AUSTRALIA — April 1, 2021 – CRTKL has announced the establishment of a strategic alliance that will see it build on the already burgeoning Build to Rent (BTR) market in Australasia, with local architectural practice, Buchan.
With eight offices across Australia and New Zealand and a 130-year history, Buchan strengthens CRTKL’s presence in the region and supports its growth ambitions for the future.
The announcement is a clear vote of confidence in the BTR sector from CRTKL, which is also exploring cities across Europe, such as Warsaw, Hamburg, and Lisbon where demand for this residential product is increasing.
Having become synonymous with BTR, from the initial growth in the US multifamily market to the boom in the UK over the past 10 years, CRTKL brings established design experience from more mature markets to one that is on an upwards trajectory.
With many developers and investors in Australasia now looking to reposition their portfolios to meet evolved market demands and post-Covid realities, CRTKL and Buchan are responding with combined intelligence and solutions in the form of dynamic mixed-use urban environments and lifestyle-led destinations.
Having successfully delivered projects together in New South Wales, Victoria, Queensland and Western Australia, the two firms are used to functioning as one and have become adept at finding new purpose for capital investment.
“The property world is seeing rapid and long-lasting changes in what consumers want and desire,” says CRTKL Principal, Randy Galang, who spent several years in Melbourne growing the practice’s Australian operations.
“This change in consumer behaviour is consequently driving a shift in investment priorities, with mixed-use, multi-sector assets becoming the norm. Residential is one component of that mix – key to any lifestyle-led investment is a rental product that can foster a sense of community and bring soul to an urban environment,” says Galang.
While the firms remain independent, Buchan and CRTKL will focus their initial efforts as an allied group in the growing BTR market and introduce a model for mixed-use development that is unique to the Australasian market and founded on global best practices.
“The growing market for BTR in combination with our strong alliance with Buchan puts us in a prime position to create exceptional projects, with a focus on operational excellence in an authentic service-led residential offering for which demand is set to grow significantly in the coming years,” adds CRTKL Principal and BTR specialist, John Badman.
“Design decisions have a huge impact on the success of any BTR project, and our collective offer will demonstrate that by driving a sustainable return through a better product – we are removing the learning curve for developers and operators and applying lessons from the United States and the United Kingdom, where we have spent 35 years developing BTR, lifestyle-led products,” says Badman.
The aligned approach of the two firms is focused on providing a sustainable return on investment and maximizing energy saving initiatives that generate value over the lifecycle of assets. The outcome of this focus will be to attract a growing number of residents who value the benefits of comfortable housing, lower energy bills, and a lighter carbon footprint.
Read more in Architecture & Design here and BTR News here.
ABOUT BUCHAN
Buchan is an acclaimed architectural, interior and brand-experience practice, operating across studios in Australia, New Zealand, and China.
For almost 130 years, Buchan has designed engaging buildings that are effective in their function, appropriate to their context, successful for their owners and beautiful in their form.
www.buchangroup.com
ABOUT CRTKL
CRTKL is a global architecture, planning and design practice that began over seven decades ago and has since evolved into a cultural agency to advance positive outcomes in our local and global communities. Through a human-centric design approach our team addresses the imperatives of resiliency, wellbeing and technology and their influence in the built environment.
www.callisonrtkl.com
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