Carr helping to drive Melbourne’s luxury residential builds with local sourcing & good timing

Recently, the construction industry has seen some challenges with material supplies being difficult to manage, particularly through international supply chains. Many in the industry are therefore looking for innovative solutions to overcome procurement issues and increased costs.

Carr Associate Director David Brooks says, “Turning to local suppliers where possible is really informing our alternative approach at Carr and is perhaps one of the positive developments to come out of the situation.”

“While we are yet to see the full effects of the rising costs of construction across the architecture industry, we believe it’s our job to help educate our clients on the risks and recommend solutions where needed.”

“Until recently,” says Brooks, “the industry relied greatly upon international supplies without much question, for example from Europe and Asia. However, by shifting to find more locally sourced materials and interrogating the traditional approach to further understand where parts are coming from, we can find alternatives and help keep costs and lead times manageable."

Carr’s recently completed development Heyington Place in Toorak, “…simply could not be delivered in the current market with today’s construction and supply costs. Sadly, I think lavish stone facades and premium building materials will become rare and exclusive as many developers and builders struggle to deliver high-quality projects with the current cost and supply chain challenge" says David Morgan, Development Director, Sterling Global.

It seems that Heyington was also fortunate in its timeline with respects to construction taking place through the pandemic.

“The Heyington team worked through covid lockdowns, managing the timeline tightly to ensure the project stayed on schedule while meeting the ever-shifting lockdown restrictions in Victoria. Indeed, the project was one of only a handful that was completed ahead of schedule through the country’s toughest lockdowns,” says Morgan.

Images: Supplied