Adrian Esplin, the Property Council’s new president in South Australia, calls himself a “conservative optimist”. After 30 years of riding the market’s ups and downs, he has a clear message for our industry.
Taking the reins from Steve Maras, who steps down after nearly five years as the division president, Esplin is undoubtedly a steady pair of hands.
The chief executive officer of Sarah Constructions, Esplin began his 30-year career in property and construction with a stint as a structural engineer. Fifteen years as a regional director with Multiplex followed, before he joined Sarah Constructions in 2014. Since then, the company has grown its headcount to 200 plus people, more than tripled its turnover and increased market share.
“I’ve been working in the industry for nearly three decades and I’ve seen a lot of disruptors, from the 1990s recession ‘we had to have’, to the dot com crash, to the GFC and now a health crisis that has turned into an economic crisis,” Esplin says.
“There is always an end point to any crisis. Everything is cyclical. The underlying fundamentals of our economy are pretty good, we just have to get through this phase together.”
The crisis has emphasised the property industry’s economic contribution, Esplin says. Australia’s biggest industry, property contributes $202.9 billion, or 13 per cent, of GDP annually and employs 1.4 million people.
“I’ve had conversations with people in industries that aren’t connected to the construction supply chain who understand the importance of keeping construction going to safeguard jobs and the economy.”
The construction industry can maintain stringent health and safety measures because sites are already “highly controlled and procedural environments, so we already have a good baseline from which to implement innovations around COVID-19”.
“It’s about getting the basics right: social distancing, good hygiene practices, lots of fresh air and leading by example,” Esplin adds.
Sarah Constructions has installed external washbasins on each site, relocated workers who would normally spend their days in site sheds to outdoor settings, staggered shifts and meal breaks, and upped the number of places where people can eat outside to comply with social distancing rules. Medical cleans are being carried out on alternate days, “so if there is a case of COVID-19 on site, we already have the resource there and can respond immediately”.
Some of the changes have been illuminating. “Our people are telling us they like being able to work outside, rather than sit in a site shed all day,” Esplin says.
“We are seeing people police site safety by telling colleagues to stay home if they are sick. It’s not management enforcing this, but colleagues who want to keep their jobs and look after their workmates. It’s an example of behavioural change that I think will help us enhance site safety over the long term.”
This unprecedented time is also encouraging unprecedented cooperation between industry and community groups, governments and unions, Esplin says.
“I’ve never seen such collaboration, and I think that is why we are getting very good policies. While there is still work to do in some policy areas, we are seeing open, robust conversations founded on a commitment that everyone comes out of this OK.”
A major disruptor like COVID-19 is an opportunity for people to think and work differently, he adds, pointing to the massive shift to remote working, which may change mindsets, improve workplace flexibility and enhance diversity.
“There will be innovations in every sector of the economy and that will spin off into new opportunities for our industry, because we’re the ones who create places for people.
“I’m confident that we’ll get through this and look back at what we were able to achieve when we all rolled up our sleeves and worked together.”