a city transformed Investor Prospectus 2017 ADVANTAGE WOLLONGONG advantagewollongong.com.au

Transcription

1 a city transformed Investor Prospectus 2017 ADVANTAGE WOLLONGONG advantagewollongong.com.au

2 from Wollongong City Lord Mayor Wollongong is a city transformed. Traditionally known for its world class steel making and coal mining industries, Wollongong today is an important knowledge services centre, a globally connected international trade hub and home to a world-class university with a focus on encouraging innovation. Wollongong lies on the narrow strip between the Illawarra escarpment and the Pacific Ocean, approximately 80km south of Sydney. It provides a superb lifestyle between the mountains and the sea, a supportive business environment and the perfect location to accommodate trade around the world. The Wollongong City Centre has seen a $1.3 billion (AUD) investment over the past 4 years, with a further $300 million in the pipeline and increasing interest from national and international investors. Major projects recently completed have included a $200 million upgrade of Wollongong Central, the city s premier shopping precinct; the new $120 million Wollongong Private Hospital and the $134 million expansion of the Wollongong Public Hospital. Wollongong s economy is diversifying and experiencing strong growth with key sectors driving this change, including Knowledge Services, Advanced Manufacturing and Defence. Wollongong also boasts a number of business advantages including a highly skilled workforce, high staff retention rates and competitive business costs. A recent report by Deloitte found that in relation to the Shared Services sector in Wollongong, salary costs are 85% of Sydney costs, rental costs are 50% of Sydney CBD costs and staff retention rates are 95% compared to 75% in Sydney. The University of Wollongong continues to expand and grow, with 32,953 enrolled students studying at 10 locations in 6 countries across the world. The University is rated in the top 1% for graduates as rated by global employers and the top 2% of world universities. The University is also home to the Innovation Campus and the new $16.5 million iaccelerate Centre, which together make up an innovation precinct with strong links between research and industry, helping to create new opportunities for jobs and growth. I encourage you all to take a look at what Wollongong has to offer and what it can do for your business. Wollongong City Lord Mayor Cr Gordon Bradbery OAM Australia Canberra Sydney Wollongong Australia s most connected regional city: Sydney International Airport Distance 80kms, 1hr by road Port Kembla Harbour Distance 5kms, 5mins by road Canberra Distance 240kms, 2.5hrs by road

3 Economy $12.3B GROSS REGIONAL PRODUCT POPULATION 211,201 FORECAST TO INCREASE BY OVER 20% BY 2036 $1.3B CITY CENTRE INVESTMENT IN THE PAST 4 YEARS $300M IN PIPELINE Economy TOP 5 BY INDUSTRY: EMPLOYMENT Connectivity 7.6MW TIER 3 DATA CENTRE NBN LIVE WHICH OFFERS <2 MILLISECOND DATA CONNECTIVITY OUTPUT (GROSS REVENUE) 1 HEALTH 1 MANUFACTURING 2 MANUFACTURING 2 REAL ESTATE 3 EDUCATION 3 CONSTRUCTION 4 RETAIL 4 FINANCE & INSURANCE 5 FOOD & HOTELS 5 MINING Property $730,000 MEDIAN HOUSE VALUE $530,000 MEDIAN UNIT VALUE (CORELOGIC, MAY 2017) HOUSES & UNITS ARE PRICED 35-40% LESS THAN THE GREATER SYDNEY AVERAGE (RESIDEX) Tourism TOURISM CONTRIBUTES $1B MORE THAN TO THE LOCAL ECONOMY OVER 5 MILLION VISITORS ANNUALLY INTERNATIONAL OVERNIGHT VISITORS 45% DOMESTIC DAY TRIP VISITORS 16% 1MILLION DOMESTIC OVERNIGHT VISITORS MAJOR EVENTS CONTRIBUTED $48M ANNUALLY 80,000 SQM OF DA APPROVED OFFICE SPACE IN THE CITY CENTRE Location 80KMS FROM SYDNEY CBD 1HOUR SOUTH OF SYDNEY INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT Recent investments $200M UPGRADE TO WOLLONGONG CENTRAL NEW $120M WOLLONGONG PRIVATE HOSPITAL $134M EXPANSION OF WOLLONGONG HOSPITAL

4 The Wollongong 1 Globally connected 2 Superb liveability Wollongong offers a competitive base for businesses to benefit from access to domestic and global markets. Digital: Most locations in Wollongong offer double and triple fibre redundancy options. To complement the already existing high quality broadband technology, NBN is currently being rolled out across the city. Road: Wollongong is located just one hour south of Sydney International Airport and connected to Sydney by the M1 motorway, as well as being close to the Hume Highway corridor and the proposed Badgery s Creek Airport. Port: Situated just 5km south of Wollongong, Port Kembla is NSW s largest motor vehicle import hub and grain export terminal, and second largest coal export port. Rail: Wollongong is part of the Sydney train network which helps to transport the majority of grain and coal coming into the port. Air: Quick and easy access to Melbourne and Brisbane through daily direct flights offered at the Illawarra Regional Airport. Wollongong provides an enviable coastal lifestyle for people of all ages. Affordable living: Houses and apartments across Wollongong are currently priced around 35-40% less than the Greater Sydney average (Residex). Residential choices range from coastal villages in the north, beachfront apartments in the city centre, spacious family homes in leafy suburbs to rural acreages further south. Coastal lifestyle: Located just south of the Royal National Park, Wollongong s spectacular natural environment includes 17 patrolled beaches framed by the backdrop of the Illawarra escarpment, offering an abundance of recreational activities to enjoy. Bar/café culture: The city has experienced a burst of activity within its bar and café scene with over 65 new venues opening in the past three years. Quality infrastructure: Wollongong offers relatively short journey to work times and reduced costs, while also being well-connected to Sydney. Its quality health infrastructure includes a major teaching hospital and a number of private hospitals.

