Leading questions: Helen O'Sullivan

Helen O'Sullivan of Ockham Residential.

Helen O'Sullivan, chief executive of Ockham Residential, gives her take on the year ahead.

What is 2017 looking like for your business?
2017 will be a year of handing out the keys to new homes for us - we will complete Hypatia in Newmarket, Daisy in Mt Eden and Set in Avondale in the next 12 months. That's 165 new dwellings, all in Special Housing Areas. Construction will continue at Bernoulli Gardens in Hobsonville and we have one new project lined up on which we will break ground on around mid-year. We have a couple more potential projects where discussions are at an advanced stage, so it's going to be another big year for Ockham Residential.

How does that compare with 2016? How did last year shape up for you and your staff?
2016 has been a year of starting things - we broke ground on Daisy, Set and Bernoulli Gardens in Hobsonville, while work continued on Hypatia. Our team at the end of 2016 is also a lot larger than it was at the start of the year - we've added capacity in architecture, finance, administration, sales, project management & construction. The passage of the Auckland Unitary Plan into which we've had a lot of input was a huge milestone during the year, and the result of a massive effort on the part of Auckland Council and others over the past five years. So 2016 was a pretty big year as well.

What are the issues affecting your industry and what impact are these likely to have over the next 12 months?
Capacity is the biggie, across the board - consultants, council, and constructors are all bursting at the seams with work. It's a high class problem, but it is a problem. There are also huge opportunities to use that pressure as a catalyst to improve productivity, and it's something we're focusing a lot of resource in our own business over the coming year.

Going into an election year, what are the three biggest issues the Government needs to solve?
Government can't solve the big issues on its own - business and the community need to play their part as well. Government - and by that I mean both local and central government - do have a key leadership role though in setting out the strategy, and providing the settings, resources and co-ordination that both enables and encourages businesses and the community to work together effectively to deliver on the strategy. Sometimes there are necessary resources that have to be delivered directly by Government, often in the form of redistributing taxpayer money to unlock key projects - the Auckland CRL [city rail link] is a classic example of that. Their role can also be in recognising roadblocks or inappropriate signals which only Government has the ability to address, and taking short, medium and long term actions to tackle those issues.

So in that context, the two areas where there is more work to be done in addition to what is already underway include affordable housing - in Auckland and elsewhere - and Auckland transport issues. My third item is really an opportunity - and it's applying the social investment philosophy to both of those issues. Lack of access to stable affordable housing in places where transport allows you to easily access essential facilities (schooling, employment, and leisure) has knock on effects in terms of poor educational outcomes, leading to reduced opportunities and ingrained inequality. There's a huge opportunity when the New Zealand economy is doing well to apply the social investment approach to those issues, and finally get ahead of some previously intractable issues in our community.

What role does the business community have in tackling these problems?
A huge role. It's up to us as the business community to respond to the opportunities that changing regulatory settings open up - such as the Unitary Plan - in a socially responsible way. We also have a responsibility to act sustainably because it's good for the community which makes it possible for us as businesses to generate profit & and employment.