Property leaders on building a better world
When the only constant is change, how do we build solid foundations for a better future? Business leaders, political advisors, adventurers and rock stars pondered this at The Property Congress last week.
As storm clouds gathered in Australia’s tropics, 800 industry leaders from around the country congregated in Cairns for the nation’s largest property conference.
CSIRO’s chairman of the board and one-time CEO of Telstra, David Thodey AO (pictured left), kick-started the conference. With infectious optimism, he argued that volatility, ambiguity and technological disruption were simply opportunities to innovate.
“Innovation is just the ability to do things better,” Thodey said.
As up to half of all tasks are automated by 2030, as big data drives better decision making, and as costs of computing come down, all industries and companies – big and small – will need to “out-create and out-think” competitors.
“Innovation isn’t a magic formula,” Thodey warned. Innovation is about listening to customers, because “great customer service drives us to be different”.
Following Thodey’s pep-talk, a stellar line-up of panellists, led by The Australian’s property editor Turi Condon, pondered the future of retail.
The panel, made up of Susan Lloyd-Hurwitz, Carolyn Viney, David Harrison, Steve Leigh, Louise Mason and Greg Paramor AO wondered: Is Amazon the retail serial killer? The platform may be a “serious juggernaut” but brought with it opportunities for the retail sector to sharpen its game.
Next up was Arup’s director of city economics, Alexander Jan, who revealed some of the secrets to successful infrastructure projects. He argued that those secrets aren’t so secret: build a coalition of the willing, make the “widest possible case” by selling the benefits to the whole community and “hold your nerve”.
Jan then joined a discussion with Princess Ventura, director with Urbis, and Jessica Christiansen-Franks, co-founder and CEO of Neighbourlytics (panel pictured right). They considered the question: How do we build cities where everyone belongs?
“Inappropriate development” yields half a million Google hits in less than a second, Christiansen-Franks said. What people are railing against, she said, is not density or high-rise development. It’s that the fabric of their communities are being recut without their say.
We have an incredible amount of data at our fingertips, and if we start listening to what it’s telling us, “we will stop hearing about inappropriate development,” Christiansen-Franks said.
This session was the perfect backdrop for Property Council chief executive Ken Morrison to present the industry’s new blueprint for community engagement.
“Yes, we represent the property industry, but we will only be effective if we bring the community along with us,” he said.
Political advisor and former prime ministerial chief of staff Peta Credlin agreed. In a wide-ranging discussion with Morrison on the volatility of global politics, the growing discontent among Australian voters and how the banks have lost the public’s trust, the Sky News anchor lamented the lack of faith in our political leadership.
Later, we heard about residential “game changers”, from density done well to build-to-rent, as well as the potential handbrakes on investment, such as stamp duty and taxes on foreign buyers.
Day Two kicked off with an inspiring keynote from adventurer, TV presenter, documentary maker and businessman Todd Sampson (pictured left). The long-time talking head on the Gruen Transfer argued that plasticity was one of the biggest revolutions on the planet.
“The difference between an ordinary brain and an extraordinary brain is within our reach,” he argued – and then proceeded to show the audience how extreme sports, such as blindfold rock-climbing and tightrope walking, could reshape the human brain.
With more malleable minds, the audience dove into the world of innovation and ideas in the ‘Shake It Up’ session.
Town planning was ripe for disruption, argued Michael Rowe, director of Ethos Urban, but technology would lead to better decisions, more flexibility and more community buy in.
Kate Drews, director of buildings and places for AECOM argued that data is the new oil, and that the property industry is on the cusp of turning that oil into fuel to new value and profitable growth.
And Chris Nunn, AMP Capital’s head of sustainability shared insights into the Passivhaus system, which with 80,000 certified buildings around the world, is the “most widely used certification system that you’ve never heard of”.
We gained insights into the world’s best projects. In London, Battersea Power Station is being revived for the next one hundred years. In Sydney, the fluid and futuristic form of Infinity by Crown is taking shape. And in New York, One Vanderbilt is reinventing the transport oriented development for the 22nd century.
Then humanitarian and rock star Bob Geldof took to the stage, warning the audience to “tread softly, property dudes, because you tread on people’s dreams.”
Geldof, too, talked about the deep-seated mistrust in institutions, and how the lack of opportunities – for jobs, security and home ownership – was driving political instability around the world.
“The good economy and the good society go together,” Geldof argued. And that means the property industry can play a central role in building a better world.
Those in the room – from the industry’s stalwarts to the young guns – agreed the content at The Property Congress was unmatched in 2017, and eagerly await next year’s event.
The 41st annual Property Congress will be held in Darwin from 12-14 September 2018.