Best of the West: Lang Walker’s plan for Appin Valley home development

Lang Walker, the founder of Walker Corporation, one of the biggest developers in south west Sydney, is set to transform the town of Appin into an ideal city for families.

Imagine being able to plan your ideal city – great schools, wide roads, bushwalks, sustainability, lovely homes and a community.

“I love the challenge,” said Walker Corporation founder and chairman Lang Walker, who is about to do exactly that on a giant greenfield site at Appin in Sydney’s south west.

But the potential to stuff it up and make the lives of 50,000 future residents miserable is immense.

“It’s our job to make sure we do well,” Mr Walker, 75 said. “We are going to be there on the first block and right through to the last block. That’s what placemaking is all about.”

Since he started the company in 1972 with his father Alec, Mr Walker has been busy developing “places” – often where others only saw challenges.

Lang Walker is building the tallest building in Parramatta, part of a huge redevelopment of the city centre. Picture: Jonathan Ng

“The Rhodes peninsular was one of the most polluted sites in Australia,” Mr Walker said. “Everyone thought I was nuts for doing that but look at it now.”

He took on the redevelopment of the finger wharf at Woolloomooloo when others had struggled and brought in a mix of restaurants, hotels and accommodation that has kept residents such as Oscar winner Russell Crowe content for years.

And he has powered through the $2.7 billion renewal of Parramatta Square to turn it into Sydney’s second city centre with almost 300,000 square metres of commercial and retail space and world class restaurants.

His investment into Western Sydney has also been acknowledged with Western Sydney University’s new Medical Research Centre in Macarthur being named after him.

With that track record and his proven eye for placemaking, no one is saying he is nuts for getting excited about Appin.

Artist impression site at Appin in Sydney’s south west.

“We have got so many opportunities to make this the best placed community in Sydney,” he said. “My vision for what I can create in Appin is centred around a community which has it all.”

That means family homes among rolling green hills, state-of-the-art schools, quality retail and bush walks through nearby gorges.

Mr Walker believes Sydney’s population will hit 10 million by 2050.

“There is no doubt southwest Sydney will absorb a majority of Western Sydney’s growth going forward,” he said.

Placemaking is about being in the right place. Appin is 15 minutes from the centre of Campbelltown and connected to the infrastructure linking it to the new Western Sydney Airport. It is less than half an hour by car to the beaches of the Illawarra.

“People are looking for beautiful places to grow their families and Appin is where I think Walker can make its greatest place so far,” he said.