Global Property Linked Finance initiative launches
The Global Property Linked Finance Initiative was launched with the support of Australia’s PLF (property linked finance) Accelerator. The platform hopes to unify similar minded organisations to help unlock $US 34 ($A 51) trillion in private capital to transition building stock across the globe to net zero and climate resilience by 2050.
PLF is a mechanism that allows households and businesses to implement sustainable upgrades to their homes and buildings through a loan. The loan is stipulated by Environmental Upgrade Agreements (EUAs) – a contract between property owners, lenders, and councils, where repayments are tied to the property via council rates – and residents can immediately benefit from lower energy bills and more resilient homes.
The global initiative is also backed by organisations such as Green Finance Institute, Climate Bonds Initiative, Amalgamated Bank, C-PACE Alliance, C40, Energy Efficiency Hub, Global ABC, IFC, IIGCC, Lloyds Banking Group, Nuveen Green Capital, RICS, and World GBC.
Vinnies breaks ground on a new set of social and affordable homes
St Vincent de Paul Society Victoria’s subsidiary, Vincent Care Community Housing, has broken ground on 83 new social and affordable housing units in Maribyrnong in Melbourne’s inner west. The ceremony was joined by federal Housing Minister Clare O’Neil and Assistant Treasurer and Member for Fraser Daniel Mulino.
The project is funded by the federal government’s Housing Australia Future Fund Facility (HAFFF) through the Victorian Government’s Big Housing Build project, and assisted by Housing Australia and the Catholic Development Fund. The project is one of the 279 successful projects in rounds one and two of the funding.
The organisation said homelessness in Victoria is on the rise and outpacing the national average, accounting for one third of the nation’s homelessness cases. Despite this, Victoria has the lowest proportion of social housing in Australia.
Ingham Property’s new industrial estate to become the nation’s largest solar rooftop farm
Ingham Property Group has started work on its $1 billion, 182-hectare industrial estate, which once complete will house what it said is Australia’s largest rooftop solar farm, which will generate up to 70 megawatts – enough to power 50,000 Australian homes.
The estate will be in the upcoming Western Sydney Aerotropolis and surround the city of Bradfield and the Western Sydney International Airport. The energy generated through the solar farm will feed into the Aerotropolis’s distribution network, meaning surrounding residents can access cheaper, cleaner power with no transmission tariff.
The estate will deliver up to 750,000 square metres of industrial facilities and office space over the next three to five years and is estimated to employ up to 12,500 people at full capacity.
The estate’s approved master plan also contains a “complying development” certificate allowing for accelerated approvals for proposals that fit within 100,000 square metres and a 52.5 metre height limit. The company said this will allow projects to come online a year or more sooner than comparable sites in Queensland or Victoria.
The first building to be built will be a 90,000 sq m automated distribution centre for ALDI’s NSW operations, which will be 500 m long and just under 50 m in height, which is twice as tall as the main terminal of the new airport.
NSW Government opens its $1 billion finance guarantee for builders
The NSW government has opened an expression of interest for its pre-sale finance guarantee program, which will see the government become a guarantor on the pre-sale of up to 50 per cent of the dwellings on each project.
The scheme will support mid tier developers with approval for low to medium density residential projects, with each home valued up to $2 million each, with support ranging from $5 million to $50 million per project. Property and Development NSW will assess the developers for “credibility, capacity and capability”, and once approved, the developers must start building within six months.
Typically, developers only get lending approval for a project once they hit around 80 per cent of pre-sales.
According to the government, once homes are sold and the projects are completed, the builders can either:
- rescind the commitment, which will release the funds for other developers to access
- call on the guarantee, where homes will then be purchased by the NSW government at a discounted rate and either rented or sold into the market
McNab nabs Powershift
Construction and development firm McNab flagged a significant investment in mobile battery solution providers Powershift.
The battery providers operate a fleet of mobile battery systems that are capable of powering entire construction sites, including cranes, hoists, site sheds and multiple items of plant. The fleet can also help projects keep moving even when the grid is not yet available.
The technology can be utilised to replace traditional diesel generators with clean, quiet, and rapidly deployable energy systems, which it said would reduce fuel use and emissions by up to 75 per cent.
McNab chief executive Kunjan Ganatra said his company was committed to ESG leadership and long-term industry transformation and has done a lot of research as a result. He said his company found it more effective to partner with a company that is already delivering solutions across Australia, and they have seen the benefits of using the mobile units firsthand, such as cost savings, quieter working environments and cleaner energy use.
The units are now deployed across Australia, New Zealand, and the Pacific Islands to power infrastructure projects, manufacturing facilities, islands and mobile plants, as well as helping with grid stabilisation.
Evie Networks’ new debt facility marks a new age of infrastructure
EV charging provider, Evie Networks, has secured a $50 million senior debt facility with infrastructure specialist fund manager Infradebt. The transaction is the first non recourse (secured by collateral only) senior debt facility secured for public fast charging.
Chief executive Chris Mills said the loan signals that public EV charging will now be recognised as mainstream national infrastructure and showed investors are now “moving beyond traditional assets” and backing this new infrastructure asset class.
It signalled “growing institutional confidence in EV charging as a mature, investable asset class.”
Regional industrial emission reduction funding opens
The Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA) has opened a third round of its Industrial Transformation Stream Program, with $180 million available to support emission reduction of regional industrial facilities across Australia.
The program is aimed at significant energy users in regional areas to help transform operations to support the nation’s net zero goals. CEO Darren Miller said the funding will help businesses that aren’t sure where to start to take the first step. Some examples include electrifying cold storage at a meat processing facility, implementing thermal energy storage technology or recovering biogas from dairy waste.
Jobs
The Victorian Government has appointed Kate Houghton as the new Secretary leading its Department of Energy, Environment and Climate Action (DEECA).
Houghton is currently serving as the Secretary at the Department of Justice and Community Safety. She previously led the water and catchments group as deputy secretary and the Environment Policy Division as executive director at DEECA. She was also awarded the Public Service Medal in recognition of her contribution to the nation’s response to COVID-19. Houghton takes over from John Bradley, who wrote that he will be stepping down from his role in July in an internal email.
The NSW government has appointed Darren Cleary as its new Sydney Water CEO, starting 17 November.
Cleary will depart from his role as managing director of Hunter Water, where he has been an executive for almost 13 years. During his time, he drove investments into the Belmont Desalination plant, created the Lower Hunter Security plan and delivered a $1 billion capital program to improve water security in the region.