How can we create smarter communities within the Australian development space?
In this conversation, Aprao speaks to Kirsty Chessher-Brown. Kirsty is the CEO of UDIA Queensland, the largest urban development network of community creators in Queensland, and has wide-ranging experience developing the Institute’s policy, stakeholder engagement, and research endeavours as well as consulting on a significant amount of state and local government policy development. Joining the Institute in 2006, Kirsty has directly overseen the growth of the UDIA’s EnviroDevelopment program and was instrumental in the establishment of the Research Foundation. Topics covered in this conversation include how best to drive change within Queensland’s development industry to facilitate greener, smarter and more resilient communities, whether this is through advanced research methods or the development of effective policy. We also cover how to develop in line with the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals, looking forward to the future of property development.
"This is an industry of innovators, it's an industry of entrepreneurs, and that goes together with excellence and wanting to do better than the last project."
– Kirsty Chesser-Brown, CEO // UDIA Queensland
With the announcement of the Olympics, the property development market seems to be booming. What's your overview of the current market and trends in the state?
"It’s safe to say our members are pretty busy at the moment and that’s been for a range of reasons. One particular measure by the federal government during COVID last year, HomeBuilder, has really spurred everything on and was the initial impetus for driving a lot of that activity across the state.
"Though what has perhaps surprised us is the level of demand post-stimulus. HomeBuilder finished in the first quarter of 2021 and our members are telling us that there's still really strong levels of demand. Whether this is for a house, a land package, or a unit or a townhouse, it would seem that property is enjoying a really strong and positive sentiment and that Queensland is the place to be. We've also experienced really strong levels of interstate migration. It would seem that again, COVID has been a real driver for that. As part of our qualitative research, we have spoken to people in Sydney and Melbourne and asked them what their next property move might be. By and large prior to this people were planning to move, particularly to southeast Queensland, within the next five to ten years.
"What we are now seeing is they are bringing forward that decision to move to Queensland, so that their decision to move in the next five years has turned into a decision to move within the next two. So we are seeing strong levels of interstate migration and we would expect that to continue, as we don't think it's a flash in the pan for just 12 months. Of course, it’s really contingent on maintaining a strong job market and employment opportunities across the state. But we have some fairly significant infrastructure investment from the state government in combination with local and federal governments - so we think that it is sustainable.
"In March last year, we were really concerned in the midst of the COVID crisis with what may happen to the property market, acknowledging that in Queensland, we are the third-largest employer across the state and there were real concerns about what might happen, but the market is doing really well. There are obviously some challenges that come with a buoyant market, particularly in terms of getting access to products, and I think everyone has got a story, whether it's a shortage of timber, or steel or roof tiles. There are product supply shortages and the industry is having to grapple with that. We’re also seeing some pain around getting tradies to start, so there are a few bumps along the road. However, we’re certainly in a great position and we're really grateful that the property market has been able to survive some of those COVID challenges that we've experienced."
"We've also experienced really strong levels of interstate migration."
– Kirsty Chessher-Brown, CEO // UDIA Queensland
You are known to champion many research endeavours within UDIA Queensland. What are some of the current focus areas and why?
"What we are really interested in with our Research Foundation is trying to deliver products and insights that allow our members to make better business decisions. Our research partner CSQ has been an incredible support in helping us to identify what those things might be, so we're really lucky to have a great team and a great partner to be driving this. We've done a lot of work trying to understand what community sentiment is towards different types of products and how the community would like to be involved in the consultation engagement process that wraps around property, which has been an important piece for us as it allowed us to give some additional guidance to both our members and government.
"This year, we've been looking at whether COVID might shift any consumer attitudes towards different product typologies; ie. whether people are more or less likely to move into an apartment. And once they move into that built-form product, whether it is an apartment, or a house, or a townhouse, have their needs changed as a result of COVID? Or, in terms of their external environment, are they looking for more parks, more coffee shops, more medical centres? The answers to these help us to frame how community neighbourhood structures might change post-COVID. Importantly, we've just finished some work, using a focus group, on understanding how we can better communicate the challenges of a growing population, and coping with a growing population a little bit more broadly by examining the consumers and the community at a neighbourhood level."
UDIA Queensland promotes the goal of supporting Better Communities for All Queenslanders. It's focused on three key pillars - greener, smarter and more resilient. This is very much in line with the UN Sustainable Development Goals. How is your office going about upholding those pillars?
"We set up a sustainability rating tool 15 years ago at UDIA Queensland, which is there for our members to help guide them towards some of those goals of being green, resilient and smart. What we are trying to do with EnviroDevelopment is provide our members with a platform to demystify what it is they can do in really simple terms to make their next development a bit greener and more sustainable. That's been an important thing for our members and something that has stood the test of time over the last 15 years. Standards have changed and consumer expectations have changed in terms of sustainability. I think that starts to illustrate just how important those goals are to our developer members, but increasingly, how much consumers are also seeking out more sustainable houses and units, and now rely on some of those credentials to be able to deliver that third-party verification for them. I think EnviroDevelopment has had its most successful year in 2021.
Why are innovation and the constant search for improvement in development so essential?
"It’s an incredibly competitive marketplace and we see that every year through UDIA's Awards For Excellence programme. We have 21 categories, and it is highly competitive - we are lucky enough to have an industry that just tries to better itself through each project. And I would go so far as to say that it’s rare to come across any other industry that is as driven towards such a need to better their next product to the extent that they roll down their previous one.
"There is this drive towards better delivery and being better than their competitors. When we look at the driver for that, it really comes back to consumer demands and expectations. This is an industry of innovators and it's an industry of entrepreneurs. We're all also out there for sale, so the need to be able to demonstrate that this project is better than the last project is incredibly important. For me, the drive towards innovation comes down to a drive towards excellence. And I think that's only good news for the buyers out there, and for the broader community. It's certainly an industry that is driven towards delivering better communities."
This is an abridged interview that originally took place last year as part of our expert webinar series, which you can watch in full here. It is also part of our Summer 2021 Report, where we chat to property development experts, which you can read in full by clicking below.
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