Who got that job?

By KAREN GOA

Were you one of the 22 people who applied for this job and wondered who got it?

Connal Townsend National Director,

Property Council of New Zealand


Connal Townsend, 49, sees his role as a "two-way pipeline" for feedback from central and regional governments and people with an interest in property. "My job is to ensure that we all have a clear vision of the big picture in terms of urban strategy."

The not-for-profit Property Council is a trade association for its 500-plus membership of institutional and private investors, property trusts, asset managers and professionals and trade suppliers.

"Understanding how government works is good preparation for work in a trade association," says Townsend.

He was "swept up into the public service" as a junior research officer in Sir Robert Muldoon's government after graduating from Canterbury University with an honours masters degree in political science and history.

After nearly a decade in government he had a "commercial hankering and leapt to a commercial role" as internal audit manager for Coal Corporation of New Zealand Ltd.

This was followed by strategic change and operational management consultancies for Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu, the Wessex Group, and New Zealand Association of Credit Unions.

His first exposure to the property industry came as a regional manager (Northwest) for Housing New Zealand in the early 1990s where he had direct control over 20 per cent of New Zealand's state housing stocks and associated tenancy services.

Although members "sometimes get grumpy about rates or bylaws", Townsend does not see politicians and commercial property investors as being poles apart.

"There's a huge degree of meeting of minds," he says.

He believes Wellington is an example of a visionary city with a good grasp of where it's going with its waterfront redevelopment.

"People like you and me are often the investors - property is part of our retirement fund," he points out.

"A healthy, prosperous building environment with good buildings and strategic urban planning means happy people and investors."