Award brings cheers and credibility
When St Brigid’s Green took home a national award for retirement living in June, it elicited cheers from residents and extra credibility with banks and local councils, says Greengate director Andrew Sweeney.
St Brigid’s Green in Maroubra was presented with the Lendlease Award for Best Retirement Living Development at the 2016 Property Council of Australia / Rider Levett Bucknall Innovation and Excellence Awards.
An integrated village offering a range of independent living apartments and a boutique aged care home, the community opened in 2014 and is home to more than 180 residents.
The award judges were impressed not only with the innovative design, quality of the finishes and spaciousness of the homes, but with a business model that responds to the community’s changing needs.
Sweeney says his entire team was delighted with the award, and he’s been surprised by some of the hidden benefits.
“The award from the Property Council immediately recognised the efforts of team who worked on the project over the last five years, all the stakeholders, including the parish that owned the land, the residents and their families and the 80 people who work at St Brigid’s Green,” he says.
“But the award has also had a much greater role in cementing our success for future projects than we anticipated,” Sweeney adds.
“It’s given us a lot of credibility when talking to banks, local authorities, and other stakeholders. It shows them that what we do is recognised nationally as being of very high quality and merit.”
The award win generated “a lot of backslapping” among village residents, says Greengate’s marketing manager, Johanna Keating.
“The residents are really proud of where they live. They waited a long time to move in, and the extra endorsement of their community as a well-design and innovative village reinforces their pride,” she says.
“From a marketing perspective, the award has been fantastic for our future projects. It helps us to showcase what we do to potential residents, and translates into confidence for future residents that they are moving into an industry-leading development,” Keating adds.
Greengate’s approach is firmly focused on its residents.
“It takes 18 months to get development application approved and another 18 months to build a village – so that’s three years from the first time we’ve made contact with people,” Sweeney explains.
To bridge that gap, Greengate has developed a virtual village model, and holds regular events and activities every few months to keep future residents engaged and connected.
“This approach helps to allay anxiety around the decision to downsize, and also helps people form relationships with the people they’ll be living with. It really helps them look forward to the future.”
Retirement living isn’t a traditional real estate process, Sweeney says.
“We are very conscious of understanding the market we are in for each new development. We’re not just targeting the seniors’ demographic, but a very specific market, so we do lots of focus groups to understand how people engage with their community before we start to think about design.
“We are not just creating apartments – we are creating a community and a lifestyle. We’re taking some of our most vulnerable members of the community on a journey towards a better life,” Sweeney concludes.
Next year, GHD Woodhead, the new sponsor of the Retirement Living Development Award, will join the property industry in a celebration of innovation and excellence at the International Convention Centre on Friday 5 May 2017.
For the first time, submitting a nomination for the national awards provides automatic entry into the State Development of the Year, with the exception of the Future Leader of the Year, Diversity and Innovation award categories.
Nominations are open until 30 November. Visit www.propertycouncilawards.com.au to submit your nomination, or to check out the hints and tips to help you get started.