Richest 250 2021: Property king Lang Walker “can’t handle people using COVID as an excuse”

Billionaire property developer and Richest 250 lister Lang Walker ‘can’t handle people using COVID as an excuse.’

 

Billionaire property developer Lang Walker has a message for people who are worried about what to do as a result of the pandemic: get on with it.

Walker, 75, who has seen many ups and downs in the property cycle in Australia during his years in business, says while no one could have foreseen the COVID-19 pandemic, he believes “crises seem to happen every 10 years”.

He is of a firm belief there will always be major, often unforeseen, events, usually every decade or so, and inevitably they will need to be dealt with. Sydney-based Walker is a prominent member of The List — Australia’s Richest 250. The 2021 edition will be published in a special issue in The Weekend Australian next Saturday, March 21.

Like many members of The List, Walker watched markets crumble a year ago when in mid-March the COVID-19 pandemic intensified.

The value of shares on bourses around the world plunged. Office workers decamped en masse and would spend the best part of the next 12 months working from home.

But his property giant Walker Corporation has pressed on with building the biggest commercial property project in Australia: the $3.2bn Parramatta Square development that he believes will be a second Sydney CBD, one day accommodating more than 30,000 workers.

Walker says he is getting on with things and dealing with COVID-19 like any other unforeseen event: by working even ­harder.

“I am a very positive person. I can’t handle people using COVID as an excuse,” Walker says in an extended interview in The List.

Walker has taken on several big, difficult projects around the country, and his property industry contributes the most members to The List.

E-commerce guru Ruslan Kogan debuts on The List this year and is featured in today’s edition of The Weekend Australian Magazine.

COVID-19 accelerated the shift of buyers online and there are now more technology magnates on The List than ever, but Kogan said his business was ready.

“For us it has been a case of preparation meets opportunity,” he said.

“Our business was preparing for a time when e-commerce was going to be far more significant.”

Walker, meanwhile, is confident office workers will eventually return to their desks when the pandemic subsides. He is betting centres like Parramatta will be a more attractive and shorter commute for nearby employees who would previously travel to the city for work.

Walker also is planning for the workplace of the future to look different. No more stacking desks closely together. Think “innovation hubs” where people meet and exchange ideas.

“We might break up [office blocks] into villages of three stories that can be designed by the tenants. You have to be looking out to the future.”

The full 2021 edition of The List — Australia’s Richest 250 is published in The Weekend Australian on Saturday, March 21.