MULTINATIONAL property developer Delfin Lend Lease says it will use the first stage of its Alkimos joint venture with state lands agency LandCorp to build its business and expand its presence in Western Australia.
MULTINATIONAL property developer Delfin Lend Lease says it will use the first stage of its Alkimos joint venture with state lands agency LandCorp to build its business and expand its presence in Western Australia.
Earlier this week LandCorp and Lend Lease announced they had finalised negotiations for the 224-hectare first stage and master-planning for the Alkimos coastal development.
The first stage of development will include approximately 2,500 homes, with the first land scheduled to be released for sale in 2011.
LandCorp’s entire Alkimos plan, to be developed over 20 years, comprises 710ha and will include a town centre, coastal village and a possible marina.
Lend Lease chief operating officer for Asia Pacific, David Hutton, told WA Business News the Alkimos development, and the joint venture with LandCorp in particular, was extremely significant for the firm’s planned expansion to WA.
“LandCorp has positioned us pretty well, it’s been a competitive process that we’ve worked through but we’re delighted to be working with them and we genuinely believe that it’s a project of national significance,” Mr Hutton said.
According to Mr Hutton, Lend Lease is planning to take on further residential development projects after its early success at Alkimos.
“We’re certainly not complacent, our focus is to ensure that Alkimos starts the right way.”
“Obviously we’ll be working through the planning process, we hope to be selling lots next year, and then people moving into Alkimos within two years, so our major focus is to get Alkimos up and running.
“With Alkimos itself, we’re focused on stage one, there will be later stages, but clearly we want to build a business in WA.
“Our focus will be on building the Delfin brand, creating a portfolio of projects, and over time bringing the Lend Lease capital into WA.”
Across Australia Lend Lease has delivered some 40 land subdivision projects, creating more than 100,000 lots, and has around 80,000 lots in its development pipeline.
Mr Hutton said sustainability in individual building and overall community design was one of Lend Lease’s strongest capabilities that it would apply at Alkimos.
“We and LandCorp have worked out a vision for the project, we share those aspirations and we want to use Alkimos really as a demonstration project here in WA,” he said.
“Alkimos is really setting out to establish new benchmarks, they relate to environmental, they also relate to social and they relate to economic.
“They relate to how can we create jobs, how we start to change not only building design but precinct-wide design, obviously that includes energy and water, and also socially, in terms of all the social services that come into our community.”
