Walker Corporation is an Australian privately-owned property development company. Most notably, Walker Corporation is responsible for the development and restoration of several significant Australian sites, including

King Street Wharf King Street Wharf is a mixed-use tourism, commercial, residential, retail and maritime development on the eastern shore of Darling Harbour, an inlet of Sydney Harbour, Australia. Located on the western side of the city's central business distri ...

Finger Wharf The Finger Wharf is a heritage-listed former wharf and passenger terminal and now marina, residential apartments, hotel and restaurant located at 6 Cowper Wharf Road, in the inner city Sydney suburb of Woolloomooloo, Australia. It was designed ...

Broadway Shopping Centre Broadway Shopping Centre is a shopping centre in Sydney, located in the Broadway locality. It features a 500-seat Food Court and Hoyts 12-screen cinema complex along with major retailers Kmart, Coles, Target, Aldi, Dymocks Booksellers, J ...

, and

Rhodes Waterside Rhodes Waterside (previously known as Rhodes Shopping Centre) is a shopping centre in the suburb of Rhodes in the Inner West of Sydney. Transport The Northern Line offer frequent train services to Rhodes Station which is a short walk from the c ...

shopping centre in Sydney.

History

The company was founded in 1964 by Lang & Alec Walker, initially as an

earthmoving Earthworks are engineering works created through the processing of parts of the earth's surface involving quantities of soil or unformed rock. Shoring structures An incomplete list of possible temporary or permanent geotechnical shoring structu ...

and

civil engineering Civil engineering is a professional engineering discipline that deals with the design, construction, and maintenance of the physical and naturally built environment, including public works such as roads, bridges, canals, dams, airports, sewa ...

business until 1972 when Lang Walker formed The Walker Group and expanded into

property development Real estate development, or property development, is a business process, encompassing activities that range from the renovation and re- lease of existing buildings to the purchase of raw land and the sale of developed land or parcels to othe ...

. Walker Corporation joined the

Australian Securities Exchange Australian Securities Exchange Ltd or ASX, is an Australian public company that operates Australia's primary securities exchange, the Australian Securities Exchange (sometimes referred to outside of Australia as, or confused within Australia a ...

in 1994. In 1999, Lang Walker sold his shares in Walker Corporation Ltd to Australand Holdings Limited (now

Frasers Property Frasers Property is a Singaporean multinational real estate and property management company that develops, owns, and manages properties across the globe. It owns and manages properties in the commercial, residential, hospitality, retail, and indu ...

), reserving the right to reuse the Walker Corporation name after January 2003. Lang Walker exercised that right in 2003, renaming McRoss Developments Pty Ltd to Walker Corporation. In 2006, Walker Corporation sold over A$1.1 billion worth of assets to

Mirvac Mirvac is an Australian property group with operations across property investment Real estate investing involves the purchase, management and sale or rental of real estate for profit. Someone who actively or passively invests in real estate i ...

, retaining their industrial and some of their commercial & retail interests. In 2011 Walker Corporation began development of Collins Square, then the largest commercial mixed-use development in Australia, with construction completed in 2019. In 2014 Walker Corporation was selected by the

Queensland Government The Queensland Government is the democratic administrative authority of the Australian state of Queensland. The Government of Queensland, a parliamentary constitutional monarchy was formed in 1859 as prescribed in its Constitution, as amended f ...

Redland City Redland City, better known as the Redlands and formerly known as Redland Shire, is a Local government in Australia, local government area and a part of the Brisbane metropolitan area in South East Queensland. With a population of 156,863 in Jun ...

Council as the preferred partner to redevelop

Toondah Harbour Toondah Harbour is a boat harbour at Cleveland, Queensland, Cleveland in Redland City, Queensland, Australia. It is in southern Moreton Bay. It is the location of the Stradbroke Island Ferry Terminal used by water taxis and vehicular ferries to ...

, a 67-

hectare The hectare (; SI symbol: ha) is a non-SI metric unit of area equal to a square with 100- metre sides (1 hm2), or 10,000 m2, and is primarily used in the measurement of land. There are 100 hectares in one square kilometre. An acre is ...

site which the government had declared a Priority Development Area located in Redland City,

Queensland ) , nickname = Sunshine State , image_map = Queensland in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of Queensland in Australia , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , established_ ...

. The project has been a source of controversy, with parts of the proposed development area covering a

Ramsar site A Ramsar site is a wetland site designated to be of international importance under the Ramsar Convention,8 ha (O) *** Permanent 8 ha (P) *** Seasonal Intermittent < 8 ha(Ts) ** Minister for the Environment and Energy The Australian Minister for the Environment and Water is a position which is currently held by Tanya Plibersek in the Albanese ministry since 1 June 2022, following the Australian federal election in 2022. In the Government of Australia, th ...

