Oct 20 2023
How Lendlease Creates Sustainability Real Estate Returns, Positive Social Impact, Spaces Where Communities Thrive, Journey to Carbon Net Zero & More | Micah Schulz, Lendlease (#025)
In this episode, I am chatting with Micah Schulz, Head of Office at Lendlease Australia.Micah grew up on the Sunshine Coast in Queensland, in a farming area, and living on what he describes as a ‘hobby farm’, with horses, cows, and chickens. He studied Business Management, majoring in Real Estate & Development at the University of Queensland in Brisbane, a decision which could perhaps be attributed to serendipity, rather than a lifelong desire to work in this field. Having thought about a career in Physiotherapy, he was advised against this by a Physiotherapist, who told him the latter was boring and would destroy his hands! At the time, his now brother-in-law was working as a real estate valuer, and the idea of travelling around (and the idea of working in an office on the beach like his brother-in-law!) led Micah to the idea of a career in this field.Following a season on the slopes of Whistler, B.C., Micah began his career at Colliers International, working as Sales Assistant to the sales team. Micah recounts how his then-boss planted the idea to work as a fund manager and eventually, he moved to Sydney as Assistant Fund Manager at Investa Property Group. He later landed in his first Fund Manager role at Centuria Capital, but returned to Investa when he was offered the opportunity to work on Investa’s flagship wholesale office fund, attracted by the idea of working with a broader portfolio of large, prominent assets around the country.Micah shares how he finally landed at Lendlease in 2016, motivated by the scale of their organisation and its global presence, as well as key elements of the strategy of the APPF Commercial fund on which he worked, first as Deputy Fund Manager, and later as Fund Manager.In this episode, we hear more about Micah’s transition into the sustainable real estate investment space. Micah gives us an overview of Lendlease and how creating powerful outcomes for the end customer is a key part of their strategy. We hear how sustainability is part of Lendlease’s DNA, and this becomes clear as Micah discusses some of the real-life developments that Lendlease have driven, such as the Barangaroo Precinct in Sydney’s central business district.We discuss the journey to net carbon zero within the real estate space, and Micah shares his optimism on the impact that technological innovation will have on this journey. We talk about Lendlease’s typical investors, their screening and due-diligence process, and much more.Micah’s passion in his field is clear and I thoroughly enjoyed our conversation. I hope you will too!About the SRI 360° Podcast: The SRI 360° Podcast is focused exclusively on sustainable & responsible investing. In each episode, Scott Arnell interviews a world-class investor who is an accomplished practitioner from all asset classes. In my interviews, I cover everything from their early personal journeys—and what motivated and attracted them to commit their life energy to SRI—to insights on how they developed and executed their investment strategies and what challenges they face today. Connect with SRI 360°: Sign up for the free weekly email update: https://sri360.com/newsletter/ Visit the SRI 360° PODCAST: https://sri360.com/podcast/ Visit the SRI 360° WEBSITE: https://sri360.com/ Follow SRI 360° on TWITTER: https://twitter.com/SRI360Growth/Follow SRI 360° on FACEBOOK: https://www.facebook.com/SRI360Growth/
