A Magnet for Talent & New Economy Businesses
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a magnet for talent & new economy businesses ADVANTAGE Investor Prospectus WOLLONGONG advantagewollongong.com.au from Advantage Wollongong Wollongong is a magnet for talent and new economy Wollongong is home to the University of Wollongong – ranking among the top 2% of universities in the world with an enviable businesses. Home to a world-class university, record in teaching and research. UOW has over 34,000 students, a highly skilled workforce and a growing hub of more than 2,400 staff and contributes around $2B to the region businesses with global reach, Wollongong provides annually. In 2017, UOW produced over 3,000 graduates including a supportive environment for businesses looking for 1,826 undergraduates and 1,188 postgraduates. UOW is also home to the Innovation Campus and the new $18M iAccelerate their next location. Centre, which together make up an innovation precinct with Wollongong’s cosmopolitan CBD is the regional capital, home strong links between research and industry, helping to create new to over 25,000 jobs with 20% jobs growth since 2011. It has seen opportunities for jobs and growth. $1.3B in investment in recent years, with a further $600M in the Take a look through the Advantage Wollongong Investor pipeline. Major investments have included the $268M upgrade to Prospectus to learn more about the City’s reinvention and what Wollongong Central by the GPT Group; the new $120M Wollongong Wollongong can offer you and your business. Private Hospital, operated by Ramsey Health Care; and the $134M expansion of the Wollongong Public Hospital. There is currently Gareth Ward MP 70,000 sqm of DA approved commercial space in the CBD. The Parliamentary Secretary for the Illawarra and South Coast four largest office developments representing over 30,000 sqm in Cr Gordon Bradbery AM A-grade office space, could come on line within the next 24 months. Wollongong City Lord Mayor The CBD has seen a dramatic increase in demand for inner city Professor Paul Wellings CBE living, with close to 1,500 dwellings forecast to be delivered Vice-Chancellor between 2016 -2021, increasing the population by around 80%. University of Wollongong The CBD has experienced a cultural renaissance with over 80 new cafes and small bars since 2012. It has a strong evening economy, attracting people to visit, socialise, eat and listen to live music. Australia’s most Australia connected regional city: Sydney Sydney International Airport Distance 80kms, 1hr by road Port Kembla Harbour Wollongong Distance 5kms, 5mins by road Canberra Canberra Distance 240kms, 2.5hrs by road cover image Above Down Under Economy $13.4B GROSS REGIONAL PRODUCT (WOLLONGONG) Lifestyle Wollongong CBD Talent 60%OF THE ILLAWARRA $1.3B ECONOMY 83,000+ INVESTMENT 80+NEW CAFES & IN RECENT SMALL BARS POPULATION JOBS YEARS 213,841 IN WOLLONGONG LGA $600M IN PIPELINE 25,000+ REGIONS 3,000+UOW GRADUATES PATROLLED17 UNEMPLOYMENT EACH YEAR JOBS BEACHES RATE 4.5% 23,000+ COMMUTER POOL JOBS20% GROWTH INCLUDING 9,000 Property MANAGERS & SINCE 2011 HOUSES PROFESSIONALS TO ARE PRICED GREATER SYDNEY 70,000 SQM $739,000 DA APPROVED MEDIAN HOUSE VALUE WOLLONGONG STAFF COMMERCIAL SPACE TURNOVER RATE 33% NEW A-GRADE $572,500 CHEAPER OFFICE SUPPLY MEDIAN UNIT VALUE <50% (DOMAIN, SEPTEMBER 2018) THAN SYDNEY NATIONAL AVERAGE BY 2020 The Wollongong 1 Globally connected 2 Superb liveability Wollongong offers a competitive base for Wollongong provides an enviable coastal businesses to benefit from access to domestic lifestyle for people of all ages. and global markets. Affordable living: Houses in Wollongong are currently Digital: Most locations in Wollongong offer double and priced around 33% less than Sydney. Residential choices triple fibre redundancy options. To complement the already range from coastal villages in the north, beachfront existing high quality broadband technology, the Wollongong apartments in the city centre, spacious family homes in CBD was an early rollout site for the NBN. leafy suburbs to rural acreages further south. Road: Wollongong is located just one hour south of Coastal lifestyle: Located just south of the Royal Sydney International Airport and connected to Sydney National Park, Wollongong’s spectacular natural by the M1 motorway, as well as being close to the Hume environment includes 17 patrolled beaches framed by the Highway corridor and the proposed Western Sydney backdrop of the Illawarra escarpment. Airport. Bar/café culture: The city has experienced a burst Port: Situated just 5km south of Wollongong, Port Kembla of activity within its bar and café scene with over 80 new is NSW’s largest motor vehicle import hub and grain export venues opening since 2012. terminal, and second largest coal export port. Quality infrastructure: Wollongong offers relatively Rail: Wollongong is part of the Sydney train network which short journey to work times and reduced costs, while helps to transport the majority of grain and coal coming also being well-connected to Sydney. Its quality health into the port. infrastructure includes a major teaching hospital and a number of private hospitals. Air: Quick and easy access to Melbourne and Brisbane through direct daily flights offered at the Illawarra Regional Airport. 