Josh Frydenberg Joshua Anthony Frydenberg () (born 17 July 1971) is an Australian former politician who served as the treasurer of Australia and deputy leader of the Liberal Party from 2018 to 2022. He also served as a member of parliament (MP) for the divi ...

to lobby for boundary changes to reduce the size of the Ramsar site, described by the company as a matter of “urgent national interest.” The company released revised plans in 2018, reducing the proposed

land reclamation Land reclamation, usually known as reclamation, and also known as land fill (not to be confused with a waste landfill), is the process of creating new land from oceans, seas, riverbeds or lake beds. The land reclaimed is known as reclam ...

area by 12 hectares and reducing the impact on neighbouring Cassim Island. In 2022 the company released the project’s Environmental Impact Statement, which will be examined by the Government following public consultation. In 2015 Walker Corporation released plans for their largest international development Senibong Cove, a 16-hectare development located in Johor Bahru,

Malaysia Malaysia ( ; ) is a country in Southeast Asia. The federation, federal constitutional monarchy consists of States and federal territories of Malaysia, thirteen states and three federal territories, separated by the South China Sea into two r ...

. In 2016 the company's plans for a redevelopment of

Adelaide Adelaide ( ) is the list of Australian capital cities, capital city of South Australia, the state's largest city and the list of cities in Australia by population, fifth-most populous city in Australia. "Adelaide" may refer to either Greater A ...

's Festival Plaza were approved by the state's

Development Assessment Commission Development or developing may refer to: Arts *Development hell, when a project is stuck in development * Filmmaking, development phase, including finance and budgeting * Development (music), the process thematic material is reshaped * Photogra ...

, with revised plans including expansions to the retail component approved in late 2020. The company is currently developing over A$30 billion worth of projects across Australia and Malaysia.

Current projects

* Collins Square: Australia’s largest commercial mixed-use development when completed in 2018, occupying a full

Melbourne CBD The Melbourne central business district (also known colloquially as simply "The City" or "The CBD") is the city centre and main urban area of the city of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, centred on the Hoddle Grid, the oldest part of the city l ...

block. * Parramatta Square: A $3.2 billion project on a 3-hectare site in

Parramatta Parramatta () is a suburb and major Central business district, commercial centre in Greater Western Sydney, located in the state of New South Wales, Australia. It is located approximately west of the Sydney central business district on the ban ...

New South Wales ) , nickname = , image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , es ...

, consisting of 4 commercial towers, a retail district, and public spaces. * Riverlea: The largest residential development in

South Australia South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a state in the southern central part of Australia. It covers some of the most arid parts of the country. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest of Australia's states and territories ...

’s history, comprising approximately 12,000 homes and expected to take over two decades to complete. * Maroochydore City Centre: Australia’s largest

greenfield Greenfield or Greenfields may refer to: Engineering and Business * Greenfield agreement, an employment agreement for a new organisation * Greenfield investment, the investment in a structure in an area where no previous facilities exist * Greenf ...

CBD located in

Maroochydore Maroochydore ( ) is a coastal town in the Sunshine Coast Region, Queensland, Australia. The town was subdivided from the Cotton Tree reserve by Surveyor Thomas O'Connor in 1903. The land was acquired from William Pettigrew who had a timber de ...

, estimated to take 15-20 years to complete. * Festival Tower: A $1 billion commercial & retail development and

public square A town square (or square, plaza, public square, city square, urban square, or ''piazza'') is an open public space, commonly found in the heart of a traditional town but not necessarily a true geometric square, used for community gatherings. ...

in the

Adelaide CBD Adelaide city centre (Kaurna language, Kaurna: Tarndanya) is the inner city locality of Adelaide, Greater Adelaide, the capital city of South Australia. It is known by locals simply as "the City" or "Town" to distinguish it from Greater Adelaid ...

, expected to be completed in late 2023. * Senibong Cove: A jointly-developed Malaysian

masterplanned A planned community, planned city, planned town, or planned settlement is any community that was carefully planned from its inception and is typically constructed on previously undeveloped land. This contrasts with settlements that evolve ...

precinct in close proximity to the Johor-Singapore Causeway, containing over 8,000 homes, a 100-berth

marina A marina (from Spanish language, Spanish , Portuguese language, Portuguese and Italian language, Italian : ''marina'', "coast" or "shore") is a Dock (maritime), dock or basin with moorings and supplies for yachts and small boats. A marina dif ...

, and a retail precinct built on over 400 hectares of

reclaimed land Land reclamation, usually known as reclamation, and also known as land fill (not to be confused with a waste landfill), is the process of creating new land from oceans, seas, riverbeds or lake beds. The land reclaimed is known as reclamati ...

. Senibong Cove received the South East Asia Property Awards’ ‘Best Villa/Housing Development’ award for multiple consecutive years. * Kokomo Private Island: A six-

star A star is an astronomical object comprising a luminous spheroid of plasma held together by its gravity. The nearest star to Earth is the Sun. Many other stars are visible to the naked eye at night, but their immense distances from Earth make ...

private resort occupying an entire 57-hectare Fijian island, comprising 21 villas and five residences. * Main Drive Kew: A $400 million residential development on the former Kew Cottages site in the leafy Melbourne suburb of

Kew Kew () is a district in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames. Its population at the 2011 census was 11,436. Kew is the location of the Royal Botanic Gardens ("Kew Gardens"), now a World Heritage Site, which includes Kew Palace. Kew is a ...

. The project is a joint venture between Walker Corporation and the Victorian Government and has been the subject of several accolades, controversies, allegations, and legal disputes. Construction of stage 1 was completed in 2008 and was followed by several disputes between purchasers, consultants, and developers. The final stage was completed in 2014.

References

External links

* {{official website, https://www.walkercorp.com.au/ Companies based in Sydney Real estate companies established in 1972 Property management companies Real estate companies of Australia Australian companies established in 1972