On Thursday November 13, UDIA WA hosted our inaugural Infrastructure Summit bringing together key government agencies, utility providers, and industry leaders to tackle the challenges facing the planning, funding and delivery of critical enabling infrastructure to facilitate housing supply.
The Hon. John Carey MLA, Minister for Planning and Lands; Housing and Works; Health Infrastructure opened proceedings by outlining the State Government’s priorities in relation to enabling infrastructure for housing delivery, including investment in enabling infrastructure through the Housing Enabling Infrastructure Fund and the Infrastructure Development Fund. While he believes the outlook is optimistic and that momentum is growing across Australia to address the housing supply shortage, Minister Carey was careful to underscore that delivering the homes we need will require a multifaceted approach and noted the collaborative approach to solutions that UDIA has taken when engaging with government.
Stepping into “Ryan’s World”, Ryan Hunter (Project Director, Parcel Property), set the infrastructure scene from an industry perspective – encouraging everyone to leave the summit united as “Team WA” by targeting meaningful supply over a five year horizon.
Casting attendee’s minds back to land use planning and infrastructure frameworks Directions 2031 and Beyond and Perth & Peel @ 3.5 million, Ryan highlighted that Perth’s population is on track to exceed 3.5 million substantially earlier than expected in both of these strategic plans. The key message of his presentation was the need for government and industry to collaborate and ensure infrastructure is delivered ‘at the right time’, not ‘just in time’ to ensure a sustainable forward pipeline of land supply.
Reminding the room that the industry has come together in the past to solve infrastructure challenges and holding up the establishment of Ellenbrook as an exemplar of “Team WA”, Nathan Butson (Director, Cossill & Webley) then provided an overview and update on the UDIA WA 2024 Growth Areas Infrastructure Requirements Report.
When released, the updated report will include seven priority areas identified for critical enabling infrastructure in North Ellenbrook, Bullsbrook, East Wanneroo, Yanchep-Eglinton, Mundijong, Jandakot/Treeby, North-East Baldivis, and Karnup. The UDIA report estimates the funding allocation required for enabling infrastructure in each of these areas.
Taking us into the second session of the day, Emma Colombera (Director, Housing Supply Unit – Department of Treasury) provided an Infrastructure Investment Overview highlighting the priorities of the Housing Supply Unit (HSU) – including unlocking well-located land for development; developing strategic policy options to deliver diverse housing supply; and improving the co-ordination of government housing activity.
Working with government agencies and industry bodies to coordinate infrastructure delivery, Emma outlined the funds and initiatives being supported by the Department of Treasury to alleviate infrastructure costs and aid the delivery of affordable housing. Emma also highlighted the work that the HSU has undertaken to facilitate the delivery of Commonwealth initiatives such as the Housing Support Program – Priority Works Stream, 100,000 Homes for First Home Buyers, and Help to Buy scheme in WA.
Emphasising the need to pursue a spectrum of initiatives and the importance of innovation and automation within housing, Emma shone a spotlight on the Advanced Manufacturing Facility that the State Government will deliver in partnership with the development industry, accelerating the delivery of affordable housing and aiding the construction of hospitals and other infrastructure projects across WA.
Continuing the collaborative theme, Anthony Whiteaker (Head of Customer Connection Services, Western Power) took attendees through the work Western Power has undertaken to implement design improvements, enabling an uplift in Residential & Commercial Designs completed. Acknowledging that power demand will continue to remain high in line with industry growth, Anthony underscored the need for clear communication and collaboration – particularly around practical completion dates – to address delays energising subdivisions, encouraging the further uptake of Western Power’s Third-Party Audit Pathway to enable developers to fast-track their applications by having electrical designs reviewed by independent auditors.
Part of Western Power’s expanding tool kit to accelerate housing delivery, Anthony provided an update on the Housing & Infrastructure Growth Program. Working with agencies and industry bodies such as the Department of Planning, Lands & Heritage (DPLH) and UDIA WA, the program is designed to energise an additional 5,100 lots in eight key growth areas over the next four years.
Closing the session, Dehlia Goundrey (Head of Development Services, Water Corporation) provided an update from the Water Corporation – strongly emphasising the importance of early planning and coordination to enable the timely delivery of critical water infrastructure for residential developments.
Opening the second half of the Summit Nicole Lockwood (Chair, Infrastructure WA) outlined the vision and priorities under Infrastructure WA’s new 2027 strategy as they transition into a Productivity Commission. Guided by their new 2050 vision for WA to be a global green economy leader, home to vibrant, resilient and world-class cities and towns and thriving Aboriginal cultures, Infrastructure WA has established four focus areas to address opportunities in global markets for premium products, accelerating technology and innovation, creating clean energy and manufacturing, and attracting global talents.
Thinking through the ways people live in our cities and regions, the focus areas – Infrastructure to drive Greater Perth’s growth and liveability, Infrastructure to unlock Regional WA’s potential, Infrastructure to adapt WA to climate change, and Infrastructure to power WA’s green economic transformation – are designed to identify the unique needs across the state, guiding the selection of infrastructure projects undertaken, shaping the future of WA.
Two dynamic and solutions focused panel discussions rounded out the Summit, featuring exploration of key agency priorities and the on-the-ground realities of facilitating housing delivery with Anthony Kannis (DPLH), Paul Lakey (Infrastructure Priority Corridor Working Group), Anthony Whiteaker (Western Power), and Dehlia Goundrey (Water Corporation); and Shane Wormall (Wormall Group), Col Dutton (Stockland), Ben Rosser (Cedar Woods), and Scott Cameron (Finbar).
It was encouraging to have so many decision makers and industry leaders in the one room and the positive energy at the summation of the event, and the ‘Team WA’ attitude, was encouraging for future action.
Thank you to Major Sponsor CLE Town Planning + Design, and Session Sponsors Harley Dykstra and JDSI Consulting Engineers for their support of the Infrastructure Summit.
View photos from the Infrastructure Summit.
The importance of housing supply for buyer choice
To ground the conversation, we wanted to refocus on the “why” behind housing supply and choice in WA: meeting the needs of today’s buyers while planning responsibly for the future.
In this short video, we hear from David Hunt (Summit Homes) and Hugh Miller (Resolve Finance) who are working closely with new homebuyers, as well as recent buyers themselves, about why housing choice is fundamental, not only for liveability and family needs, but also for affordability, and how current shortages are impacting severely on that choice.
This is the video we shared with Summit delegates to set the scene for the important discussions that followed.