom granted the Australian Capital Territory Planning and Land Authority permission to use our "My Neighbourhood" child educational tool in the ACT schools system as part of its teaching program, "How to Build a Suburb".
Building a community
The value that bringing new residents together has in building a community cannot be overestimated. The celebrations and activities we organised or hosted included:
- a bush dance and bush poetry afternoon at Garden Gates;
- a "Family Fun Day" at The Ponds attended by over 2,000 people;
- an inaugural community celebration breakfast and family fun day attended by over 100 new homeowners at The Sanctuary;
- a "Back to Prince Henry Day" recognising the important community role nurses have played on this former hospital site.
Welcoming new residents
Landcom's welcome programs provide practical assistance to new residents by helping them settle into our estates and the wider community. We maintained our programs in established estates during the year, running welcome programs in nine projects and visiting over 700 new households. The year was characterised by completed initiatives and new beginnings. We introduced new welcome program initiatives in our Parkbridge and One Minto estates. At the latter, we visited all new households and organised two" Meet Your Neighbour" events. In contrast, our involvement in the Woodlands Welcome Program came to an end in July.We hosted a community event to mark our departure and handed over ongoing community building initiatives to a team of community members.
DEMONSTRATING GOOD DESIGN
Our journey towards design excellence started a decade ago, when we reengineered our greenfield estates in areas like Newbury to reflect "new urbanism” principles. We've come a long way since then. Good design is now core business for Landcom. We trial and prove new design principles in our own projects, then use them to raise industry standards. Our design philosophy extends right across our business and to all our projects – big and small, greenfield and renewal. Our success is evidenced by the industry recognition and awards we receive. The list of this year's awards is a welcome reminder that good design is always worth the effort.
Park Central awarded
The industry recognition afforded to the Park Central masterplan is an excellent example of how careful masterplanning produces good results. In this mixed use development located close to transport, detailed design guidelines have produced high quality housing that incorporates leading-edge ecologically sustainable development principles and brings Sydney's urban growth policies to life.
Industry recognition for Prince Henry continues
Housing construction continues at the Prince Henry development, arguably Landcom's most widely acclaimed project. Five awards were received during the year, bringing the tally of individual industry awards to well over 20 for this project. It is not only the number of awards that is significant but their scope, reflecting the breadth of design excellence displayed here. Recognition this year ranged from masterplan design and heritage conservation to construction/ engineering, health building design and environmental management.
Recognising good landscape design
At Landcom's Gymea Glade project, our ability to successfully put into practice the key elements of a good landscape design was recognised this year. In this case, it was the small details that mattered: the civil works, building construction and landscape planting needed to implement a design vision for the estate's open space. The end result is a well executed playground and parkland available for children and residents of all ages and mobility.
Landcom Guidelines awarded
We continue to expand our suite of design guidelines for use by industry practitioners and regulators in their day-today work, this year launching our Housing Diversity Guidelines. These take what we have learned and, using own portfolio of projects as case studies, demonstrate the lessons in a practical manner. They continue to be well received. In addition, our "Boxed Set” of Design Guidelines was awarded once again and our Universal Design Guidelines were nominated by the federal government as a key resource for the National Dialogue on Universal Design.
BUILDING SUSTAINABLE PLACES
Creating sustainable places for people to live in, work in and enjoy is an activity that lies at the core of Landcom's business. Our ongoing commitment to sustainable development takes many forms.
Oran Park
Dramatic progress was made during the year at Oran Park, culminating in the official project and display village launch in March, which drew nationwide media coverage. The opening weekend was also a success, with more than 8,000 visitors showing interest in the first homesites. Planning and construction of future stages is now underway, work is advanced on a number of community projects, and we have employed a coordinator to help establish the framework for a community development program. Our aim is to have as much community infrastructure as possible in place by the time the first residents move in. This includes the first school, the opening of which is planned for the start of the 2012 school year.
Responding to the information revolution
In August, we negotiated an agreement to install fibre-optic cabling throughout all homes in our Oran Park project. This will provide internet access at speeds of up to one gigabyte per second, giving residents the fastest broadband service in Australia. In addition, our Parkbridge estate was selected to test the federal government's National Broadband Network (NBN). It was chosen because it is the one of the few areas in Australia which is already "NBNready," thanks to Landcom's foresight in laying opticfibre conduits in the early stages of the development.
Important milestones and initiatives
We reached significant milestones across all our projects during the year. Some examples:
- We delivered our final land release at Greenway Views, with all remaining lots and completed homes on this estate sold by the end of the reporting period. To mark the end of our involvement in this project and to celebrate our completion of the Lake Francis works, we hosted a Family Fun Day on 20 June 2010.
- Final lots in our Newbury project were released, and we began winding up our involvement in this project.
- Work began on the first stage of our Renwick project in February 2010.
- At Edmondson Park, we undertook to forward finance major road works on behalf of the Roads and Traffic Authority and water/sewage works on behalf of Sydney Water and have begun the civil works. This will allow private landowners as well as Landcom to proceed with the urban development ahead of schedule.
- We sold our thousandth lot at The Ponds in April 2010 – just two and a half years since the launch of this project.
- At our Potts Hill redevelopment site, Sydney Water moved into its purpose-built facilities.
ADVANCING BEST PRACTICE
While Landcom is recognised as an industry leader in sustainability, our commitment to best practice extends to everything we do.
Launch of PRECINXTM
In November 2009, we launched PRECINXTM, a diagnostic tool that uses real data to assess environmental, economic and social performance over large-scale projects and neighbourhoods. Because it can operate over suburbs, it helps us deliver much larger sustainability gains, particularly when major infrastructure is involved. It contributes practically to efforts in tackling the big issues such as climate change and water conservation in everyday household budgets. There has been national and even international interest in learning more about the tool and feedback to date has been positive. Our plan next year plan is to share PRECINXTM more widely with others in the industry.
Second generation of sustainability indicators
Our Portfolio Minister signed off on our second generation of sustainability indicators and targets in October 2009. Based on our positive performance during the first six years of reporting, we have voluntarily increased many of our targets. We also took the opportunity to redefine some indicators to reflect current business operations more closely. This year is our first year of reporting against these updated targets (see Sustainability Report).
Eco-Living display homes at The Ponds
We selected a partner to work on our Eco-Living display homes at The Ponds. These showcase different sustainability solutions for consumers and builders, such as new options for water and energy conservation, greater use of recyclable building products and self-sufficiency in water, energy and waste management. Construction starts next year.
Business improvement program
We asked our major business partners to comment on what it's like to work with us, by employing independent experts to conduct confidential interviews with our stakeholders. While feedback was positive overall, several areas for improvement were identified. In response, we have established a program of business improvements. Recommendations were workshopped internally and presented at stakeholder feedback sessions in October 2009 and June 2010. Our initial aim is to encourage greater consistency in decision making, implement improvements to our panel, tender and contract management process, and improve communication.
Improved customer service
At The Ponds, we implemented a pilot system which provides online information on plan registrations and property settlements for buyers. Information is updated weekly and includes an explanation of the plan registration process so buyers can better understand when settlement is likely to occur and how soon they can begin building.
The Global Reporting Initiative (GRI)
Our pioneering approach to triple bottom line reporting was an important factor in our nomination as one of 10 industry participants worldwide to develop the GRI's sustainability reporting framework for the development industry.