John Percy’s Post

There are better solutions than carving up valuable rural landscapes around Sydney's outer metropolitan suburbs to the city's worst shortfall in affordable housing. In addition to water and sewerage infrastructure backlogs, there are significant road and public transport infrastructure delays, some extending up to 20 years. The 170 railway stations across metropolitan Sydney are predominantly surrounded by single-detached dwellings, limiting the potential of billions of dollars of public-funded infrastructure. An immediate rezoning around "all" this entire public-funded transport infrastructure is required to ensure enough affordable housing for Sydney's essential workers and key workers with easy access to their jobs. Developing inclusive quality mid-rise apartments near these stations can create walkable urban villages, enhancing community bonds and social cohesion. Pushing residents to outer suburbs with limited job opportunities and inadequate public transport leads to extensive daily commutes, impacting well-being and social responsibility issues. It's time for innovative solutions, like advanced modular construction in inclusive quality residential grade mid-rise apartment construction using renewable resources, to address the chronic shortage of affordable housing. Relying on traditional construction methods with skills shortages won't resolve the housing crisis. Embracing new construction platforms with sustainable materials like Cross Laminated Timber can minimize waste and build a more sustainable future for Sydney's housing needs. The Thrive Alliance's expertise is over 100,000 major CLT urban reference projects worldwide. Led in Australia by a proven "Placemaker" over the last decades, I have set aside between 30% and 50% for affordable housing with no mandatory requirements, just through my initiative and sense of social responsibility, on all vacant metropolitan major serviced land holdings won at either State or Local Government tenders. The Thrive Alliance's capabilities include up to 40,000 inclusive-quality residential-grade mid-rise apartments within walking distance of railway stations or tram stops per year. A speed-to-market solution is desperately needed in Australia today. A fast-track solution lies in advanced modular construction platforms built from CLT up to 75% faster than slow, inefficient custom construction methods. #Sydney #infrastructure #housingcrisis #advancedmodular #sustainability #CLT #ThriveAlliance #Harropfactor #Placemaker #essentialworkers #keyworkers #speedtomarket #fasttomarket #sustainability #inclusiveness #residentialgrade #midrise #townhouses

Bayside City Council is currently the epicenter of State Government Planning Intervention with Suburban Rail Loop Authority, #ActivityCentreProgram, and Level Crossing Removal Project. Following the release of the SRL Precinct Directions there appears to be a strong focus on maximise built form outcomes with limited regards for the impact on the community. Any approach to high quality planning outcomes needs to have regard to those who live in that location, not just about those future residents; providing community infrastructure that does not cost shift and place a financial burden on local government and communities; understanding of the building industry and the ability to deliver housing outcomes in what is highly taxed and financially burdened. Engagement is critical to ensure the local context and community expectations is not lost in a centralised planning approach being delivered by the State Government. https://lnkd.in/gz-p4Q3r

The focus on sustainable urban development is crucial for the future of Metropolitan Sydney. With over 100,000 investment-grade high-rise apartments in speculative towers dominating the landscape, it's evident that a shift towards more inclusive and human-scale residential options is necessary. Proposing a plan to develop and rezoning for quality mid-rise apartments around all of the 170 Metropolitan railway stations in Sydney presents a viable alternative. This approach aims to create around 500,000+ new inclusive residential units within a comfortable walking distance, fostering vibrant and communal living spaces. By encouraging the development of "walkable apartment villages", residents can experience a sense of community while minimizing the negative impacts of high-rise towers, such as uncomfortable wind patterns from wind eddies and rendering nearby park spaces unusable. Fast-tracking solutions through advanced modular construction platforms, like Cross Laminated Timber, showcase a sustainable way forward. This method, inspired by Scandinavian and EU practices, ensures efficient design, reduced waste, and a more environmentally friendly construction process. Embracing this vision for human-scale, inclusive, and sustainable development around Sydney's railway stations can pave the way for a more livable and vibrant urban environment. The Thrive Alliance's expertise is over 100,000 major CLT urban reference projects worldwide with Engineered wood into Cross Laminated Timber from renewable plantation forest trees construction with a scalable plan to address and assist the worst shortfall of enough availability of affordable dwellings in the history of NSW. The Thrive Alliance consortia demonstrated their scalable solution last year sponsored by BusinessNSW to a range of Senior NSW Government executives and South Australian Government executives that capability is up to 40,000 per year inclusive of quality residential grade mid-rise apartments in CLT in advanced modular construction, up to 75% faster to build than current custom construction methods. The Thrive Alliance consortia in Australia is led by a proven "Placemaker" over the decades has demonstrated a strong commitment to a sense of social responsibility with all previous major urban projects won at either State or Local Government's public tender processes setting aside between 30% to 50% for affordable housing to create inclusiveness in these major urban projects with no mandatory requirements just through my initiative and sense of social responsibility. #ThriveAlliance #UrbanDevelopment #Sustainability #SydneyMetro #CommunityLiving #fasttomarket

A big moment for Wellington City. Yesterday the Council made their decisions on the direction of the Proposed District Plan. This is a relief to finally have some certainty on how can progress potential projects in our city. Whilst there are plenty of opinions around how this should have landed, the reality is it will be a long time before we see any noticeable change in built form scale that has been the key subject of debate. There are many challenges in the development and construction space that will take time to adapt to what will now be facilitated. The good news is that we will have certainty that a mechanism will be in place that supports modern models of housing form and needs and utlimately we can make market led decisions on solutions.

