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OUR CULTURE

The fact that we strive to integrate our social, environmental and financial responsibilities provides the real point of difference between Landcom and many developers constrained by purely commercial motives.
It seems that everyone is talking about sustainability. And rightly so. At Landcom, sustainable development permeates every aspect of our business. We believe a bright future awaits those organisations that adopt its practices and promote its benefits.
As a government-owned property developer we have a specific responsibility to be, and to be seen to be, a good corporate citizen and to lead by example. At the same time it is our responsibility to implement the New South Wales Government’s urban management policies. These imperatives include quality urban design, sustainable development, social justice, affordable housing and community development.
A glance at our summary results page for the past year reveals that we have progressed on our start of two years ago in many areas, yet we still have a lot of work to do. In particular, the impact of our business on the conservation of native vegetation is proving to be quite a challenge.
There is no denying we have an impact on native vegetation.Our business is urban development and regardless of all the attention to careful planning, Sydney’s major growth corridors are located in areas of Cumberland Plain Woodland. This means we must reconcile our growing population’s social needs for adequate and affordable housing with pressing environmental needs to conserve biodiversity.
We also need to find more effective ways of measuring community satisfaction with the facilities we provide within our estates, and with the sustainable practices and products we offer.
The areas where we feel we can “take a bow” include water management, housing affordability, energy efficiency, recycling of building materials and conservation of indigenous and non-indigenous heritage. However, the nature of sustainable development means the tasks do not get easier with practice.
We don’t claim any special wisdom when it comes to sustainability. But we are past the talking stage and well into the practice of making sustainability an integral part of everything we do.
We decided in 2001 that environmental sustainability, social responsibility and financial viability cannot be considered in isolation but are, in fact, interdependent. We soon recognised that to set sustainability benchmarks for our industry, we had to create a culture of excellence in sustainable practice and integrate it into all of our business decision-making processes.
This was unprecedented in Australia for a development-oriented organisation and has proven to be a significant challenge for Landcom. Our TBL program is an evolving and dynamic system that we continually improve, refine and learn from.
We would like to make the point that, first and foremost, our TBL program is designed to add value to our business. It helps us to improve the way we do things and to improve our outcomes.
Landcom’s approach to sustainability is one of the ways we respond to the community’s right to not only know, but to participate in decision-making. We have moved away from telling stakeholders about our activities to asking them to contribute, where that is possible. We have moved to a partnership approach where we seek to involve rather than to lecture.
We know that despite all the challenges there is a sound business case for what we do. We have proven that in recent years. For us, adopting sustainability is the difference between the inadequacy of a short-term approach and the benefit of creating long-term value.
It is true that, in many respects, a sustainable approach costs more – initially. Over time, however, it costs more not to take the sustainability road. And the “costs” are measured in currencies far more valuable than money.
It would be impossible to develop a reporting system as extensive as Landcom’s without the dedication of our staff and our external stakeholders. Together, they have given generously both of their time and expertise, providing invaluable feedback and guidance. We acknowledge their contribution and look forward to meeting future sustainability challenges together.
So, welcome to this window into our organisation.