people to come down and see what Geelong is about.” Formerly a manufacturing town, people found they liked the community, and younger families began moving in. “I refer to Geelong as the ‘City of Dreams,’” Cameron says with a wry smile. “I’m a lifelong resident of the city. Back in the 1990s, everyone would finish school and then leave to pursue careers, travel, and what they thought were ‘bigger things.’ But that narrative is changing. Today, there are excellent professional opportunities in Geelong, which has attracted businesses to relocate here. As a result, there’s a growing pool of highly qualified staff available. “We have a vision of what Geelong can and should be, and we help facilitate that by providing the spaces where motivated people can pursue their business. A lot of them are retail and hospitality. We think change can and should be affected and we’re figuring out how we can aid in that,” he says. Hamilton Group’s efforts have not gone unnoticed. They have won both the Urban Development Industry Judges Award (UDIA) in Victoria (2021), the Urban Development Industry Award (UDIA) in Australia (2021) and the National Urban Development Industry Award (UDIA) for the Pivot City project (2022). “There were a couple of locally heritage-listed properties in an area where no one frequented,” says Cameron. The woollen mill left in 2001 after a sharp decline due to the abolition of tariff protection, which at the time shut down many industries.” This site was vacant for some years, and when Hamilton Group purchased it in 2013, there were THE CONSTRUCTION SOURCE AUSTRALIA
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