5 3 City of Innovation 4 Supportive business environment Home to a sophisticated and well developed innovation eco-system that supports industry collaboration and excellence. University of Wollongong: The University of Wollongong has earned a place among the top 20 modern universities in the world through world-class research and teaching, and routinely rates among the top Australian universities in key areas including graduate satisfaction and starting salaries. Consistently ranked in the top 2% of universities worldwide, it is also an international centre of research excellence that ranks in the top 1% for research quality. Innovation Campus: The University of Wollongong s Innovation Campus is an award-winning research, technology and commercial precinct. Set on 33 hectares by the beach, the $600 million site encourages innovative organisations from around the world to co-locate with UOW s leading research institutes, with 1,500 people currently working on the campus. iaccelerate: The iaccelerate Centre, the region s first purpose-built business incubator, provides a permanent home for 280 entrepreneurs across 4,000 square metres. With the aim to foster the next generation of entrepreneurs and grow new businesses, the centre is the first of its kind in Australia, being both a business incubator and accelerator that are connected to a world-class, researchintensive university. Wollongong provides a supportive environment with considerable advantages for businesses located in the area. Competitive costs: With competitive rents and wages compared to Sydney and higher than average staff retention rates, Wollongong provides significant cost savings in an increasingly competitive and global commercial environment. Industry base: A significant strength is the size and diversity of the economy with a number of large national and multi-national companies already part of the business landscape. Supporting these businesses are a range of professional services including leading legal, financial, accounting, human resources, marketing and IT companies. Skills: Wollongong has a large, experienced, multilingual workforce, with skills ranging from traditional manufacturing expertise to high technology and knowledge-based capabilities. Around 20,000 Wollongong residents commute to Sydney each day for work, providing an attractive pool of potential employees for any business operating in the city.

6 Key Industry Wollongong s economy continues to diversify and change. Whilst manufacturing still plays an important role in the local economy, Wollongong has also seen the emergence of key sectors that have helped to diversify the economic landscape. These sectors are attracting increased interest from outside the region and highlight the future direction of the city. Knowledge Services Wollongong has a strong footprint in key sectors including Shared Services, ICT and Financial Services. With over 75 locations employing 5,200 in this sector, Wollongong also boasts some of the lowest staff turnover rates within Australia with retention rates in Wollongong at 95%, compared to 75% in Sydney. Staffing costs are around 15% lower and leasing costs are also significantly less in this sector compared to Sydney. Advanced Manufacturing Advanced Manufacturing is an important growth sector for the local economy with a large number of organisations using advanced methods and technology to compete on both a domestic and global scale. Wollongong manufacturing companies compete locally, nationally and internationally by targeting niches which value high quality, high performance manufactured products. Wollongong is very competitive compared to Sydney, with staff wages around 90% of those in Sydney, Wollongong staff turnover typically 5% or less and industrial rents are typically 30-50% lower than Sydney. Wollongong also boasts a large number of successful companies using advanced methods and technology, including Bluescope, Bisalloy, Prokote, Stolway and Vesuvius. Spotlight Wollongong welcomed NEC, a leading ICT solutions and services firm in NECs new corporate office will create more than 150 new technology jobs for Wollongong. NEC s $40 million investment in the region will support major customers of NEC across the country.

7 Innovation Hub of Wollongong The University of Wollongong produces worldclass graduates, facilitates collaboration between research and business, and fosters new jobs and industries through the region s business incubator and accelerator. University of Wollongong The University of Wollongong is a research intensive university with an outstanding reputation for its learning environments across a broad range of disciplines. The University s commitment to students is evident in its graduates, who are recognised for their capability, quality and success in the global workplace. Locally, the University is a vital part of the Wollongong economy, contributing over $2 billion in gross economic output and providing highly-skilled graduates for local businesses. Innovation Campus The University of Wollongong s Innovation Campus encourages innovative organisations from around the world to co-locate with leading research institutions in a collaborative environment. The Innovation Campus is home to a number of organisations that work alongside research institutes focused on materials, sustainability, health and maritime. iaccelerate iaccelerate is the region s first business incubator and accelerator and has so far supported 57 start-up companies. iaccelerate provides bright minds with the infrastructure, mentoring and education programs to help them succeed. Entrepreneurs are connected to a world-class university, potential investors and high-quality business advisors. University of Wollongong TOP 1 % FOR GRADUATES AS RATED BY GLOBAL EMPLOYERS RATED IN THE TOP 2 % WORLD UNIVERSITIES FIRST IN AUSTRALIA FOR IT LEARNING & TEACHING 270 GLOBAL ACADEMIC & RESEARCH COLLABORATIONS

