Construction worker boost welcomed
UDIA WA welcomed the State Government’s announcement yesterday outlining a significant investment in training of WA’s building and construction workforce.
The expansion of the Group Training Organisation (GTO) Wage Subsidy Program with an additional 175 places, along with the $10,000 incentive on offer for tradies to relocate to WA is another step toward a more sustainable residential construction sector.
UDIA WA has strongly advocated for greater funding and development of our local workforce, along with a construction workforce attraction and retention strategy for Perth and the regions, and yesterday’s announcement is well aligned with those recommendations.
Given the ongoing growth in demand for housing in Western Australia, UDIA WA will continue to collaborate with all stakeholders to ensure we can get more homes on the ground, faster, to meet the needs of our community.
WA has lowest unemployment rate
New figures from the Australian Bureau of Statistics, released today, show that Western Australia has the lowest unemployment rate in the nation (outside of the ACT), sitting at 3.9% compared with the national unemployment rate of 4.1%.
Also of note, the underemployment rate is also one of the lowest, at 5.5% compared to the national underemployment rate of 6.3%.
These figures reflect the ongoing strength in our state economy, but also highlight the importance of initiatives such as that announced by the State Government yesterday in relation to attracting more tradies to WA. The low unemployment rate reinforces the limited capacity of our labour force currently, not just in construction but across a range of sectors.
You can view a broad range of relevant economic and property industry relevant data in UDIA WA’s Urban Intelligence report that was released earlier this week to our members. You can read the full report here.
UDIA WA Committees hard at work
Late last week the Infrastructure Committee met for their November meeting. During the meeting, the Committee discussed various matters including:
- Engagement with the Australian Mobile Telecommunications Association regarding the Telecommunications in New Developments (TIND) Policy;
- Ongoing matters with ensuring local government capacity to work with industry to deliver supply; and
- Updates from the service agencies on their ongoing activities.
Following on from this on Tuesday afternoon, the Masterplanned Communities Committee met for the final time this year. Discussions included:
- The MRS Amendment Bill and implications of the changes.
- Addressing issues related to flood mapping previously raised by members.
- Work being done to facilitate parallel approvals and processing.
Committee meetings will wrap up for the year tomorrow, with the Environment & Climate Action Committee closing out the November committee meetings and a very productive year.
The Great Debate
Thank you to members and guests attending our packed out ‘Great Debate’ Industry Luncheon on Friday.
Ably moderated by Nadia Mitsopolous, the debate format provided an opportunity for the Hon. John Carey MLA and the Hon. Steven Martin MLC to outline their party’s position on housing policy in the lead up to the 2025 State Election.
Both members approached the debate format with enthusiasm, to address a serious topic that is impacting on all West Australians.
To kick off proceedings, UDIA WA shared a ‘Vox Pop’ video from a day spent out on the streets of Perth, talking to people about their housing experience, and their thoughts on what the next State Government could do to address housing issues. The video provided a good reminder of how the topic of housing is impacting real people, and the discussions we have at our events, and throughout our advocacy work, has real implications for a lot of people.
You can view the video here.
A huge thank you to our sponsors for the Great Debate event: Offsite, Peet and Wormall Civil. We very much appreciate your support and look forward to hosting more quality, informative (and fun!) events in 2025.
View the image gallery from this event here.
Perth Airport unveils long-term vision
Perth Airport has released plans to accelerate development of non-aviation land on the airport’s 2,105 hectare estate. The plans are part of Perth Airport’s newly unveiled “Skyfields” property brand which represents one of the largest urban redevelopment projects in Australia.
Skyfields encompasses five distinct property precincts across the estate and identifies the vision and potential future development for each.
“Skyfields is made up of five distinct precincts encompassing a growing retail and lifestyle hub, office campus, booming logistics sector, industrial and commercial destinations, and aviation support,” Perth Airport Chief Property Officer Dan Sweet said.
“One of the biggest potential handbrakes on Perth’s future economic growth is a lack of developable land close to the CBD.
“Perth Airport has more than 300 hectares of developable land just 12km from the CBD, adjacent to the Kewdale Freight Terminal, and highly connected by major arterial roads, rail and of course the airport itself.
“Skyfields provides a premium and central location for business, retail, superior logistics and distribution, and the availability of premium land provides a strong opportunity for growth and expansion across existing and future sites.”
For more visit www.skyfields.com.au
New Causeway Bridge set to open
Perth’s new pedestrian and cyclist bridges will open on Sunday, 22 December.
Two six-metre-wide cable-stayed bridges have been constructed over the Swan River, 90 metres downstream of the existing Causeway Bridge, delivering a segregated path to improve connectivity, safety and amenity for around 3000 pedestrians and cyclists heading in and out of the city each day.
The one-kilometre river crossing connects Victoria Park foreshore to Perth via Heirisson Island.
Once open, the new iconic structures will be officially named Boorloo Bridge, in recognition of the Whadjuk Noongar culture and rich history embedded into the design of the bridges.
The meaning of the new name reflects the Noongar name for Perth – Boorloo.
The bridge includes a 52-metre-high boomerang pylon along with two 46-metre-high digging stick pylons, which can now be seen amongst the Perth CBD skyline.
The bridge will also feature state-of-the-art lighting, which will be capable of displaying moving images and provide the Swan River with an iconic structure for many decades to come.
Construction of the bridges commenced in 2023 with the works undertaken by the Causeway Link Alliance, comprising Civmec, Seymour Whyte, WSP and Main Roads.
UDIA WA featured an article on the bridge design in our ‘Future Ready Cities’ edition of The Urbanist magazine, you can read it here.
Get the latest on Medium Density Development
There is less than one week left to register for UDIA WA’s One Day Intro to Medium Density Development Course.
We are running this course once again, following the fantastic response to the first course held earlier this year.
The Medium Density Development course is specifically tailored to WA and will explore the practical applications of the updated Residential Design Codes (R-Codes).
Participants will learn from a fantastic line up of local industry experts, covering:
- Planning for a compact and connected city with Matt Evans (Celsius Property Group)
- The planning framework with Simon Burnell and Merri Chen (CLE Town Planning + Design)
- Approval processes and design review in a medium density context with Trent Will (Taylor Burrell Barnett) and Karen Hyde (Department of Planning, Lands and Heritage)
- Community consultation with Tamara Vreeken and Joyce Chung (Niche Studio: Planning and Urban Design)
- Medium density done well – single houses and grouped dwellings with Hamish Gleeson (Summit Homes Group)
- Medium density done well – multiple dwellings with Tim Boekhoorn and Georgia Young (Hames Sharley)
- Medium density at precinct view with Lachlan McCaffrey (Stockland)
To be in the know on all things Medium Density, register here.
State Conference has launched!
The highly anticipated UDIA WA State Conference 2025 is now open for registrations.
A change of scenery this year, with the conference being held at the new Hilton Garden Inn, Busselton, from Wednesday 26 February to Friday 28 February 2025.
The theme for the conference is ‘Developing the Future of WA’ and the program will explore a range of challenges and opportunities for the development industry to consider over the next decade and beyond.
As always, there will also be fantastic networking opportunities, with local Busselton venues offering great food, wine and scenery.
Don’t miss your chance to be part of this exclusive event, that will sell out due to limited capacity. More information here.
Thanks to valued State Conference sponsors DevelopmentWA and Western Power. If you’d like to find out about more sponsorship opportunities, please contact UDIA WA Business Development Officer Chris Thurmott: cthurmott@udiawa.com.au