Five of most innovative community housing developers in 2021
LONDON: Over the next 5 days, an innovative community housing developer will be profiled.
Today the focus is on Kris Daff.
Kris Daff is the managing director of Assemble’s parent company Make Ventures.
This year will be “defining” for Assemble, according to director of culture and strategy Emma Telfer.
While its Assemble Futures build-to-rent-to-own portfolio continues to grow, the litmus test will be the introduction of affordable housing and community build-to rent-projects.
“We have our first group of Assemble Futures residents moving in to our pilot project at 393 Macaulay Road, Kensington [this year], and we have started demolition at 15 Thompson Street, Kensington and 4 Ballarat Street, Brunswick will follow,” Telfer said.
Assemble is committed to tackling the housing crisis with a $3.5-billion privately funded affordable and social housing portfolio and 5000 dwellings.
“We believe that every Australian deserves access to an affordable, well-designed home, and a secure community to be a part of,” Telfer said.
Assemble recently partnered with Housing Choices Australia to manage community housing across future build-to-rent projects and to provide more than 3300 dwellings for low and moderate-income households.
It demonstrates the capacity for private and not-for-profit community housing sectors to collaborate to address the affordable housing shortage.
“We have just launched our third Assemble Futures project, 4 Ballarat Street, Brunswick which is designed by Fieldwork and landscape architecture by Rush Wright,” Telfer said.
“This is the next opportunity for residents to participate in the ownership pathway under the Assemble Futures housing model. [It] will be a fully electric building, run on 100 per cent renewable energy and is targeting a 7.5-star average NatHERS rating.”
Qualitas launched a $1-billion build-to-rent fund last year to help finance the construction of energy-efficient, low-emissions residential developments.
“We think [build-to-rent] is going to grow to be a substantial sector in the real estate market,” Qualitas senior director of real estate finance Mark Power said.
“As an asset class it lends itself to designing products with a strong sustainable outcome.”
Power said Qualitas had a strong Environmental, Social and Corporate Governance (ESG) focus and they wanted to future proof their investments with sustainable measures, which would boost the valuations of the build-to-rent assets.
Qualitas does not fund Assemble but it sees values in the sector as an investment opportunity that has worked well overseas and will grow to be a thriving asset class in Australia.
Power said the group had a number of build-to-rent deals under way but couldn’t divulge the details yet.
