Cairns: Mount Peter Estate wins top UDIA development award for builder Kenfrost Homes
A Cairns housing development has beaten the $300 million North Queensland Stadium in Townsville to win one of the state’s most prestigious awards for urban design.
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A CAIRNS housing development has beaten the $300m North Queensland Stadium in Townsville to win one of the state’s most prestigious awards for urban design.
The Urban Development Institute of Australia’s Queensland branch gathered the who’s who of the construction industry for its glitzy awards for excellence celebrations in Brisbane.
Kenfrost Homes took home the chief executive’s regional project award for Mount Peter Estate — the first time a top gong has gone to a Cairns builder since Smithfield Village won accolades in 2008.
The firm has also cracked the Housing Industry Association’s list of top 100 builders in Australia for the first time, coming in at 98th on the ladder.
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The list is compiled by volume — with the top companies putting out up to 4000 dwellings per year — and Kenfrost is placed at about 110.
Kenfrost general manager Adam Gowlett said workers should be proud to have their dedication recognised on a statewide scale.
“Being a developer so far away from Brisbane and competing with other developers up and down the coast, we managed to get the nod,” he said.
“We were really proud.”
The firm just completed stage 4 of Mount Peter Estate in the southern growth corridor of Cairns, with sales moving along quickly on the back of a range of construction incentives and rising interest in residential development in Cairns.
“We’ve got people working with council to start bringing on some more elevated lots within the estate,” Mr Gowlett said.
“And we’ve just lodged another application for operational works for stage 5, likely to start just after Christmas.
“That will create another 30 jobs.
“We have something in the order of about 700 lots to go, including community sites, a shopping centre and open space development.”
While some companies are selling out of subdivided land and now selling blocks before groundwork has begun, Kenfrost still has a pipeline of stock at hand.
“We have both Endeavour Estate and Mount Peter, and we’re in the process of building Redlynch Vistas and another stage at Rainforest Edge,” Mr Gowlett said.
“We would have more than 200 people employed at anyone time, including the subbies and suppliers that we have.
“There’s people like truss manufacturers, roofers, suppliers of gyprock and steel.
“That’s all the work that’s required for the building industry.”
Kenfrost is owned by industry veteran John Richardson, who also heads up David McCoy Homes.
Originally published as Cairns: Mount Peter Estate wins top UDIA development award for builder Kenfrost Homes
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