How a “proud old builder” shaped our industry

Before Sir Albert Jennings, there were no display homes, off-the-plan sales or cul de sacs. But his greatest legacy was creating an innovation culture that has permeated the property industry, says AVJennings chief Peter Summers.

Sir Albert, together with long-time JLL CEO Frank Charnock, was recently inducted into the Australian Property Hall of Fame.

Born in Melbourne in 1896, Sir Albert trained as a dentist before pursuing a career as a real estate auctioneer. During the depths of the Great Depression, Sir Albert saw a gap in the market for quality homes at a much cheaper cost than had been possible even a few years earlier.

In 1932, Sir Albert mortgaged his family home and formed the AV Jennings Construction Co., embarking on new housing projects and selling off-the-plan – a strategy that became a hallmark of his business.

By the 1960s, Sir Albert and his team had cornered the market in appealing, affordable designs, well-planned community developments and pioneering display homes which are common practice today.

Where other speculative home builders sold poorly-serviced weatherboard houses, AVJennings would match the market price with bigger, sewered, brick houses with hot-water systems.

Peter Summers, AVJennings chief executive officer, says Sir Albert “left a giant personal and professional footprint”.

Reflecting on his legacy, Summers points to his industry-leading investment in research and development.

“He was passionate about R&D and employed a whole department of people focused on innovation long before it was an industry buzzword.”

It was this R&D, coupled with a deep commitment to customers, that delivered innovations from display homes to cul de sacs.

“He once took his R&D team to the United States to visit NASA so they could better understand CAD design,” Summers explains.

“Sir Albert’s ability to think outside the square really made him unique,” Summers adds, pointing to his innovative approach to labour hire as an example.

In 1951, AVJennings was awarded a contract by the Australian government to build 1,8 homes in Canberra within two years. Facing labour shortages, Sir Albert enticed 1 German carpenters and bricklayers to the nation’s capital, just six years after the end of World War II. He affectionately dubbed them his ‘Jennings Germans’.

“Sir Albert made these people part of his family, and to this day they remain passionate about the company,” Summers explains.

“His commitment to his staff was legendary. He knew everyone’s names. Everyone felt like they knew him well and he knew them.”

Summers says Sir Albert was faithful to a set of values and company culture that remain in place today.

“Sir Albert believed Australians had a right to affordable, good quality homes. To this day, our organisation is driven by the ‘why’, not by the ‘how’ or the ‘what’,” Summers says.

Sir Albert stepped down from his company in 1972 but remained active within the industry. For 21 years after his retirement, Sir Albert would drive to the Jennings headquarters in the Melbourne suburb of Mulgrave every Wednesday for lunch and a chat with his staff.

Long-time AVJennings employee and current development manager Elain Jusic was fortunate to know Sir Albert, and says he had an uncanny ability to bring people together and to create a culture in which everyone “felt like part of a family – you weren’t just a cog in the machine – and I think that lives on today”.

Summers says it was an honour to represent AVJennings at the induction ceremony.

“The number of people who had their Jennings story was quite extraordinary. It reminded us that so many leaders of other companies got their tutelage under Sir Albert”.

Sir Albert passed away at the age of 96 in 1993. But Chris Banks AM, the former CEO of AVJennings and later the managing director of Delfin, remembers that, even into his eighties, Sir Albert “was always there with an idea”.

“He set in motion the modus operandi for the project home building industry. And the leaders of the industry, most of them, spent time at AVJennings learning the business.”