3 City of Innovation 4 Supportive business environment Home to a sophisticated and well developed Wollongong provides a supportive environment innovation eco-system that supports industry with considerable advantages for businesses collaboration and excellence. located in the area. University of Wollongong: The University of Competitive costs: With competitive rents and Wollongong has earned a place among the top 20 modern wages compared to Sydney and higher than average universities in the world through world-class research and staff retention rates, Wollongong provides significant teaching. Consistently ranked in the top 2% of universities cost savings in an increasingly competitive and global worldwide, it is also an international centre of research commercial environment. excellence that ranks in the top 1% for research quality. Industry base: A significant strength is the size Innovation Campus: The University of Wollongong’s and diversity of the economy with a number of large Innovation Campus is an award-winning research, national and multi-national companies already part of technology and commercial precinct. Set on 33 hectares the business landscape. Supporting these businesses are by the beach, the $600 million site encourages innovative a range of professional services including leading legal, organisations from around the world to co-locate with UOW’s financial, accounting, human resources, marketing and IT leading research institutes, with 1,500 people currently companies. working on the campus. Skills: Wollongong has a highly skilled, multilingual iAccelerate: The iAccelerate Centre, the region’s first workforce. Around 23,000 Illawarra residents commute to purpose-built business incubator, provides a permanent Greater Sydney each day for work, providing an attractive home for 280 entrepreneurs across 4,000 square metres. pool of potential employees for any business operating in With the aim to foster the next generation of entrepreneurs the city. 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, research- intensive university. Success Stories Twinkl Australia was seeking a location with strong infrastructure Twinkl Australia links, access to Sydney and Canberra and to international air terminals. “We found the Innovation Campus and were instantly With increasing demand from its global customers attracted to the concept,” Mr Seaton said. “Somewhere where and a wish to provide world-class 24-hour service, companies could work together, connect with each other, work in business networks and really thrive and benefit from being together UK-based publisher Twinkl found a picture-book in a single space.” setting in Wollongong. The reputation of the University of Wollongong (UOW) was another Twinkl Australia Chief Information Security Officer Jez Seaton said influencing factor. “UOW is highly regarded, especially in the the educational publisher had conducted an extensive location areas of technology and education and that’s important for us as search and found that Wollongong had all the essential criteria for an ed-tech business.” He said staff wellbeing was an important its service operation. “When we were looking to set up an office in consideration for Twinkl Australia and Wollongong had many Australia, we looked for somewhere that reflected what had made lifestyle benefits. “We love that you have everything you need from Twinkl Educational Publishing so successful in the UK,” Mr Seaton bushwalking up in the escarpment to surfing at the beach. Team said. “We were looking for a location that reflected creativity and wellbeing is really important to us.” innovation and Wollongong as a wider area was a strong fit for us.” Twinkl Australia country manager Laura Baron said in the first six Strong business networks and support from regional and local months, the company had grown to 12 people with plans to continue government helped clear the path. “There are strong business expanding its service offering. She said UOW provided a ready networks in Wollongong,” Mr Seaton said. “We have found great supply of staff. “For example, 80 percent of our graphic designers support from local businesses looking to synergise and also are University of Wollongong graduates.” support from local services looking to link us in to those networks to improve what we can do as a company here.” Ms Baron said Twinkl Australia would continue to seek innovative ways “to provide world-class customer service and to ultimately help those who teach here”. image: Twinkl Australia Easy Agile Easy Agile is a Wollongong based software company, Wollongong has provided NEC with the opportunity to develop strong links with the local and business community. Being located founded by two former Atlassian employees - Nicholas in Wollongong also providing staff with access to greater work-life Muldoon and David Elkan.