Street artist Gus Eagleton paints a Mirvac construction site.
Veteran Australian property developers are giving back to their communities through creative partnerships that inspire through words and pictures.
On the banks of the Brisbane River, Frasers Property Australia has teamed up with the Northshore Men’s Shed to build a community library for the 1000 residents of Hamilton Reach in partnership with Bunnings hardware store.
Hamilton Reach resident Lesley Swift donates books to the new Hamilton Reach Community Bookswap Library. Picture: Renae Droop/RDW Photography
While in the heart of the city, Mirvac property group has teamed up with the Brisbane Street Arts Festival to beautify its construction site at 80 Ann St, handing the gantry and timber hoardings over to street artists like aerosol painter Gus Eagleton and graphic artist Tori-Jay Mordey, Ash Taylor and The Zookeeper who have transformed the inner-city construction site.
Street artists working on the Mirvac building site in the city.
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“It’s incredibly powerful giving a public space to an artist to create an artwork,” Brisbane Street Art Festival artistic director and Vast Yonder director Lincoln Savage said.
“It builds a report with the public and makes people feel more comfortable in these spaces. If you look at the construction site pre-artwork, you don’t feel welcome, now you can see as the artwork is coming on it creates a more warm environment. It gives public spaces back to the people who inhabit those spaces.”
Residents at Hamilton Reach have been asked to donate a book to their new book swap library which opened adjacent to the wharf timber sculpture outside Riverlight at 320 MacArthur Ave, Hamilton last week.
For Frasers Property Australia development director, Jamisen Rivera, the project has been about value adding for residents and creating a deeper sense of belonging at a time when localism has seen a resurgence in the wake of the COVID-19 lockdowns.
“The value of what we have created at Hamilton Reach is as much about the truly connected masterplanned community as it is about urban design and diversity of architecture,” Ms Rivera said.
Hamilton Reach community champions Carla Moretti, Marion Allard (Community Development Manager, Frasers Property Australia), John Ryan, Sheila Wyldbore, Roy Olsen, Stefan Chetty, Jacinta Oska, and Bron Kovacs at the launch of the Hamilton Reach Community Bookswap Library. Picture: Renae Droop/RDW Photography.
“The Hamilton Reach Book Swap Library was an initiative of a group of Hamilton Reach residents who took their idea to our dedicated community development manager. We were extremely happy to support the idea and are very proud of the way the community has come together, particularly during the past six months.”
Mirvac, which operates in the retail, residential and commercial construction space, uses public art to differentiate its developments from other builds however this is the first time Mirvac has worked with Vast Yonder and the Brisbane Street Arts Festival on a construction site.
“When you’re buying a property from Mirvac, it is regarded as a very high quality product that’s enhanced not just by the quality of the building but also the urban fabric, the artwork and the public open space,” Mirvac project director Cris Johansen said.
“We’re doing the same here at 80 Ann. We’ll have a water feature lit at night and a misting system so in the right weather that will add character to the place.”
Mr Savage said the Mirvac partnership was putting a spotlight on street art and its potential to enhance public buildings as well as private homes, giving artists a much-needed boost during an incredibly difficult period for the arts sector.
Gus Eagleton’s work features in private homes in Brisbane.
“I love that we are seeing some residential properties embracing public art,” he said.
“It does increase the property price and it’s great for artists when the arts industry is so affected through COVID.”
Australian researchers see clear links between public art and a more defined sense of place, making a location more attractive for home buyers, particularly those who appreciate art and culture.
Overseas research from the UK’s Affordable Art Fair in 2017 showed 43 per cent of British people would prefer to live near great street art than a coffee shop and 32 per cent would pay up to £50,000 extra for a property in an area with colourful street art.
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