{"id":29254,"date":"2025-10-13T22:50:42","date_gmt":"2025-10-13T12:50:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/woodcentral.com.au\/?p=29254"},"modified":"2025-10-13T22:52:15","modified_gmt":"2025-10-13T12:52:15","slug":"aussie-developer-targets-sydney-brisbane-as-model-goes-national","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/woodcentral.com.au\/aussie-developer-targets-sydney-brisbane-as-model-goes-national\/","title":{"rendered":"Aussie Developer Targets Sydney and Brisbane as MODEL Goes National"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Australia’s most ambitious build-to-rent developer, MODEL, is on the lookout to fund a growing pipeline of cross-laminated timber apartment towers in Sydney, Brisbane and Melbourne over the next 12 months. That is according to Rory Hunter, MODEL’s CEO, who headlined Australia’s Timber Construct conference in Melbourne. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Addressing 200 architects, engineers, developers and timber professionals at the conference, Hunter said MODEL, now looking to raise $600 million from investors, is well-positioned to succeed where traditional or legacy developers have not: “We’re designing for a very different future. Buildings must be more resilient, and timber is a key part of that,” Hunter said from the sidelines. “As the energy transition and broader decarbonisation accelerate, assets that haven’t considered operational and embodied carbon from the start risk becoming stranded. Timber aligns with our values and mission, and it’s what the market will demand.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"IMG
From buying an island in his 20s and being named one of the World Economic Forum\u2019s Young Global Leaders to completing a 37-day solo sail from Hong Kong to Australia, Rory\u2019s journey is nothing if not remarkable. More than 200 professionals were eager to hear how he found the build-to-rent, why he is so bullish on the asset class and why he believes mass-timber systems are the answer for delivering these projects at scale.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Responding to questions from Georgie Coutsodimitropoulos, NeXTimber by Timberlink’s Marketing and Brand Manager, Hunter said that combining timber and Passivhaus standards can materially lift housing quality across Australia. “Shockingly, the majority of Australian homes fall outside the World Health Organisation’s recommended temperature and humidity ranges, and the situation is worse in the rental sector,” he said. “Around 80% of rental homes are either too cold and damp in winter or too hot in summer, creating real health risks for tenants.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Armed with JLL research – commissioned by MODEL – Hunter argues that higher sustainability standards also deliver commercial upside. MODEL, he said, is targeting 6\u2011Star Green Star, 9\u2011Star NatHERS and Passivhaus certification for its developments \u2014 a first for large-scale apartment complexes in Australia \u2014 which he said can command rental premiums of 5\u201310%, sustain occupancy near 98% and cut energy bills by thousands of dollars a year. “MODEL’s sustainable premium “is projected to add roughly 400 basis points to base\u2011case IRR over seven years, materially outperforming traditional build\u2011to\u2011rent benchmarks,” he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"A
A render of MODEL on Johnston, the first proposed by the new developer. (Image Credit: MODEL)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

At the start of MODEL’s pipeline is the Johnston project in Abbotsford, Melbourne, a short stroll from Timber Construct’s 2025 venue. Designed by Fraser & Partners, the development is billed as Melbourne’s tallest mass\u2011timber residential tower and Australia’s first large\u2011scale Passivhaus apartment complex. Hunter says Johnston will halve embodied carbon compared with a conventional build, run on 100% renewable energy and deliver average utility savings of about $1,000 per tenant each year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A former Harvard graduate who helped establish Cambodia’s first marine national park through his work with SoHo Partners and the Song Saa Foundation, Hunter says sustainability lowers financing costs and broadens investor interest. “By aligning our projects with global ESG frameworks \u2014 including the UN Sustainable Development Goals, TCFD and EU Taxonomy \u2014 MODEL qualifies for Article 9 funds and sustainability\u2011linked finance, which can shave basis points off the cost of debt,” he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\"Timber<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"Timber<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"Timber<\/figure>\n
a) More than 200 delegates attended the first day of Timber Construct, b) Alex Campbell, Pliteq regional director for Australia and New Zealand, chaired “Reclaiming the Frame: Timber’s Strategic Return to the Light Construction Market,” guiding a focused discussion on timber’s role in modern light construction. c) Attendance remained strong at the TBS Precision Construction Welcome Reception as delegates networked over drinks (Photo Credits: One Picture Photography)
<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"Timber
