Meet our new member – Billbergia Pty Ltd
Company Name: Billbergia Pty Ltd
Member Rep Name: Rick Graf, Group Representative
Member Since date: November 2016
What are your core business activities?
Billbergia is a vertically integrated Australian property group whose business structure covers every stage of the property life cycle including investment management, acquisition, development management, planning and design, construction, project marketing and sales.
Based in Sydney for over 30 years, Billbergia is owned and directed by John and Bill Kinsella, and as a family owned enterprise, Billbergia maintains a profound long-term interest in the well being of the communities it creates.
More than 15,000 people currently live in Billbergia communities and a further 15,000 will move in over the next five years.
Wentworth Point and Rhodes New Communities
What attracted you to the Property Council?
As our major projects increasingly focus on shopping centres and high density mixed use communities together with significant public infrastructure, the Property Council is a good complement to our involvement with UDIA and the MBA. Strong, clear advocacy with Government is critically important in delivering large-scale projects with full social and transport infrastructure.
What are the issues of importance to your company that the Property Council can work with you on?
Developing a viable business case for delivering ‘Affordable Housing’ stock as part of major residential projects. Also, constructive engagement with Government regarding an equitable ‘Value Sharing’ methodology to enable more rapid delivery of public transport infrastructure.
Bennelong Bridge and New Residential Construction
What do you see as the biggest opportunity for the NSW property industry in the next 12 months?
The continuation of consumer residential demand accompanied by a benign interest rate outlook creates a rare opportunity to increase housing supply.
What do you see as the biggest challenge for the NSW property industry in the next 12 months?
The industry will need to vigorously engage with the Greater Sydney Commission to translate the visions contained in the Draft District Plans into planning instruments that will enable global Sydney to sensibly accommodate the coming growth over the next two decades.
The industry also needs to advocate to ensure the restructure of Local Councils consolidates the ability to deliver density done well, clustered around major transportation nodes. Sadly, for 2017, we foresee a fall in major housing approvals – an unintended consequence of the hiatus caused by the formation of the GSC and the Council amalgamations – the industry requires greater certainty if the upward trend in approvals is to be restored.