From the CEO
I am even more proud to be a West Aussie after WA dominated the UDIA National Awards for Excellence in Melbourne last night.
Four WA projects took home trophies including the overall Project of the Year Award, won by Witchcliffe Ecovillage. One of the most sustainable urban developments in the world, Sustainable Settlements & Perron Developments received the well-deserved recognition on the National stage also taking out the Award for Excellence in Sustainable Development.
The iconic ONE Subiaco by Blackburne took out the Apartments (High Rise) category highlighting the role the project has played as a major catalyst for the rejuvenation of Subiaco and sets the standard in how infill development can benefit local communities through outstanding design and fantastic amenity.
In a shift away from traditional greenfields projects winning the Masterplanned Communities category, it was great to see Exchange at Curtin University winning the top honour. With the spotlight on a greater need for quality student accommodation, Curtin Exchange showcases how a university can meaningfully integrate with the local community and provides a diverse range of uses including student teaching facilities, hotel, student accommodation, commercial enterprises, retail, social and sporting facilities all within a bustling Transit Oriented Development site.
Last but definitely not least, Henley Brook by Mirvac won in the Residential Subdivision category. The project team at Henley Brook have successfully preserved the rural character of the location through the retention of over 600 mature trees, rejuvenation of an existing stream, an orchard and the gas pipeline reserve was turned into a useable recreation space.
The Awards were a fitting end to a jam-packed UDIA National Congress where we debated housing diversity, city shaping, emerging trends in construction and the great supply challenge.
I was privileged to share the experience with a strong contingent of West Aussie members as we celebrated the fact that the west really is the best.
WA dominates at National Awards
Four Western Australian property development projects have won prestigious UDIA National Awards for Excellence overnight, including the overall Project of the Year Award, won by Witchcliffe Ecovillage.
Presented in Melbourne on Wednesday night, Witchcliffe Ecovillage by Sustainable Settlements & Perron Developments was recognised for being one of the most sustainable urban developments in the world.
The project received not only the Award for Excellence in the Sustainability category, but also took home the major gong for the evening, the Project of the Year.
Witchcliffe EcoVillage is a carbon negative community that is showcasing innovative approaches to sustainability across a range of areas as well as delivering affordable housing options within a vibrant rural community setting.
The iconic ONE Subiaco by Blackburne was awarded in the Apartments (High Rise) category.
ONE Subiaco has been a major catalyst for the rejuvenation of Subiaco and sets a quality example of how infill development can benefit local communities through outstanding design and fantastic amenity.
In the Masterplanned Communities category, Exchange at Curtin University by Curtin University won the top honour.
Curtin Exchange showcases how a university can meaningfully integrate with the local community and provides a diverse range of uses including student teaching facilities, hotel, student accommodation, commercial enterprises, retail, social and sporting facilities all within a bustling Transit Oriented Development site.
Another beautifully designed and community minded project from Western Australia, Henley Brook by Mirvac, won in the Residential Subdivision category.
The project team at Henley Brook have successfully preserved the rural character of the location through the retention of over 600 mature trees, rejuvenation of an existing stream, an orchard and the gas pipeline reserve was turned into a useable recreation space.
For more information, including a full list of winners at the 2024 UDIA National Awards for Excellence, click here.
All of these projects were eligible for the National Awards following their wins at the 2023 UDIA WA Awards for Excellence. For more information about these winning projects, or any other winners from the 2023 UDIA WA Awards for Excellence you can read the 2023 UDIA WA Awards for Excellence Winners Showcase magazine, here.
Entries will open next month for the 2024 WA Awards so look out for more information in the coming weeks.
UDIA National Congress
This week representatives from UDIA WA’s leadership team have been in Melbourne attending the 2024 UDIA National Congress.
This year’s event started on Monday night with a sophisticated evening at the Oliver Hume Opening Night Event held at the National Gallery of Victoria.
On Tuesday morning the official plenary sessions were kicked off with the launch of the 2024 State of the Land report by UDIA National President Col Dutton and the findings of the report have generated extensive media coverage, including on Sky News, ABC News and the Australian Financial Review among many others.
The research partners behind compiling the report including Eliza Owen, CoreLogic, Colin Keane, Research4 and Richard Temlett, Charter Keck Cramer shared their detailed insights on the in a lively panel session facilitated by Turi Condon that followed Col’s presentation.
Following the panel, Luci Ellis Chief Economist at Westpac Group took to the stage and set the scene for what’s on the horizon for the economy and took delegates on a deep dive into current market conditions along with a review of the key macro-economic factors influencing the housing market.
To continue reading about the 2024 UDIA National Congress, click here.
State of the Land release
At UDIA National Congress on Tuesday, President Col Dutton launched the latest annual State of the Land (SOTL) Report that further confirms the critical housing supply shortage that is gripping the nation.
According to the SOTL, new land sales decreased 28% across the country and multi-unit sales declined by 2%.
Despite the national decline in sales, the Greater Perth greenfield market bucked that trend with a 55% increase in new land sales, but a decline in new unit sales of 1%.
We unpack the headline statistics below. For more detailed information on land and housing markets across the nation and state by state, download the full SOTL Report available exclusively to UDIA members here.
For further insights from the report, read our exclusive member alert here.
Advertising opportunities in The Land Report
UDIA WA are pleased to announce the highly sought-after Land Report will once again be published in The West Australian this May and UDIA members have the opportunity to advertise alongside our detailed market commentary and data.
The Land Report uses exclusive UDIA WA data from our quarterly Urban Development Index to provide an overview of the current state of the land market in WA.
In addition to providing our data UDIA also contributes various insights through articles designed to inform and educate readers on the latest trends in infill and greenfield development, creating a connected and vibrant city plus ways to improve housing supply and affordability.