Dr Louise Wallis, Deputy Director, Centre for Sustainable Architecture with Wood, University of Tasmania, chaired a session tackling Innovation in Wood: High-Performance Timber Products for Modern Construction, featuring (from right) Dr Richard Nero, a research fellow at the University of Melbourne, Karthik Ganesan, Associate Director at TTW, Jeremey Church, General Manager at NeXTimber and Andy Russell, General Manager at Proctor Group Australia. (Photo Credit: One Picture Photography)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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\"Timber<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"Timber<\/figure>\n
A view inside the exhibition hall. (Photo Credit: One Picture Photography)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Hunter’s keynote formed part of a joint session that also featured Chethiya Ratnakara, the Managing Director of Singapore-based Versobuild, who travelled to Melbourne (via Singapore and Paris) to showcase how big tech companies are now looking to use cross-laminated timber in combination with steel and concrete to build the next generation of data centres in Southeast Asia, whilst Dr Louise Wallis chaired a session, Innovation in Wood: High-Performance Timber Products for Modern Construction, which launched research that showed that stone wall – rock wall – could replace plasterboard in insultation in cross-laminated timber flooring and timber framed walls.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Please note<\/strong>: Wood Central will have exclusive coverage from the conference in the coming days.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Australia’s most ambitious build-to-rent developer, MODEL, is on the lookout to fund a growing pipeline of cross-laminated timber apartment towers in Sydney, Brisbane and Melbourne over the next 12 months. That is according to Rory Hunter, MODEL’s CEO, who headlined Australia’s Timber Construct conference in Melbourne. Addressing 200 architects, engineers, developers and timber professionals at […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":28587,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_wpscppro_dont_share_socialmedia":false,"_wpscppro_custom_social_share_image":0,"_facebook_share_type":"default","_twitter_share_type":"default","_linkedin_share_type":"default","_pinterest_share_type":"default","_linkedin_share_type_page":"","_instagram_share_type":"default","_medium_share_type":"default","_threads_share_type":"default","_google_business_share_type":"default","_selected_social_profile":[],"_wpsp_enable_custom_social_template":false,"_wpsp_social_scheduling":{"enabled":false,"datetime":null,"platforms":[],"status":"template_only","dateOption":"today","timeOption":"now","customDays":"","customHours":"","customDate":"","customTime":"","schedulingType":"absolute"},"_wpsp_active_default_template":true},"categories":[3,38,50,113,37,35,47,33,87,2,32,39,85,54,68,45,44,31,56],"tags":[],"ppma_author":[70],"class_list":{"0":"post-29254","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-architecture","8":"category-architecture-and-design","9":"category-australia","10":"category-australian-capital-territory","11":"category-building-and-construction","12":"category-case-studies","13":"category-commercial","14":"category-editors-picks","15":"category-events-and-webinar","16":"category-featured","17":"category-global-news","18":"category-mass-timber","19":"category-new-south-wales","20":"category-queensland","21":"category-sector","22":"category-sustainability","23":"category-sustainable-forest-management","24":"category-top-stories","25":"category-victoria"},"authors":[{"term_id":70,"user_id":2,"is_guest":0,"slug":"jason","display_name":"Jason Ross","avatar_url":{"url":"https:\/\/woodcentral.com.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/J-Ross-headshot.jpeg","url2x":"https:\/\/woodcentral.com.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/J-Ross-headshot.jpeg"},"0":null,"1":"","2":"","3":"","4":"","5":"","6":"","7":"","8":""}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/woodcentral.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29254","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/woodcentral.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/woodcentral.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/woodcentral.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/woodcentral.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=29254"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/woodcentral.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29254\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":29270,"href":"https:\/\/woodcentral.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29254\/revisions\/29270"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/woodcentral.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/28587"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/woodcentral.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=29254"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/woodcentral.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=29254"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/woodcentral.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=29254"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/woodcentral.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/ppma_author?post=29254"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}