Developing Destinations for Living and Learning

Many people know Winim as one of Sydney’s leading property fund managers and boutique residential developers.

However, the team at Winim also works extensively in other sectors including retail, hospitality and education.

In the education sector, Winim’s experience includes acquisition and development origination, master planning and financial analysis, SSDA and planning proposals and project management and delivery.

Winim director Ry Stephen spoke at The Urban Developer’s vSummit on Developing and Investing in the Education Sector where he presented insights into why and how the education sector could soon become a major catalyst for more innovative mixed-use development in Australia’s increasingly densified cities.

According to Winim, there is an opportunity for education providers to play a more central role in shaping the future of mixed-use development. 

“Like in many other parts of the world, Australian cities are getting denser and more urban,” Stephen said.

“Population growth and increasing student enrolments, coupled with a lack of developable land, means that we need more creative solutions, including development that is more integrated, more vertical and which makes better use of existing assets through adaptive reuse.” 

Schools were in a unique position to lead the way, he said. 

“Schools are holding significantly underutilised land assets,” Stephen said.

 “They are in a unique position to explore creative land deals and innovative partnership opportunities that can maximise the commercial benefits for all involved, as well as enhance benefits to the broader community by having a greater concentration of complementary uses and shared amenities close to each other, perhaps even stacked on the same site within a vertical mixed-use development.

“Tertiary institutions are already seen as economic drivers. We feel strongly that primary schools and high schools, working together with developers and the private sector, can unlock opportunities for freehold, leasehold and joint venture models and can become anchors of new development on new or existing sites in key growth precincts.”

Due to the scarcity and cost of land, there would be more developments where an educational component was part of, or even the primary catalyst for, a much more integrated mixed-use development model, Stephen said.

At The Urban Developer’s vSummit, he said there were some excellent benchmarks overseas.

For instance, for the Tiger Way mixed-use project in the UK, a cross-funding model was used in which the project’s residential sales helped fund the school within the same development.

Another example, the residential tower 35XV in New York City, was delivered by a developer who acquired the air rights over a high school in exchange for building a school expansion below. 

Stephen said that when it came to best-in-class global precedents he would love to see more Australian projects included in the conversation.

“We have a real opportunity in Australia to be a leader and an innovator in this area, drawing inspiration from what others have had to do in other countries often out of necessity due to land constraints and using our ingenuity and foresight to develop in a smarter way now in anticipation of land becoming more scarce here in the future.

"A more vertical, integrated, mixed-use development approach involving adaptive reuse shouldn’t be seen as a last resort. We shouldn’t wait until we run out of room to consider such options.

“Integrated mixed-use developments that include education facilities can really help realise value for money for education providers, including operational and lifecycle advantages. In the long run, this can drive more sustainable futures for local communities, which is a win-win for everybody.”

▲ WINIM has advised on the development of campus-style mixed-use redevelopments centred around schools.

Speaking of sustainability, he said we had barely scratched the surface when it came to adaptive reuse.

“Converting existing assets, particularly office buildings and retail centres, into learning environments has been talked about for years and there has been a bit of renewed focus on such opportunities as a result of the pandemic.

“But I think the potential for breathing new life into older buildings, specifically by converting them into schools, is far from being fully realised.” 

Winim has been involved in a handful of projects in recent years where they have begun to explore these opportunities.

“While we have yet to apply this thinking in a combined way on the delivery of a truly vertical mixed-use, education-led, adaptive reuse type of development, we have been circling some opportunities of late and see this idea picking up momentum.

“The inclusion of a school as an anchor tenant co-located with residential, retail, commercial and other facilities can provide an excellent covenant for a development, plus the school’s open spaces and amenities like gyms, halls and libraries can be shared by the residents outside of normal school hours,” Stephen said.

“On tighter sites and, in particular, sites with good proximity to local transport nodes, schools make a lot of sense as part of a vertical mixed-use development strategy. 

“Although Winim has developed a reputation as a retail and residential developer, we're really an integrated property business offering a comprehensive range of development management, project management and strategic advisory services with expertise across multiple sectors and all stages of the real estate lifecycle.” 

This was important because the future was going to require more inventive development solutions that were more mixed-use in nature, and developers with experience across multiple project types and different delivery models would have an advantage on more complex projects.

“In some ways, Winim is already developing destinations for living and learning, but in the future we will see these uses and building typologies, which have traditionally been more separated, start to be developed together in a more integrated way.

“It will be challenging but we think the results will be extraordinary and we’re excited about exploring what’s possible.”

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