Planning and Design Team Looks to Boost Chinese Investment in Queensland

BRISBANE, Australia, Nov. 22, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Deputy Premier Jackie Trad today launched a new team dedicated to increasing Chinese investment in Queensland.

Headed up by Director Beth Toon (Brisbane) and Associate Sue Wang (Shanghai), the team will engage Chinese developers to promote investment opportunities within the Queensland property market; particularly in the areas of real estate, tourism and leisure, health and aged care, and infrastructure.

Place Design Group Director Beth Toon said the firm was thrilled to launch the taskforce, which would help stimulate investment in Queensland while at the same time providing valuable guidance and service to the firm's Chinese clients.

"Being based in Brisbane and in Shanghai, we will be able to work closely with our existing clients in China who are looking at offshore investment, as well as with Chinese investors currently in Australia," Beth said.

"Our experience and research tells us that Chinese developers believe the residential market is stabilising, which means they are now focusing more on long-term development projects and balancing their portfolio of residential development projects and commercial properties.

"In addition to this, Chinese investment in Australia grew more than twice as strongly as the global trend in 2015, which presents very real opportunities for the team to explore.

"We're very excited to launch this team today at the Friends of Education Queensland Event in Shanghai, and we thank our education partners for working with us to deliver real outcomes for our business that we believe will aid investment growth in Queensland."

Place Design Group's International Investment Team was formed following strategic consultations with the UQ Business School and Fudan University in Shanghai as part of a joint initiative - the iLab Consulting Program.

UQ Business School Executive Education Executive Director Richard Kennerley said the iLab Consulting Program - made up of 10 MBA students and their industry mentors - worked with Place Design Group in 2015 to develop a three-year strategic roadmap for sustainable business in China.

"Our team of MBA students and mentors spent nine months working with Place to identify strategies for growing their business in this sector, and we're very excited to see the outcomes of that project being brought to life," Mr Kennerley said.

"Projects like this are great examples of how education can engage industry partners and help them with their export business expansion in China."

Place Design Group is a leader in planning and design with proven capabilities in strategic planning, development facilitation, urban design and landscape architecture. Australian owned and led, the firm has teams throughout Australia, China and South East Asia who work with a host of Chinese investors within and outside of the Queensland market.