Propertymark proposes ‘infrastructure-first’ approach to housing supply Propertymark has urged the UK Government to consider other ways of boosting the supply of homes for purchase. The Government has two main aims: constructing more homes while protecting the environment, yet it is also considering how to utilise brownfield land: https://lnkd.in/eNmgvYpy #propertymark #housing #infrastructure #government #property

Great article Robert Pradolin GAICD This should focus everyone minds on solving the housing crisis: "By housing all Australians, rich or poor, we minimise the long term costs to a future society that result from the unintended consequences in areas of mental and physical health, family violence, justice, policing and long term welfare dependency. " As you point out the prefab industry has a key role to play but needs to demonstrate the benefits: "A tremendous dividend is also available to industry in participating in delivery of this new housing supply, and the prefab timber industry must play a significant role. However, it still needs to demonstrate the benefits of prefabrication and how it has matured and modernised into providing cost effective and aesthetically attractive options, at scale. But it won’t happen unless we, collectively and pro-actively, make that happen." Good to see NSW has set up a taskforce to look at how prefab modular housing can deliver more social housing homes sooner https://lnkd.in/dfKMrpWt Paul Scully Rebecca Pinkstone Mike Zorbas Katie Stevenson Wendy Hayhurst Property Council of Australia Community Housing Industry Association FTMA Australia Housing All Australians Housing Australia

The housing policy proposed by Federal Opposition Leader Dutton has sparked significant debate with no "scalable plan". Dutton's plan to carve up rural landscapes and valuable farming land around Australia's capital cities raises concerns about the legacy of neglected policies and the pressing need for affordable rental accommodation, especially for over 400,000 Essential Workers on the Eastern Seaboard of Australia lacking enough availability of affordable rental accommodation with easy walking distance access to existing transport infrastructure thousands of billions of dollars of public-funded infrastructure across Metropolitan areas of Australia that could be better utilised. In Metropolitan Sydney alone, the current shortage of apartments is estimated at 35,000 per year, particularly in areas close to transportation hubs for the foreseeable future; where is Dutton's policy here? Despite upcoming construction projects, the challenge of providing affordable housing persists, with around 10,000 apartments to be completed in Metropolitan Sydney over the next three years. The shortfall of affordable rental units affects over 400,000 Essential Workers on the Eastern Seaboard, leading to long commutes and skills shortages in critical sectors like healthcare and education. The call for scalable solutions to address the housing crisis remains unanswered. Fast-to-market strategies are urgently needed to provide over 1 million affordable dwellings nationwide. The urgency to find sustainable solutions for affordable, sustainable housing is clear. Maybe Mr Dutton might like a capability presentation like we did last year, sponsored by BusinessNSW to various State govt agencies; our all-day Thrive Alliance capability presentation to scale-up vast amounts of inclusive quality residential grade mid-rise apartments in advanced modular construction platforms built from Renewable plantation forest trees into Cross Laminated Timber construction with great design, detailing and finishes minimising expensive building materials waste going to landfills which is unsustainable and making housing more difficult and costly for Australians to achieve. Our Thrive Alliance capabilities are up to 40,000 inclusive quality residential grade mid-rise apartments annually. The Thrive Alliance's fast-to-market solutions could revolutionise the construction industry in Australia; today, across the globe, the Thrive Alliance has over 100,000 CLT major urban reference projects, a fast-track solution building inclusive quality residential grade mid-rise apartments in advanced modular up to 75% faster than traditional methods inefficient, slow custom construction methods with the staggering waste of valuable building materials going into landfill, let alone the staggering shortages of tradies. #HousingPolicy #AffordableHousing #Australia #ThriveAlliance #CLT #fasttomarket #sustainability #inclusiveness #midrise #Harropfactor #Placemaker

The new Government has been setting out initial plans for housing in the UK, and whilst there are positive moves that may require more focus on funding - as the recent open letter from the National Housing Federation describes - other changes are more systemic... The phrase for the first few weeks of the Government is "Grey belt" the liminal space between green and brown - whilst this is welcomed, should more focus be put on what is possible within our urban environments? Capital Letters CEO Sue Edmonds (Coulson) asks the Government, in her latest blog, to look for solutions in our urban environments... https://lnkd.in/edw_s2i5 #AffordableHousing #UrbanDevelopment #HousingCrisis #SustainableHousing #Infrastructure #CommunityDevelopment #RealEstate #HousingPolicy #UrbanPlanning #SocialHousing

From @chroniclelive - the challenges of #planning and meeting the infrastructure needs of new #housing developments: https://lnkd.in/eDhQcqx7

The government announced last Wednesday that it will commit £68m in funding to go directly to 54 councils. It will mean that councils can build on brownfield sites – such as disused buildings, car parks and industrial sites. This is good news for our frameworks, their contractors and supply chain, supporting not only new homes but also supporting public infrastructure.   More efficient land use such as this is critical to realising ambitions. Our frameworks would advise planners to focus on dense urban sites where demands are lower, such as areas previously used for retail, office, or industrial use. Part of this is also about ensuring easy access to public services. Should we be considering the 15-minute city concept as everyone deserves easy access to critical services, such as healthcare and education? How do we not forget our climate ambitions as we build large urban conurbations? The funding is about supporting urban regeneration but we need to think about what model we are striving for. Is the traditional new town model (think Milton Keynes) now outdated for our modern needs? Do we need a reinvention of the town concept? #teamNACF #publicsector #urbanregeneration