Gearing for growth with 15 new staff members appointed

We have experienced extensive growth even through our lockdown due to COVID-19, with 15 new staff appointed since March 2020, growing our team to 36.

Key appointments have been made across Development, Operations, Marketing & Commitments, Communications, Community Engagement, Partnerships, Finance, Placemaking & Experience, and Publishing divisions.

The growth is in response to our significant $3b privately funded mixed-income rental housing portfolio—the largest portfolio of its kind in Australia.

Key new hires include Director – Relationships and Marketing, Rebecca Shackleton, who joins us with over 15 years of experience in sales and marketing with leading developers including Satterley and Stockland.

Respected design advocate and urban designer, Andy Fergus will join as Head of Urban Design, after advising the business on a range of projects including the East Village site in East Bentleigh.

This focus on design excellence, place, and neighbourhood development continues with the appointment of Ingrid Langtry in the newly created role of Place, Retail and Experience Manager.

Maggie McKeand joins as Community Engagement & Partnerships Manager, reinforcing our commitment to purposeful community engagement and in delivering resident services and support.

Senior Development Manager, Simon Denny joins with 17 years’ experience in residential, retail, education and commercial development in Australia, New Zealand and the United Kingdom.

Our Managing Director, Kris Daff said that the need for affordable housing, delivered via the build to rent asset class and effective partnerships, is critical now more than ever and the growth in the business reflects the opportunity.

“We are primed to take on key development opportunities within affordable and social housing, and our team will continue to scale to deliver our significant project pipeline.

“The talent and diversity in the team set us apart in the build to rent space. We have the expertise to deliver resident-centric, community-minded housing that responds to the significant societal issue of housing affordability and security.

“In addition to our current portfolio, we are actively exploring new site opportunities, particularly interstate where we can deliver mixed-income rental housing to more Australians,” said Mr Daff.

A strategic move to address housing affordability, we’ve launched a dedicated Partnerships division, overseen by Partnerships Director, Tom Billings, that forges partnership opportunities with value-aligned organisations to drive the growth of our build to rent platform.

Tom brings more than 13 years’ experience in infrastructure development, M&A and financing from origination and investment banking roles at Plenary, Goldman Sachs, and RBS/ABN AMRO. Tom is supported by Associate Director, Cameron Quinn, and Associate, Matt Roper.

Staff appointments since March 2020:
• Andy Fergus – Head of Urban Design
• Brendan Smee – Senior Project Manager
• Cameron Quinn – Associate Director, Partnerships
• Emma Fox – Commitments Coordinator
• Ingrid Langtry – Place, Retail & Experience Manager
• Jainy Dave – Management Accountant
• Leona Li – Property Accountant
• Lucy Goldsmith – Executive Assistant & Office Manager
• Maggie McKeand – Community Engagement & Partnerships Manager
• Matt Roper – Associate, Partnerships
• Nat Burcul – Media & Communications Manager
• Nicola Fawl – Senior Operations Manager
• Rebecca Shackleton – Director, Relationships & Marketing
• Simon Denny – Senior Development Manager
• Sophie Rzepecky – Editor, Assemble Papers