Queensland’s Department of Housing and Public Works have awarded BlueCHP Limited and Compass Housing Australia’s largest ever housing renewal project.
Totalling 4,900 houses the project centred on Logan City, Queensland, is designed to reinvigorate that city’s residential landscape and community. The 20-year management project will see the transfer of 4,900 houses from early 2015 and include the replacement of 1,000 existing houses with 1,600 modern social dwellings and 800 affordable houses for private rent.
The contract and transfer is the largest single project to be awarded in Australia and marks the watershed in how state governments now manage their social housing portfolios. The tender has been awarded to Logan City Community Housing (LCCH) a joint enterprise between BlueCHP Limited and the Hunter Valley-based Compass Housing Services. As part of the consortium arrangement, BlueCHP Limited will oversee the redevelopment of the dwellings.
Minister for Housing and Public Works Tim Mander said that the “Queensland Government’s Logan Renewal Initiative will revitalise social housing in the area over the next 20 years.”
“We will be moving creating a better mix of housing and continue to move away from large social housing precincts of the past”
“LCCH (BlueCHP Limited and Compass Housing Services) were chosen because they have a proven record and understanding that housing assistance is not just about putting a roof over someone’s head”.
The Logan Renewal Initiative Project is a significant step towards having 90% of all social housing in Queensland managed by non-Government organisations by the year 2020.
BlueCHP Limited CEO and LCCH director, Charles Northcote said, “BlueCHP is recognised within the Australian housing sector and by external developers as a pre-eminent affordable housing developer and asset provider.”
“BlueCHP’s property portfolio currently valued at over $200m is spread across Western and Southern Sydney, the South Coast and the Southern Highlands region. Recent developments include a $25 million affordable housing project in Ropes Crossing and a $10 million social and affordable housing project in Worrigee.”
“We look forward to working with the Queensland Government and the Logan City Council to deliver the best community and social facilities and dwellings for Logan.”
Compass Chief Corporate Service Officer and LCCH director Lyndall Robertshaw said “The opportunity to partner with BlueCHP was about bringing together two organisations with the appropriate skill sets but more importantly with a similar set of cultures and values.”
“We are looking forward to working with the Logan community. It’s exciting to be part of something that will help so many. This is the most multi-faceted social housing project to be undertaken in Australia.”
Logan City Queensland
City of Logan is a local government area in South East Queensland, Australia. The city is situated between the City of Brisbane to the north and Gold Coast to the south. The city also borders the City of Ipswich and Redland City. The city is divided into 63 suburbs. The city has a higher rate of multicultural diversity than the Queensland average with about one-quarter of Logan’s residents born overseas.