We’re thrilled to announce that Tipalea has been shortlisted as a finalist in The Urban Developer Awards for Excellence in Community Engagement, for our Glebe Hill Village project.
This award recognises initiatives and/or programs that directly engage with community stakeholders to deliver an economic, social and public benefit.
Tipalea’s Glebe Hill Village delivers more than a bricks and mortar shopping centre, creating a community hub for the Howrah neighbourhood that delivers a high level of personalised community engagement, helping to drive the future success of the centre. By tapping into community sentiment, we have been able to open a dialogue with our customers to provide vital insight into local needs.
Personalised community engagement is a crucial pillar embedded into all Tipalea projects. Early and transparent communication has been the key to our highly successful engagement at Glebe Hill Village, enabling us to utilise community feedback to unlock new learnings and drive innovation.
Our winning formula for exceptional community engagement is based on a strategic combination of digital and face-to-face community initiatives.
As well as conducting surveys with prizes and even competitions for locals to name the centre and choose the logo, our social media platforms are genuine two-way conversations, rather than just scheduled posts – as demonstrated with us having over 5,000 actively engaged followers in a catchment of 22,000 people.
A project-specific website, monthly newsletters with project updates, local media articles and interviews combined with quarterly town hall-style meetings, all facilitated major community engagement with the project.
Additionally, having a significant and engaging public art component with local artists helps us deliver a centre built on community engagement and collaboration.
In order to best meet community needs in this area, Tipalea sought feedback through numerous surveys, competitions and town hall-style meetings before commencing planning for the centre. The town hall style quarterly community updates regularly had 70-120 locals in attendance, seeking updates and raising issues from how traffic and parking would be managed to smart building features, jobs and potential retailers.
There have been no secrets in the development of Glebe Hill Village, the community has been involved at every step of the way, sharing our victories and our losses.
Participation rates in social media, community updates, surveys and competitions have been higher than anticipated, resulting in critical feedback throughout the entire process from initial planning to the opening of the centre.
We’re grateful to the community for their support throughout the project and we are delighted to have been recognised in the Urban Developer Awards for Community Engagement.