As widely reported in the media the Urban Taskforce expressed our members’ disappointment in the NSW Government’s sudden decision to end the COVID-19 Order which extended construction hours to enable work on weekends. The removal of the extension of construction hours reduces the productive opportunity on construction sites by 21.4% (a loss of 1.5 days out of a seven day week).  This, at a time when housing prices are escalating because of a lack of supply, is not a sensible outcome and works against a COVID-19 recovery.

The Minister’s response was to delay the change back to the old rules till June 7.  The plan was that this would enable consultation with industry and more time to prepare rosters, work schedules and deliveries for the change.

Urban Taskforce has solidly maintained that this ill-considered decision must be reversed.

For as long as the threat of a return to tighter social distancing remains (an imminent possibility with what has happened in Victoria over the last week) Urban Taskforce members maintain that the construction industry needs to have access to the additional construction work days.

The Government has advised through DPIE staff, that the revocation of the decision to end the order is not on the table.

DPIE has nonetheless asked for feedback on how we might look to reasonably extend construction hours in certain circumstances. Initial discussions between DPIE, the Urban Taskforce and other industry associations took place this week, but disappointingly, the Minister’s office did not participate in this discussion despite being asked to do so.

Despite our disappointment and frustration with the process to date, the Urban Taskforce has put to Government some suggestions as to where or what type of construction activities could be continued across the weekend:

1. Limit the areas/zones where the additional work days apply;
2. Limit the construction activities able to be undertaken on the additional work days.

1. Limiting the applicability of the extended construction hours order to areas where there is very limited impact on sensitive receivers (residents in residential areas).
 

Restrict the additional construction hours to the following areas:

• Construction in commercial core areas (B3 & B8 zones)
• Construction in industrial zones (IN1 & 2)
• Greenfield construction (buffer of 400m from existing/established residential area)

2. Limit the applicability of the additional work days to include only low-noise and vibration construction and building activities, including:

• All low noise emitting internal fit-out work including:

o Plastering
o Painting
o Plumbing
o Electrical work
o Laying of tiles (excluding cutting of tiles)
o Installation of glazing
o Installation of insulation
o Waterproofing

• Administration and compliance activities (e.g. architect, engineer or PCA inspections)
• Delivery of building materials
• Landscaping (excluding cutting of metal, stone or timber products)
• Specifically exclude the playing of music/radio on site.

Urban Taskforce feel that this would go a long way towards delivering a compromise which would assist industry in working throughout the significant ongoing practical and economic uncertainty arising from the COVID-19 pandemic.

Urban Property Group (UPG) is a Sydney based property development, construction and investment company that operates under the founding philosophy of “the way living should be”.

Patrick has been leading a young team to deliver projects that not only set a benchmark for quality construction and design but also deliver longer term lifestyle benefits to residents through the Group’s “Urban Places” program.

Urban Places takes over where UPG finishes construction and provides on-going services to create a sense of community for residents. With live bands on generously landscaped rooftops, monthly communal meal gatherings, weekly movie nights, bootcamp, pilates and on-going concierge services – not surprisingly – the responses from residents have been exceptional. Patrick says this kind of feedback is not only good for UPG, it is part of a broader reputational shift for the industry as a whole.

Patrick and UPG have projects throughout Sydney with a recent focus on Penrith where they have expanded their offering into Build to Rent including the delivery of 11 brand new, single occupancy Specialist Disability Accommodation (SDA) apartments – the second for NSW. 

Patrick is positive about the future of Build to Rent. He says the relatively new asset class presents considerable opportunities for Australia to:

• address housing affordability, supply and choice issues
• deliver improvements to building quality (with the developer forced to think longer term) and
• further integrate corporate investors into the industry such as super funds which he believes will also raise service offerings and reputational considerations.

However, Patrick concedes that with current land prices and planning controls the commerciality of Build to Rent is largely limited to the mid to outer Sydney suburbs.

Patrick also believes there will be increasing upward pressure from Gen-Y for flexibility of lifestyle and Build to Rent delivers on this. Patrick points to Gen-Yers (including himself) being drawn to products that don’t tie them down financially and geographically such as flexible car services including go-get and Uber in lieu of buying a car and deletion of fixed services such as Foxtel and a preference for online subscriptions such as Netflix.

When asked about his observations on what works and what doesn’t work from working in the industry, Patrick responded

What works

• Working with professional people who are passionate about what they do
• Ensuring that great consideration is given at design stage to consider the building not only at occupation stage but for the life of the building

What doesn’t work

• Our current planning system and controls
• Current tax structure with Build to Rent being charged GST