Urban Q&A for Buildcap Managing Director, Stuart Biggs
Urban's own Jie Yee Ong interviews Stuart Biggs of Buildcap to discuss their recent collaboration with GCB Constructions, on their project, Marine Quarter.
To date, Marine Quarter is the only approved development on the Eastern side of Marine Parade. Why do you think the city council approved of this project? What does Marine Quarter have to offer that other development projects don’t?
While only speculating, the council's approval of Marine Quarter certainly signifies a vote of confidence in both the unique project offering and the wider Gold Coast property market.
With a project value of $72 million, Marine Quarter will become a hero building project within the area, offering uninterrupted views and perfectly positioned to benefit from its close proximity to the waterfront lifestyle, cultural amenity and major infrastructure.
Marine Quarter is the first collaboration between Buildcap and local Queensland family-owned business GCB Constructions. Why GCB? How important is it for developers to communicate and work with local businesses?
GCB is a local family-owned construction group with an innate understanding of the Gold Coast market. Combined with their willingness to collaborate and their mission to invest back into the community through local resources — sustaining local economies and jobs — they are certainly a company we can get behind to help us bring our project to life.
Aligning with local businesses and providing several years of work to associated sub-contractors and suppliers is a key value for all of our projects and something that is very valuable given the current economic climate.
Marine Quarter’s unbeatable seaside views make it one of the highly sought after townhouses in Queensland. Seeing the demand for projects like Marine Quarter, will Buildcap continue with developments of this nature in the future?
We are certainly in the process of exploring similar opportunities within the Queensland market, and if the opportunity presents itself we would love to establish a project of this nature again in the future. As it stands, Marine Quarter is the biggest project currently under development for the Buildcap team, with most of our energy currently focused on delivering smaller-scale developments that range between 15-100 residences.
A key priority for Buildcap when looking to launch a new project is ensuring the location and lifestyle offering is key. With all of our projects centred around providing residents with the ultimate in low-maintenance luxury living.
Will Buildcap expand projects like this to other major cities around Australia to replicate the success of Marine Quarter?
While our energy is currently focused on exploring opportunities within the Queensland and Victorian market, we do pride ourselves on our keen eye for noticing market trends ahead of time and therefore wouldn’t shy away from an exciting opportunity elsewhere, should one present itself.
How has COVID-19 affected buyers’ interest in Marine Quarter or any other projects by Buildcap?
Undoubtedly, COVID-19 is reshaping the way our world is interconnected from how we do business to how we live our lives, and the property industry is no exception.
However, as the economy and our society adapt to this new normal, we have continued to experience a high volume of sales enquiries, suggesting that buyers who are financially sound and possess job security have the ability to remain active in the housing market through this period. They may, in fact, find themselves in a stronger position, using this as an opportunity to secure properties at a competitive price with ultra-low interest rates.
