THE nationally based developer for stage one of the Alkimos regional city project says it will use the project as a catalyst to launch its Western Australian expansion.
THE nationally based developer for stage one of the Alkimos regional city project says it will use the project as a catalyst to launch its Western Australian expansion.
Last week, Lands Minister Brendon Grylls announced that national developer Delfin Lend Lease had won the right to finalise negotiations with LandCorp to develop stage one of Alkimos, a 224-hectare tract of urban-zoned land 40 kilometres north of Perth.
The Alkimos proposal includes a regional city centre, a coastal village with a regional beach, substantial public open space and a range of social and community infrastructure.
Mr Grylls said in a statement the state government had prioritised the Alkimos development and negotiations would be completed within “the next few months”.
Delfin Lend Lease WA business development manager Martin Gaedke told WA Business News that receiving the preferred-proponent status over a consortium headed by local developer Satterley and national developer Mirvac, which also has significant local presence, was a major stepping stone for Delfin Lend Lease’s plans for expansion.
“Delfin has been looking at WA for more than two years; the decision was made to bring me over probably about three years ago and we’ve had people on the ground in various capacities for the last four or five years,” Mr Gaedke said.
“Following the last boom a strategic decision was made within the business that there was a need for us to have a presence over here.”
He said the project management team would be sourced from Delfin’s existing employee base for the initial stages of the project, but the vast majority of the Alkimos construction workforce would come from Western Australia.
Delfin Lend Lease has extensive experience in community development, with more than 100,000 people living in Delfin Lend Lease communities nationwide, and the company receiving eight Urban Development Institute of Australia national awards since 2001.
“It’s something that we’ve worked long and hard at, and developed a strong skill base in delivering communities,” Mr Gaedke said.
“We don’t just talk about housing developments; they are communities and there is a lot of hard work that goes into them.
“Education is a very important element, and a lot of planning goes into that.
“I suppose there is no surprise there insofar as the people who move onto our development, their demographic, education is a very important part of that, and a strong attractor.
Mr Gaedke also said local employment at Alkimos would be a major focus for Delfin.
“We’ve got our own economic development team internally and certainly some of the initiatives that we’ve implemented in Victoria, Queensland and South Australia have generated a significant number of jobs over the last five to 10 years,” he said.
“The other aspect and one of the key things LandCorp focused on was around design and delivering a product mix.
“One of the key things we focus in on is delivering a variety of housing stock that inevitably delivers a variety of people; its not just a mum a dad, two kids and a dog, we’re also trying to attract grandma and grandpa up there, we’re also trying to attract couples, young professionals into the environment so you get an eclectic mix of community.
“Communities in established areas are generally a diverse mix of demographic and that’s something we will try and deliver up at Alkimos too.”
