8 minute read
Industry News
A NEW YEAR AND A NEW APPROACH
The first quarter of 2020 will see the SSAA role out our online industry training modules. Work is well underway and will see the role out of 11 Self Storage Modules.
We have consulted with members to ascertain demand for learning.
We aim to produce a flexible, adaptable learning and development platform that can be utilized by members anywhere any time. With members based all around Australia and New Zealand from small country towns to large CBD areas in rural and regional areas the SSAA will be bringing training to you. Our training modules will be launched in conjunction with updated versions of our Australian core Agreements ensuring that the training we deliver will offer new learnings. These are exciting times for the SSAA as we plant the seeds to grow our learning platform. Our data and member feedback will be an essential element for future planning.
Congratulations to Hunt & Hunt Lawyers celebrating their 90th year
Hunt & Hunt was established in 1929 by brothers Hector (Bob) and Edward (Ted) Hunt. The firm started out as an insurance and conveyancing law firm, just as Australia was entering the Great Depression.
In the years leading up to World War II, Hunt & Hunt expanded the team at its Sydney office. During the war, the firm’s insurance and workers’ compensation practices boomed, largely due to the firm’s association with the National Employers Mutual General Insurance Company of London. After the war, migrants arrived and settled in Sydney, starting a period of post-war prosperity that saw the firm’s conveyancing practice grow rapidly. Hunt & Hunt remained a family-run firm throughout this period, and in the early 1950s Ted’s sons Ian and David joined the firm.
The Sydney and Melbourne offices have been working collaboratively and consistently since 1991.Today, the firm has a strong national footprint with federated offices in Sydney, North Ryde, Melbourne, Darwin, Brisbane and Perth. Hunt and Hunt have been working with the SSAA and its members since 2017. Team members from the SSAA were invited to the 90th birthday celebrations at Rockpool in Melbourne in October last year.
StoreLocal Mordialloc joins the StoreLocal team!
Previously known as TaxiBox Self Storage, this store is an ideal expansion opportunity within an established growth corridor. The site is located at 275/281 Boundary Road, Mordialloc.
StoreLocal will be working with the owners StoreInvest to further develop the store to meet the needs of the current local market. The addition of this existing store gives greater presence in the eastern Melbourne corridor for StoreLocal, which now has a network of 7 stores throughout metropolitan Melbourne.
Fire crews contained a large fire at a storage unit facility in the Auckland suburb of East Tamaki. Firefighters initially had difficulty getting through the property’s electric fence and into various units, Crews were worked hard to empty the units to extinguish any fire in the back of them. At the fire’s peak about 16 fire trucks were on the scene, along with specialist engines. The facility immediately took steps to implement their disaster recovery plan and were on hand to assist all of their customers, whether that be via insurance claims, relocation of their goods to other storage units or to their homes. The damaged building has been demolished and plans are underway for the rebuild. In Early November, SSAA Paralegal, Andrea Bowman spent a day at Fort Knox Self Storage in Melbourne. This was a fantastic initiative by Andrea to see how the procedures that the Association provide work in facilities. It also enabled her to bridge any knowledge gaps by understanding the complete business model. This helps ensure that what the Association rolls out is of benefit to the members.
SUPPORTING THE COMMUNITY
Jim’s Self Storage have purchased a defibrillator for their facility and it is located in the office and available for use, if required, during office hours.
Jim’s has always had a big focus on family and the local community. It is pleasing to know they have taken steps to provide a vital service to the local community. Fingers crossed they don’t ever have to use it, but it is there and ready to go if needed.
Barbara Morgan, owner/director of Jim’s Self Storage has spent the last few decades working for Life Saving Victoria. She has trained and assessed thousands of people during her time. The staff value the knowledge she has passed onto them.
New SSAA Office Manager
Please welcome Sandra Evans to the SSAA team in the role of Office Manager. Sandra’s duties include the Storage Interactive Platform, OH&S, supporting the SSAA Team and assisting the CEO. Sandra has come to the SSAA from several years at Honeywell where she was the Operations & Administration Manager. Sandra is looking forward to working with all of the SSAA Members and helping them with all their storage needs.
STORMAN 2019 WORKSHOP
In November, the Storman team held their joint workshop and annual meeting in New Zealand with the teams from Australia, New Zealand and UK for a collective brainstorming sessions across our markets.
The outcomes of this workshop will be reflected in the coming year as they power through their most innovative product to date, Storman Cloud. Clients will be the beneficiaries of this effort, and they will share the new features and advancements in 2020. In October & November National Mini Storage in New Zealand donated $5 for every new storage unit rented in those months to Coastguard Northern Region. They donated $4825.00 and thanked the Coastguard Northern Region for the amazing work they do saving lives at sea and keeping everyone safe on the water.
Pictured Ryan Coom (left) National Mini Storage’s Marketing Manager presenting Callum Gillespie (right) Chief Executive Officer of Coastguard Northern Region with the donation cheque.
Our database of buyers is constantly updated, giving vendors the largest reach of buyers available. MORE BUYERS = STRONGER COMPETITION = HIGHEST PRICE LEAVE IT TO THE EXPERTS TO GET YOU THE BEST RESULT.
Matt Walsh
Highway Frontage Real Estate
0411 880 054 | 1300 661 950 L1. 146 Chapel St, St Kilda VIC 3182
mwalsh@highwayfrontage.com.au www.selfstoragerealestate.com.au
FORRESTFIELD SELF STORAGE
WESTERN AUSTRALIA
Forrestfield is a suburb of the City of Kalamunda in Western Australia. It lies 15 kilometres to the south-east of Perth at the base of the Darling Scarp and the southern border of Perth Airport. Roe Highway splits the suburb into a southern residential area and a northern industrial area.
Forrestfield Self Storage is a family-owned business with Hugh and Eileen Smith along with Kyle Gray and Ethan Smith.
It opened in November 2019 and is located on the Industrial side of Berkshire Road just a couple of hundred metres from Roe Highway. A train station is currently under development in the area, which will be the last stop on the Perth Airport line. There are plans to build high-density housing around the station which makes this storage facility in a prime position for the future.
The facility has residential and commercial storage along with heavy machinery parking facilities to cater to the industrial and residential aspects of the suburb. There are currently 123 units on-site ranging from 1.5m x 1.5m up to 24 square metres units, with plans for an additional 300 more units to be built over the next 12 months along with 4,000 square metres of hard stand parking.
Planning for the facility commenced in 2016 when owner and developer Hugh and Eileen Smith first joined the SSAA. It came about because Hugh’s commercial brick paving business sat on a large parcel of land which was underutilised. The thought of building a storage facility on it was appealing as it has the ongoing aspect of multiple customers coming and going. The long term thought process was that by creating a storage facility it would never be 100 per cent empty and there would always be cash flow, unlike the leasing of warehouses or commercial property which if untenanted can be empty for months.
Hugh and his wife Eileen attended the 2016 and the 2017 SSAA Conventions, which they said were invaluable in helping with decision making and connecting with the right people to get the business off the ground. Hugh worked with Jason Keane from Sentinel who was extremely helpful, he visited the site, assessed the area and the potential for a facility and said it was viable. Jason also helped with the overall design, the unit size and made himself available for ongoing discussions. SSAA member Storco did the fit-out of the facility, and Whyte Constructions did the base build.
To promote the facility, they have been using social media and are having a lot of success using Facebook. Google AdWords is gaining traction, though, at this early stage, Facebook advertising has proven successful and more economical.
Hugh’s advice for anyone thinking about building a storage facility – “Look for an area with limited competition and attend the SSAA events as they are beneficial”. l
