Torie Brown and Anouk Darling.
The Property Council of Australia recently announced Anouk Darling as its inaugural President and Torie Brown as its inaugural Executive Director for the newly founded Student Accommodation Council.
The Student Accommodation Council is a newly formed division of the Property Council dedicated to representing and advocating for Australia’s purpose-built student housing market.
The Council was founded in response to the industry’s persistent strong growth, which has resulted in the delivery of 31,000 purpose-built student beds worth $9.3 billion over the previous 5 years.
The Council’s 10 founding members are responsible for over 50,000 of Australia’s 123,000 purpose-built beds, with current assets worth more than $20 billion and many more projects in the works.
Prior to the pandemic, the 900,000 international students in Australia contributed $41 billion to the economy in 2019.
The international reputation of Australia’s tertiary education system has attracted the second biggest percentage of students from Asia, after only the United States. The Purpose-Built Student Accommodation sector has enabled the production of 3,500 direct and indirect construction employment yearly over the previous 5 years, on top of the more than 5,000 who work in the industry’s operation.
Inaugural President of the Student Accommodation Council and CEO of Scape, Anouk Darling, said the Council’s advocacy agenda will focus on supporting the maturation of the industry, including attracting increased domestic and international capital to the asset class, building relationships with the tertiary education sector, addressing tax and lending frameworks as well as the continued safe return of international students with stable settings to support open borders.
“Today’s launch represents a coming-of-age for our sector – and firmly asserts our position as a growing and maturing asset class,” Ms Darling said.
We are thrilled that Torie will lead our new Student Accommodation Council in its critical formative stage.
“Students thrive in the Australian education sector and thanks to our members, increasingly have access to high quality purpose built communities to support their learning journey. “We look forward to Torie working with members to build our voice, and contribute to the positive future of international and domestic student experiences,” she said.
Ms Darling was named CEO of Scape, the country’s largest owner and operator of purpose-built lodging, in 2020. Scape manages over $7 billion in assets. She also serves on the boards of Enero Group (ASX:EGG), Discovery Holiday Parks, and Macquarie Telecom Group (ASX: MAQ) as a Non Executive Director. She was previously an Operating Partner at Allegro Funds, a private equity firm.
Ms Brown has worked as the Acting Executive Director of the Property Council’s Capital Markets Division and as the Deputy Executive Director of the Property Council’s South Australian division. She was most recently a Senior Advisor to Steven Marshall, the Premier of South Australia. Torie has also served on the Board of the Adelaide Business Hub and been Vice President of the YWCA in Adelaide.
Ms Brown said she was thrilled to be taking on the opportunity.
“It’s such a privilege to be leading the Student Accommodation Council from the outset, as the industry welcomes the return of international students now borders have reopened,” Ms Brown said. “Creating a great living experience for students in a sector that is set to grow rapidly over the next decade is important for Australia’s relationship with the world and for the success of our globally ranked education providers.
“I look forward to creating strong partnerships with universities, advocating strongly for the sector and highlighting the benefits for students, their families, the tertiary education sector and the Australian community as a whole,” she said.
Campus Living Villages, Cedar Pacific, Iglu, Journal Student Living, Student One, UniLodge, WeeHur, Dwell, Scape, and Yugo are among the ten founding members of the Student Accommodation Council, which represents the country’s largest student housing providers. Anouk Darling, CEO of Scape, is the first President of the Council and Chair of the Division. Richard Smith, Co-Founder and Director of Iglu Student Accommodation, Tomas Johnsson, and John Huber, Chief Operating Officer of Campus Living Villages, are the three initial Deputy Chairs.