Japanese developer launches Queensland homebuilder

Japan-headquartered developer Sekisui House has launched a new homebuilding brand in Australia, targeting first homebuyers and downsizers in the Queensland growth corridor of Ripley.

Sekisui recently announced the launch of Shavida, a dedicated homebuilding brand to complement its land development activities at Ripley.

The developer’s current Australian pipeline is valued at more than $18.5 billion, with around $4 billion committed to Queensland land estates.

Sekisui House Australia chief executive Hide Seguchi said the Ripley Priority Development Area was the ideal location for the launch of the new housing brand.

“As one of the largest PDAs in Australia, Ripley is primed for investment and is set to make way for more than 50,000 dwellings to meet the region’s population projections,” Mr Seguchi said.

Shavida’s initial focus, according to Sekisui House project director Taku Hashimoto, will be on first-homebuyers and downsizers in the Ripley region.

Mr Hashimoto said Shavida had recently launched a display village at Ripley, creating four homes on 300 square metre lots to demonstrate the developer-builder’s capabilities of creating smaller, yet still spacious dwellings.

“Our focus is on a lifestyle approach rather than the product,” Mr Hashimoto said.

“Sekisui House has built more than 2.5 million houses in the world, and we have 30 years of research and data in there which we can use to guide our floorspace efficiencies, all of the little details that can be adapted into the Australian markets.

“Everything has been calculated, every door area, window location, how big the windows should be, how the ventilation in the rooms is going to be more effective from an air quality point of view, how the sun is coming into the rooms to make a smaller room look bigger and lighter and what kind of colours that we use to provide lighter space in a smaller space - everything has been calculated.

“That’s the detail of the 30 years that has been adopted into our designs. It is very hard to see from day one but people build awareness, especially when people start living in the house, they start to understand the detail and appreciate that detail.”

Mr Hashimoto said sustainable building through design was also a key differentiator for Shavida.

“In Japan, 80 per cent of our products are net zero energy houses, and wwe will try to get towards that net zero area in the future, that’s what our target is,” he said.

“Aesthetically, we are trying to use an approach of utilising design that will be more attractive, for example we are using cladding systems so buyers don’t have to paint for the long-term.

“Durability is number one, to make sure that the house lasts for a long time, and also we want to future proof it from a design point of view.”

Shavida is Sekisui House’s second Australian homebuilding brand, following the introduction of its premium Shawood brand in Sydney in 2012.

Sekisui House was established in Australia in 2009, and in 2019 marked a milestone of delivering more than 11,000 properties at its Australian land estates.