Community

Community development

Community development is a priority in our sustainability strategy. We aim to create sustainable and vibrant communities that thrive long after we have completed our developments. To achieve this we need to engage with the local community and other key stakeholders. This can lead to us adapting our projects in response to concerns raised by the local community (see Point Lonsdale case study). It is also critical to the development of community and social programs on our projects (see East Village case study).

Community development plans

To help us develop sustainable communities we have community development plans. At the end of FY09 22 per cent of our residential communities and two retirement living projects had community development plans in place. However, there is inconsistency in how these plans are developed and most are not documented. We recognise that we need to develop a consistent approach to community development and are therefore refining our community development guidelines and developing a toolkit for residential and retirement living projects.

Community development guidelines

Our Residential Communities business currently implements various community development initiatives in terms of both built infrastructure and social programs. We are aiming to replicate the initiatives that have proven to be most successful in the community and introduce world-class initiatives founded from the Peter Daly International Fellowship of 2009 on social sustainability.

Our development managers will be introduced to the community development guidelines and a supporting toolkit at a training program in the first quarter of FY10. The guidelines will be launched in the second quarter and will be piloted on our North Lakes residential community. They will then be applied to the priority stakeholder projects in our residential communities and retirement living projects over the course of FY10.

The guidelines set out how to gather social research and require our projects to test the assumptions made from this information with community stakeholders. They provide advice on how to create a sustainable community that thrives after we finish development. The guidelines will enable us to:

• Engage further with the broader community at each of our developments to ensure better outcomes for existing and future residents,
• Create a consistent and enhanced approach to community development,
• Apply this approach to our residential community projects nationally,
• Improve dialogue with communities on current and future projects.
  
  

Community consultation in the UK

In our 2008 CR&S report, we said we would develop a more comprehensive plan for community development and engagement across our portfolio that would include issuing a set of guidelines to cover all major developments in the coming year. We have now developed a draft Community Consultation Plan which will be used to guide the consultation process for our development projects. In FY09 we did not have a project reach an appropriate stage to enable this to be piloted. In FY10 we hope to trial this if and when an appropriate project emerges.

Our retail centres support a range of local charities, sports teams and community events. Our on-site centre managers manage their site-level community involvement activities as they are best placed to identify local opportunities.

In 2009 we signed an agreement with Harlow Council to deliver a 1.3 million square foot mixed-use scheme to regenerate Harlow Town Centre North. The planned redevelopment of this area is set to transform the town centre, helping to improve the quality and attractiveness of shopping in Harlow. In July 2009, we will launch a public exhibition in the town centre to launch the development plan and seek public feedback. Following this consultation the planning application is expected to be submitted mid-2010. We are working closely with public sector stakeholders, including the Homes and Communities Agency and the East of England Development Agency.

Our impact on local, regional and national economies

As one of the largest developers of residential land in Australia our business operations result in the employment of people across the country. The data we collected from our Residential and Retirement Living businesses estimates that we have created over 4,800 direct jobs and 11,000 indirect jobs through construction and maintenance work. We recognise that there were inconsistencies in how this data was reported. In FY10 we will be developing our data collection and reporting capacity in this area.