Hebel Matters

AVJennings’ Matt McCallum chooses Hebel to build Australian communities

In the business of developing communities, AVJennings knows that all homeowners have different wants and needs for the home they live in and the community they belong to.

For this reason, they choose the highest performing products for their projects, ones that lower costs for homeowners, cut down on wastage, and speed up construction.

Building & Operations Manager for AV Jennings Victoria, Matt McCallum, says; “over the last eight years around 90% of our construction has been using CSR Hebel products”.

“Brick veneer construction has been limited within our built form, instead choosing Hebel as external cladding systems on our medium density construction,” he explains.

Matt says that the initial reason for adapting Hebel was due to ongoing labour availability in brick veneer construction. Also flexibility in design with Hebel products and cost was also a contributing factor.

“On a typical medium density build of 10 dwellings, Hebel cuts around four to six weeks out of our external works program.”

“Using Hebel also means dramatically reducing waste on site. Hebel has facilitated a reduction of cost in waste management.”

Just one of AVJennings’ projects that is built using approximately 90% Hebel panels for external cladding is Woodcutters Grove in Epping, Victoria.

Matt explains more about the project; “it’s really a small community of 19 medium density two-storey dwellings. It’s a standard product for us but it’s been very successful over the years,” he says.

“Consumers can be apprehensive when introduced to a relatively new product as there’s a real mindset towards brick veneer construction. They want to know more about the benefits and if it will stand the test of time.”

However, Matt draws on his 34-year experience in the building industry to explain that people are a lot more open now to using different materials in the construction process.

“That may be from a cost approach or purely because designs are changing, but people are warming more to modern contemporary construction and I think Hebel goes hand in hand with that.”

AVJennings is also currently using Hebel externally on a large community development project – Waterline Place at Williamstown in Victoria.

The former site of the Port Phillip Woollen Mills is being revitalised into a mixed range of residential options ranging from one bedroom apartments to larger townhouses suited to families.

AVJennings tells prospective homeowners that ‘when you’re living by the bay, coming home will feel like a holiday’ – and with the added benefits of Hebel this is certainly true.

“We find a lot better properties in the Hebel product as opposed to brick veneer, especially in terms of thermal heating and cooling,” Matt explains.

“These are obvious advantages for us in using Hebel products,” he added.