Community property developer brings on new marketing and partnerships lead

Property developer and community management company, Assemble Communities, has brought on a marketing chief as part of a succession of management appointments aimed at driving rapid growth of its affordable housing offering.

Former Satterley Group marketing and sales manager, Rebecca Shackleton, has joined Assemble as director of relationships and marketing as one of its latest recruits. She brings with her nearly eight years’ experience at Satterley, as well as nearly seven years in community and retail marketing at Stockland.

She’s joined by Maggie McKeand, who’s taken up the community engagement and partnerships manager reins, as well as Andy Fergus, who has been recruited as head of urban design. Ingrid Langtry has also joined in the newly created role of place, retail and experience manager, while Simon Denny has taken up the senior development manager’s post.

Assemble said it has brought on 15 employees since March 2020, despite the COVID-19 pandemic and lockdown, bringing its total headcount to 36. Other roles cover partnerships, finance, operations and publishing. It’s also recently brought on former Hesta board chair, Angela Emslie, as independent chairperson.

Assemble was established in 2010 and is focused on delivering affordable housing options through its own Assemble model as well as build-to-rent projects. Its housing portfolio is valued at $3 billion and encompasses 4500 dwellings across 10 sites in Victoria. The appointments are a direct response to Assemble’s privately funded mixed-income rental housing portfolio, which the company claims is the largest in Australia.

Shackleton told CMO Assemble appealed because it is doing things differently in an emerging part of the property market. “There is a clear focus on quality, design, and community – the Assemble approach is vastly different from other developers that I have been involved with,” she said.

“Once I started to interrogate the opportunity, it was clear that there was a strong alignment of values, which was important to me - as is working for an ethical developer, who put people first.”

Shackleton said the opportunity to scale the business is immense. “I am excited to be leading the relationships and marketing team to ensure that through the growth of the business, the communication of what we do, and the quality of the product we’re delivering, is clear and concise,” she said.   

“I am looking forward to working with different segments of the market to understand what drives and motivates them, then building integrated campaigns that will create strong appeal for the Assemble projects.”

Assemble MD, Kris Daff, said the need for affordable housing, delivered via the build to rent asset class as well as effective partnerships, is more critical than ever.

“We are primed to take on key development opportunities within affordable and social housing, and our team will continue to scale to deliver our significant project pipeline,” he said. “The talent and diversity in the team sets us apart in the build to rent space. We have the expertise to deliver resident-centric, community minded housing that responds to the significant societal issue of housing affordability and security.”

Daff also flagged plans to explore new site opportunities, including those outside of its home state of Victoria.

Follow CMO on Twitter: @CMOAustralia, take part in the CMO conversation on LinkedIn: CMO ANZ, follow our regular updates via CMO Australia's Linkedin company page, or join us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CMOAustralia.