Archive for the ‘Property Overseas’ Category

Rupert Bates visits Marysville, devastated by last February’s bushfires and also reports on the latest news and views from the Australian housing market.

Rebuilding lives

The pretty mountain town of Marysville, two hours north of Melbourne in Australia, has embarked on an exciting urban regeneration project. There are plans to peruse, a range of designers involved and public consultation in full swing.
Last September I sat in on a council meeting as local residents went through agenda items over a cup of coffee. I also heard about plans for ‘The World’s Longest Lunch’. My kinda town, you would think.
So just another scheme we are all too familiar with over here in the UK, with all the usual hoops to jump through before the development is delivered? No this is something different; tragically, desperately different.
When bushfires as tall as skyscrapers, generating monstrous heat and at speeds straight out of a disaster movie, swept through Marysville (resident population 500) on Black Saturday last February, they destroyed the town, leaving 34 people dead and just a handful of buildings standing.
Across the state of Victoria 173 people died; victims of around 1300 fires. Several thousand homes and properties were destroyed and a million acres damaged in the Australian State’s worst-ever natural disaster.
The depth of grief and trauma is unimaginable, but devastated areas are trying to re-build, both spiritually and physically. The Victorian Bushfire Reconstruction and Recovery Authority (VBRRA) was immediately set up and funds from around the world came in with the Victorian Bushfire Appeal alone raising A$386 million.
“You would not recognise Marysville since you were here last. Houses and buildings are springing up all over the place and there is a great sense of optimism in the community,” said Melissa Arch from VBRRA.
Marysville is a tourist town and the gateway to the ski resort of Lake Mountain. Before hell came visiting, the surrounding forests with their towering Eucalyptus trees and beautiful flowers and vibrant seasonal colours in and around the town, saw Marysville dubbed ‘God’s own garden’.
Also set up in response to the disaster was The Bushfire Homes Service, a joint initiative between the Australian Institute of Architects and the Victorian Government, giving victims of the bushfires free access to architectural expertise, as well as guidance on stringent new fire safety building standards.
One of the practices selected was Donovan Hill, whose Happy Haus is “a ready-made home solution, adaptable, transportable and climatically sensitive in its design.”
Brian Donovan said: “We are very pleased to be involved in the post fire rebuild. We feel that the DHAN Happy Haus presents a low cost, flexible and sustainable design solution that can feasibly work as a mass model for reconstruction.”
The Happy Haus is designed so each module can be easily transported to a new site, or relocated from an existing address as living requirements change. The flexible design of the modules means the Happy Haus is able to be accommodated by most sites.
Next month sees Marysville host ‘The World’s Longest Lunch’ as part of the Melbourne Food & Wine Festival, with trout from the local rivers and wines from the Yarra Valley served on one long table. Let’s hope it stretches all the way down the famous Black Spur to support this stricken community. www.wewillrebuild.vic.gov.au.
www.donovanhill.com.au

The resi view from here

The Residential Development Council is Australia’s equivalent of the UK’s Home Builders Federation. It is part of the Property Council of Australia and led by senior executives of Australia’s top developers.
The RDC gives policy guidance to government and its agenda resonates 12,000 miles away, looking at the lack of property finance, improving housing delivery in the affordable sector, hitting sustainability targets and planning reform.
The First Home Owners Boost, with RDC lobbying of government, saw first time buyers of brand new homes eligible for a A$21,000 grant until the end of 2009, but the A$7,000 grant remains in place.
Meanwhile the government’s sustainability push means residential properties will need Six Star energy efficiency ratings by May 2011, amid industry fears this will cripple the delivery of affordable stock in Australian cities, with the new rating likely to cost A$10,000 – A$20,000 an apartment.
Australia, for all its lifestyle benefits, has just been named the world’s most unaffordable housing market in the latest Demographia International Housing Affordability Survey, largely due to the country’s over-prescriptive land use regulations.
An average household in an average Sydney or Melbourne home pays more than 50 percent of its income in mortgage repayments. But the industry remains confident.
“Local property developers and the Housing Industry Association predict growth in new residential work this year, buoyed by low mortgage rates and government first home buyer grants. Developers in Australian capital cities are seeing unprecedented ‘sell throughs’ in project designed apartment complexes where space is compact and smart, savvy design is at a premium,” said RDC executive director Caryn Kakas.
Just before Christmas, Australia’s Prime Minister Kevin Rudd announced that the country’s major cities will have strategic plans by 2012 to tackle housing, affordability, sustainability and transport.
“These city planning strategies will get each state and territory on track to tackle the chronic shortage of housing supply around the country,” said Kakas. “Previous planning regimes have failed as they have been short-term and unrealistic. They have failed to have targets regularly reviewed to ensure delivery and not linked the delivery of infrastructure to the delivery of housing supply. It is only through the delivery of significant planning reform and long-term agreement on land use that we will meet the needs of a growing Australia,” she added. It sounds all too familiar.
The RDC publishes Residential Developer magazine, Australia’s equivalent of Showhouse. www.propertyoz.com.au/RDC.

Australian Supplier news (pix of made living kitchens plug mugshot of Mark Selway)

Cliché demands that Australian dining is limited to throwing snags and shrimps on the barbie, while fizzing the ring-pull off a cold beer. But one cutting edge company is putting the kitchen at the centre of the Australian home, both as functioning space and living space.
“The market is calling for smaller design-driven projects with clever use of floor space and an eye to sustainability at a mid-level price,” said Andrew Vidor, director of Melbourne-based made.living, supplying European designed and manufactured kitchens to the Australian market.
Made.living is in partnership with leading German kitchen brand Nolte Kuchen, one of the What House? Awards sponsors, with made.living the exclusive Nolte distributor for Australia and New Zealand.
“Many estate agents rely on the impact of a beautiful European kitchen to sell a residence,” said Vidor. “We are also right up there with the consumer on their insistence that homes be as sustainable as they are elegant.” www.madeliving.com.au

Boral, Australia’s largest building and construction materials company, has appointed Mark Selway as its new chief executive.
Australian-born Selway previously headed up Scottish based engineering business Weir Group. Boral, with A$5 billion sales, is a major global player. It is the largest brick and roof tile manufacturer in the United States and the biggest plasterboard manufacturer in Asia, through its joint venture with Lafarge.
Boral produces and distributes a range of materials, including quarry products, cement, clay bricks and pavers, concrete masonry, windows and timber. www.boral.com.au

Brightfox is a leading provider of IT solutions to the property industry. Headed by founder Cameron Black and with offices in Brisbane and Dubai, it offers sales and marketing software, CRM and website design to both developers and agents.
“Brightfox is committed to working with partners to deliver outstanding software solutions and services to the property industry around the world,” said Black.
www.brightfox.com.au

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