The report also provides an opportunity for our members to reach up to 481,000 readers of The West Australian on Saturday through advertising and advertorial content.
For your chance to be involved and support the new publication, click here for more information or reach out to Carla Wray at carla.wray@wanews.com.au
Perth Design Week – Boola Katitjin Site Tour
As part of our work as a member of the Built Environment Reference Group, UDIA was excited to take part in a site tour of Murdoch University’s award-winning Boola Katitjin building.
It was a great experience to hear the story of the design and engineering process, including the integration of the building into both the natural elements and campus, the influence of the local Aboriginal People and their relationship with the surrounding land as well as the use of mass-engineered timber to construct a ‘first of its kind’ building in Western Australia.
Integration of innovative, sustainable and renewable built form design and construction into our communities will be a key component to ensuring the carbon footprint of the places in which we live and work can be reduced on the path to net-zero, it is great to see a building that showcases excellence across environmental and social design.
Thank you to Aurecon and Murdoch University for providing their insights into Boola Katitjin on the tour and to Engineers Australia for hosting the event.
To read more about Boola Katitjin read our article in the latest edition of The Urbanist, here.
Government unveils Tiny Home solution for social housing
Yesterday the WA State Government unveiled the first four new tiny homes as part of a $1.039 million pilot project that will deliver social housing in Perth’s southern suburbs.
The four one-bedroom, one-bathroom social homes in the Spearwood project are being built by Summit Homes Group and will utilise Weathertex boards made from waste timber sourced in Australia and long-lasting 100 per cent recyclable metal frames.
We reported on the rise and benefits of Tiny Homes in a recent edition of The Urbanist magazine with insights from Professor Steven Rowley (Australian Urban Design Research Centre ) and Isabella Carr. You can read the article in the below pdf or click here to view the online edition here.
This article was also recently republished by The Property Tribune, here and we thank them for their support.
Unemployment rate drops in February
The latest figures from the Australian Bureau of Statistics revealed a drop in the unemployment rate both nationally and here in WA.
On a National level the Seasonally adjusted unemployment rate dropped 0.4% to sit at 3.7% with the WA rate falling 0.7% to sit at 3.6%, joint second lowest with NSW and only behind South Australia’s 3.2%, which was also the result of a 0.8% drop compared with January.
Bjorn Jarvis, ABS head of labor statistics said the national unemployment level of 3.7% is around the same level it was at around 6 months ago with the increase in employment in February followed a weaker-than-usual outcome in December (-62,000), and a modest increase in January (15,000). This equates to 70,000 more employed people in February than there were in November and a growth rate consistent with the underlying trend.
WA also features the second lowest underemployment rate of all States at 6.4% despite a 0.3 increase month on month. NSW takes out the lowest underemployment rate at 6.3% following a 0.3% drop on last month with the National underemployment rate sitting at 6.6% following a marginal 0.1% drop.
Apprentice boost for WA’s building and construction workforce
This week the State Government announced it will deliver an additional $21.5 million to expand the Group Training Organisation (GTO) Wage Subsidy Program, boosting the State’s building and construction workforce to get homes built sooner.
An additional 150 places for apprentices will be funded through the 2024-25 State Budget and made available to GTOs immediately.
The program enables GTOs to provide opportunities for Western Australians to complete an apprenticeship, through paid hands-on skills training across a diverse range of projects.
The GTO Wage Subsidy provides up to $135,000 for a four-year apprenticeship, to cover the average estimated award wage of full-time apprentices in the building and construction industry.
It enables small to medium-sized businesses to access apprentices to meet their specific project needs, helping to ease the skilled labour shortages that are continuing to impact the building and construction sector.
The program helps to grow the supply of skilled workers for the building and construction industry across a variety of trades including carpentry, electrical, and plumbing and gasfitting.
More information about the GTO Wage Subsidy Program is available on the Jobs and Skills WA website here.
New builders appointed to State-wide social housing delivery panel
A further 53 Western Australian builders have been added to the Cook Government’s State-wide Builders Panel in a bid to further accelerate social housing delivery in Western Australia.
The appointment of a further 53 builders to the Government’s State-wide panel sees the total panel increase to 145 builders.
As part of an annual refresh for the State-wide Builders Panel, the Government sought Expressions of Interest from registered builders of all sizes, interested in and capable of delivering residential dwellings.
In late 2022, the Cook Labor Government established a panel of registered builders to further accelerate the State Government’s delivery of social housing, with the panel primarily supporting the delivery and refurbishment of social housing.
Refurbishment, construct-only and design-and-construct opportunities are available for those appointed to the panel, and builders were asked to nominate their capacity to deliver as part of the panel procurement process.
To encourage participation, particularly for smaller-scale and regional contractors, the process for qualifying for the panel was simplified.
Urban Greening Grants Program’s first round recipients announced
Local governments throughout the Perth and Peel regions will share in $591,839.32 worth of funding under the Urban Greening Grants Program.
The program, managed by the Western Australian Local Government Association and funded by the Department of Water and Environmental Regulation, will support local governments to plant trees and understorey vegetation across two funding rounds.
Local governments to benefit from the program’s first round are:
- City of Bayswater;
- City of Belmont;
- City of Gosnells;
- City of Joondalup;
- Shire of Kalamunda;
- Shire of Murray;
- City of Perth;
- City of Rockingham;
- City of South Perth;
- City of Stirling;
- City of Swan; and
- Shire of Waroona.
Funding distributed as part of the program’s first round will go towards planting more than 9,000 trees and close to 30,000 understorey species between May and July.
Urban canopies and understorey vegetation can help cool our streets and homes by providing shade, increase biodiversity by creating habitat and nature links, and provide natural places that benefit our health and wellbeing.
Round two application guidelines will be released in April with local governments throughout the Perth and Peel regions encouraged to apply.