Yesterday saw the completion of the 2023 UDIA National Congress right here in Perth, bringing to a close an incredible showcase of what Perth and WA has to offer.
This year’s event started on the rooftop of AGWA as the sun shone on the Opening Night celebration. Hosted by Oliver Hume, the theme for the evening was See the Light, Be the Light. From a gorgeous sunset providing the ideal backdrop to the entertainment provided by the traditional owners of the land and a spectacular light show that accompanied proceedings, it was an awesome spectacle of what Perth and WA has to offer.
The next morning, plenary sessions were kickstarted by Adrian Harrington, Chair of NHFIC who spoke on the solutions for Housing a Future Australia. Mr Harrington was followed by one of Australia’s pre-eminent businessmen Mark Bouris AM who gave his insights into the future of the Australian economy.
Andrew Miller, Senior Leader, Urban Solutions at Hatch Canada was our first international keynote and he spoke on Mobility and the Future of City Building before our Panel Session on ESG with PwC’s Amy Lomas, Hesperia’s Mark Taylor and Talent Nation’s Richard Evans closed out the plenary sessions for the day.
On Tuesday afternoon, delegates set off on Study Tours taking place across a variety of exceptional projects.
The first study tour was all about Shining in the City of Lights as this tour visited Elizabeth Quay, Mirvac’s Burswood Peninsula and Optus Stadium.
The second study tour explored The Best of the West(ern) suburbs, visiting One Subiaco by Blackburne, Montario Quarter & Victoria House by DevelopmentWA & Hesperia and Claremont on the Park/Essence Claremont by DevelopmentWA & Blackburne.
The third study tour went south From Port to Pub – Reimagining Fremantle with a trip to Montreal Commons by OP Properties to learn about the cutting edge sustainable technology implemented in that project, before an informative walking tour of Fremantle with the City of Fremantle.
The fourth tour set off up the coast to experience what it is like to Live, Work, Play on the Coast of WA by visiting Amberton Beach by Stockland, Alkimos Vista by DevelopmentWA and Lendlease before finishing off at Ocean Reef Marina by DevelopmentWA.
The fifth and final study tour was all about Sustainability and Innovation, first heading to ROE Highway Logistics Park by Hesperia before stopping in at the EnviroDevelopment certified Bushmead by Cedar Woods and finishing off at the Green Homes Display by Peet – Australia’s first 9+star green home.
We extend our thanks to all of the study tour hosts and guides for what was an extremely informative and valuable afternoon for attendees.
Wednesday kicked off with a virtual keynote address from the Founder of Housing First, Dr Sam Tsemberis, who gave his insights into the work he is doing to end homelessness and what more can be done by industry to support this goal.
Amy Auster, Chief Economist at PwC, followed Dr Tsemberis’ presentation with an overview of the Australian economic outlook with an engaging and comprehensive analysis of where things are at.
This presentation was followed by UDIA National President Max Shifman presenting this year’s State of the Land report before State of the Land Research partners Eliza Owen from CoreLogic and Research4’s Colin Keane provided their own insights into the current state of the market across Australia.
Following the morning tea break Mark McCrindle delivered his address on The Future of Us – A demographic deep dive into Australia’s population trends in a rapidly changing world.
Our final plenary session saw Nicole Lockwood deliver on the role of InfrastructureWA and more specifically looking at an infrastructure eco-system for sustainable cities and communities.
Australian cricketing legend and icon Justin Langer closed out the plenary sessions with an inspiriting and motivational keynote address that hooked everybody in the room in what was an engaging, informative and entertaining presentation with plenty of life lessons and thought starters for how to engage with colleagues and get the best out of our teams.
The UDIA National Congress 2023 culminated with the UDIA National Awards for Excellence Gala Dinner, and what a stunning spectacle it was as we crowned the best and brightest from across Australia. UDIA WA would like to congratulate all of the finalists and the winners this year, in particular our WA winners, Park Terraces by Celsius Developments, Rosewood West Perth by Rosewood Care Group and this year’s Young Leader Award winner Rachel Ezzard from Stockland.
A big thanks to the 2023 UDIA National Congress Presenting Partner NBN for all of their support.
For a full overview of each of the presentations, study tours and all of the Awards for Excellence winners, head to the UDIA National LinkedIn account, here.
For more from this week’s Urban Express, click here.