Celebrating 25 Years of Urban Renewal
A crowd of over 320 industry professionals and government representatives attended the Property Council’s Queensland lunch on Friday, 22 July, to celebrate 25 years of Urban Renewal in Brisbane.
Keynote speaker for the event was Councillor Julian Simmonds, Chairman of the City Planning Committee – Brisbane City Council. Cr Simmonds spoke about how the Urban Renewal Taskforce was formed and led by the late Trevor Reddacliff in 1991, and the unbridled success urban renewal has had in transforming underutilised parts of inner city Brisbane in the 25 years since then.
Cr Simmonds spoke about the Better Cities Program from the 1990’s that brought together funding from Federal, State and Local Government. One of the 26 projects funded through this program was the $22m upgrade of the main sewer line through New Farm/Teneriffe. Research conducted by QUT on behalf of the Property Council shows that the Better Cities Program catalyst funding has unlocked $5.31 billion in private sector investment.
In his closing statements, Cr Simmonds spoke about how Urban Renewal Brisbane will continue to play a prominent role in revitalising Brisbane, however this will only occur through continuing the strong partnership that exists between industry and government.
Following the keynote presentation, Cr Julian Simmonds was joined on stage by Dr Lyndall Bryant, Lecturer – Queensland University of Technology, Chris Freeman, Director – Sunland and current Chair of Urban Renewal Brisbane, Guy Gibson, General Manager Communities – Lendlease, Bevan Lynch, Chair, Urban Futures Brisbane – Brisbane City Council and Founding Partner of ML Design, and Kevin Miller Managing Director – Property Solutions.
The following panel discussion facilitated by Jen Williams, Queensland Deputy Executive Director – Property Council of Australia, highlighted the importance of combining catalyst infrastructure investment upfront with partnerships between government and the private sector, in order to achieve results.
The Property Council would like to thank all of the panel members for sharing their stories and insights into the past 25 years of success. Special thanks must also go to our keynote speaker Cr Juliann Simmonds and Brisbane City Council for helping us celebrate 25 years of Urban Renewal. Thank you also to our sponsor, Lendlease, as without their support this event would not have been possible.
Photos from the event can be found here.
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