Innovate or Struggle, Brisbane Developers Told

“We are probably going to be in a more innovative period, on a number of different levels, than ever—and it’s out of necessity.”

Urbis’ director Paul Riga is talking about the Brisbane residential market and his belief that the time is right for innovation.

The market has had more than its fair share of woes in recent years—the pandemic sparked labour shortages, floods, supply chain issues, rising construction and material costs, all leading to an increasing number of construction insolvencies.

It has left many developers wondering how they can survive, let alone thrive.

But Riga believes there is hope for residential developers.

“There will be innovative ways of getting people getting started,” Riga said.

He believes innovation will be necessary to make projects more financially feasible for developers, especially as demand for houses and apartments changes on the back of price, supply and affordability movement. 

“And for people to keep doing the jobs that we do, doing the projects that we do, there’s going to have to be a level of innovation for these projects to be feasible,” Riga said.

Riga will be speaking about the state of the market and how he see the future at The Urban Developer’s Brisbane Residential Summit on June 8. 

▲ Modular and prefab housing has been mooted as part of achieving Queensland’s million-home promise.

What these innovations will look like may vary but Riga says it will have to encompass several different parts of the process, from how planning is tackled to design, sales and construction.

“There’s going to be more collaboration and more innovation in this space in the next two years, and my view is that there’s going to be more innovative solutions then we would have probably ever seen,” Riga said, “innovative building solutions, innovative cost management solutions, design solutions and so on.”

But alongside this will come some hard truths around competing with government projects for much-needed construction labour, how to provide enough housing for people and how we think about living.

“The industry is going to be very innovative over the next few years because we’re forced into it,” Riga said.

“But as residents, our mindsets and our ideals will have to shift as well.”

The Urban Developer Brisbane Residential Development Summit will take place on Thursday, June 8.

Click here to register and learn more.