What does 40 years of estate development experience look like?
Corporate News
What does 40 years of estate development experience look like?News
Satterley has a long history of creating some of the most beautiful residential communities in Australia. This year marks an important milestone, as the company celebrates 40 years in business, which all began with one person, Mr Nigel Satterley AM.
From humble beginnings in 1980, Satterley has grown to become Australia’s largest private residential land developer.
Chief Executive Nigel Satterley said that Satterley’s 40-year milestone was a great opportunity to celebrate its achievements.
“The Satterley company was built on the foundations of trust and delivering quality, and it is still the case 40 years on.
“Building a new home is one of the largest investments most families will ever make in their lifetime.
“In the past 40 years people have trusted us to make their dream of home ownership a reality, for which I am immensely grateful and proud,” said Mr Satterley.
Satterley has been involved in delivering 175 communities in Western Australia, Victoria and South East Queensland, and has won more than 100 prestigious industry awards in areas from urban design to environmental excellence.
Mr Satterley has never shied away from hard work, and after all these years he still is very much hands-on as the chief executive. You’ll often see him out and about visiting his estates on weekends, chatting to residents and buyers.
More than a developer, Satterley has dedicated the past 40 years to helping communities to thrive through community sponsorship and programs, events and activities, and charity endeavours, from donating land to raising money for a good cause.
The man behind the company
Nigel Satterley spent much of his early childhood growing up in the small country town of Cunderdin in Western Australia’s wheatbelt, and later attended high school at Governor Stirling High School in Woodbridge, Perth. Eager to enter the workforce and finish his studies, Mr Satterley decided it was time to leave school at age 15 and pursued a career as a WA State Representative for Levi Jeans.
Mr Satterley said that he knew from an early age there was a reward for hard work.
“I worked all hours and knew the harder I worked the more money I could earn. Not before long I was the State’s top Levi sales rep, and outsold every other jean retailer,” he said.
Mr Satterley used all his hard-earned savings to buy his first block of land, which became the catalyst for his career in homebuilding and property development.
In the 1970s Mr Satterley started the building company Statesman Homes.
“I used the profit from selling my first block of land, which was $10,000, to start my first business.
“Statesman Homes became one of the leading homebuilders in WA, and at one stage we were building up to 650 homes a year,” said Mr Satterley.
During this time, he was fortunate to meet prominent businessman and owner of Town and Country Building Society, Sir James McCusker, who advised him to move in to property development. He became his lifelong mentor and friend, along with his son the Hon. Malcolm McCusker AC CVO QC, the former Governor of Western Australia.
Mr Satterley later sold Statesman Homes to move into residential property development, and he founded Satterley.
From Mr Satterley’s humble beginnings, his tenacity and hard work paid off. Today, he is a prominent businessman, sought-after expert on Australian residential housing markets and cycles, and has advisory roles to the Australian Federal Government and is a prominent businessman.
Award-winning communities
In the 1980s Satterley pioneered a new strategy of masterplanned communities in Australia. Masterplanned communities combined education, shopping, recreation and amenities amongst housing, parks and playgrounds, all in the one location.
Mr Satterley said that in the past 40 years he had seen technological advancements and innovations, but the principles of good design had remained the same.
“We still use this concept today in our greenfield developments. Some great examples of these include Botanical and Upper Point Cook estates in Melbourne, Heron Park and Eden Beach in Perth, and Ripley Valley and Ridgeview in Brisbane,” he said.
As Satterley has grown, it has expanded to other types of residential development including turn-key apartments and townhouses and urban renewal projects. One of the most significant projects ever undertaken was in partnership with the WA State Government on one of Australia’s longest running urban renewal programs spanning more than 18 years, called the New North. This project gave tired homes and streetscapes in low socioeconomic suburbs a facelift, which greatly improved living standards to the lives of thousands of people.
To this day, Satterley prides itself on delivering some of Australia’s most beautiful communities, and is renowned for its wonderful parks, playgrounds, and landscaping, many of which have won awards for their design and innovation.
“People want more than just a home to live in; they want to enjoy a certain lifestyle that allows them to feel safe in a connected community, whether that’s being able to walk to the beach, walk the children to school or live amongst beautiful parks,” said Mr Satterley.
Its people
Satterley has a highly skilled team across Australia who go to great lengths to ensure the company delivers on its promise to design communities that meet the needs of people now and into the future. However, there are more to communities than building roads, parks and houses. That is why Satterley was one of the first, and remains one of the few, residential developers in Australia to have an in-house Community Development team.
Mr Satterley said that building the blocks and roads was the easy part but creating that real sense of community was something that took time and commitment.
“Our in-house community development teams help families settle into their new lives, provide fantastic events and activities to bring neighbours together,” he said.
“Most importantly, they ensure that once we have finished building the community it continues to flourish by supporting local groups and organisations such as resident groups and sporting clubs,” he added.
Satterley’s in-house community development team organise community events and activities such as movies in the park, fitness classes, gardening workshops, farmer’s and weekend markets, sporting clubs, nature walks, playgroups, walking groups, and free family concerts and events.
Passion for giving back
Satterley has been involved in many charities and initiatives over the past 40 years to help raise funds for people in need. It has donated land to more than 40 charity home auctions including My Room Children’s Cancer, Telethon7 and Maddie Riewoldt’s Vision. Mr Satterley is the Patron of Telethon Speech and Hearing that provides funds for children who are speech and hearing impaired. For six years running Nigel and wife Denise have hosted an exclusive A-lister fashion show and party with 100 per cent of proceeds going to Telethon Speech and Hearing.
“It has been my greatest pleasure to give back to the Australian community,” said Mr Satterley.
“The ethos of Satterley is centred around community, and one of the most important things we can do is give back,” he added.
Satterley has given millions of dollars in the past 40 years that extends beyond charities to arts and culture, medical research and gifting land for new schools.
Looking ahead to the future
Satterley continues to expand and grow in Western Australia, Victoria and South East Queensland.
Mr Satterley believes there are opportunities in every market regardless of where it is in the property cycle.
“I always say, the market never stops. It does go through highs and lows, but it never stops.
“I’ve been through many, many property cycles in the past 40 years, from high interest rates and inflation in the late 80s to the global financial crisis in 2007-2009 and the COVID-19 pandemic of 2020.
“We certainly look at the year 2020 as being a great learning curve and an opportunity to acquire land that will allow us to keep creating communities that more than 250,000 people call home,” he said.
This year Satterley celebrates 40 years in business as Australia’s leading residential land developer.