8 Success Stories GBST GBST provides custom technology solutions to clients across the global financial markets, delivering end-to-end or bespoke solutions to demanding and complex business problems. GBST has offices across 6 countries around the world, with several clients in the UK including HSBC, Citigroup, SwissCanto Funds, Mitsubishi, ITG, Aegon UK and AJ Bell. The Wollongong office holds the intellectual property to its wealth management software Composer, which was initiated and developed in Wollongong. With over 500 staff globally the Wollongong office team continues its development and support of the Composer platform for its worldwide clients of which the UK is the largest market. The Wollongong office also benefits from a low cost-base with access to talented staff through the University of Wollongong. Aceit Aceit is a Wollongong-based supplier of branded uniforms and merchandise to meet work, sport and promotional needs. Supplying a wide range of materials including clothing, promotional items and licensed products, the team at Aceit use high-quality in-house production facilities to service customers around the country and the world. As part of this service, Aceit also provides clients with a seamless online solution where team members and employees can manage their requirements online. Aceit has strong ties to the UK, which include an agreement with Bowls England to supply all of their licensed clothing and merchandise needs, as well as supplying to their international teams including Commonwealth Games and World Championships. KPMG KPMG s Wollongong office is the leading provider of Audit, Tax and Advisory services in the region and the firm and its partners play an active role in the business community. KPMG s Wollongong clients benefit from having accessible, high quality local staff with access to the wide range of experience and specialist knowledge of a global firm. Staff benefit from the lifestyle of a large regional city in a spectacular location combined with the opportunity to work with many of the significant businesses in the region. KPMG works with businesses in all sectors of the market and many ownership structures, with their client base ranging from local and national businesses, subsidiaries of foreign companies, including UK based parents, as well as Australian businesses with overseas operations in England and throughout the world. KPMG has a very successful international secondment program and the Wollongong office has a history of secondments to and from the North of England.

9 We had over 2,000 responses for 100 positions, so we had a really good pool of people to choose from. There was a good balance of senior and junior resources. It was quite easy, it was fantastic. Roger Barlow, NSW State Manager, NEC We are strategically placed, being an hour away from Sydney the transport and logistics are important to us given we have clients all over the country. Anthony Cuoco, Chief Operating Officer, TCS Intell I think it has been financially beneficial, setting up a business in Wollongong, as opposed to Sydney. The personal costs of living here are so much lower, the overheads for the business are a lot lower and our manufacturing set-up is very affordable. Leanne Connelly, Chief Operations Officer and Co-founder, Me3D image: KPMG Wollongong Partners

10 The Wollongong 2017 has seen an increased focus on the property market in Wollongong, following record investment levels of $1.3 billion in the past 4 years and price growth in Sydney forcing investors to seek better yields further south. The spotlight has been across all sectors, with office and industrial property in Wollongong increasingly on the radar for investors and businesses alike. Industrial Market The Wollongong industrial property market is expected to benefit as the Sydney industrial market continues to experience supply side challenges. A recent Colliers International report warns that Sydney could run out of industrial land by Investors and businesses are increasingly looking beyond Sydney. A recent Knight Frank report supports this, stating that investor demand for industrial assets in Wollongong looks to remain strong, primarily driven by the low interest rate environment, improving economic confidence and higher yields when compared to Sydney. Office Market Investors are looking to large regional areas such as Wollongong for their next commercial property acquisition, attracted by the higher yields on offer. A recent Knight Frank report indicates that 59% of businesses operating in the Wollongong CBD require commercial office space, with the top 3 industry sectors being Professional Services (35%), Healthcare (25%) and financial and insurance services (14%). Demand in the Shared Services sector in Wollongong is expected to continue, with recent developments including the opening of the brand new NSW State Emergency Services headquarters, expansion of Stellar Asia Pacific and the sale of an A-grade office building in the heart of the Wollongong CBD achieving a record initial yield of 7.38%.

11 Looking to invest in Wollongong? Advantage Wollongong is a partnership between the NSW Department of Premier and Cabinet, Wollongong City Council and the University of Wollongong. Since 2008 Advantage Wollongong has focused on promoting Wollongong to attract new business, investment and jobs. If you re considering doing business in Wollongong, the Advantage Wollongong team can help. Mark Grimson Economic Development Manager Wollongong City Council Phone mgrimson@wollongong.nsw.gov.au Nigel McKinnon Regional Director Illawarra/South East Office of Regional Development NSW Department of Premier and Cabinet Phone nigel.mckinnon@dpc.nsw.gov.au Canio Fierravanti Director Government Relations University of Wollongong Phone caniof@uow.edu.au Acknowledgements WCC MDP

12 Wollongong? $ An hour south of Sydney International Airport Competitive rents and wages High staff retention rates See why NEC, Mercer and KPMG have chosen the Wollongong advantage: ADVANTAGE WOLLONGONG advantagewollongong.com.au