To talk with Belingbak is to see an altogether different vision of property development – millennial faces and an entirely different vocabulary.  

The new developer has established themselves as an alternative to the ‘legacy’ and ‘institutional’ property pedigrees of the three founders: Jack Montgomery formerly of Mirvac and GPT; Robert McLean of Brookfield and Multiplex; and Matthew Rawlinson of Mirvac.  

“We knew we had to be nimble in order to seize opportunities as they arose and innovate across multiple sectors,” adds Rawlinson.

“A big part of that is identifying changing shifts in demographics and dislocations in markets.”  

Belingbak made a splashy debut onto the Sydney property scene, acquiring and amalgamating seven adjoining properties along Pitt Street in Sydney’s CBD to create the singular 1,140 square meter site that has become the 372 Pitt Street development. Since then, the developer has spread their wings, working on properties across inner Sydney, Byron Bay and Perth as well as establishing a Western Australia branch. 

Belingbak describe themselves as ‘sector agnostic’, aiming at the full spectrum of industrial and accommodation types, what they call ‘Sheds & Beds’. But within this breadth is a focus on the ‘first to market’ concepts within each sector – ideas that push a typology forward and elevate urban design and sustainable paradigms.

“Our mixed-use experience allows us to apply emerging thinking to each sector,” says McLean. “Whilst being sector agnostic, we emphasise problem solving and innovation across our work. We don’t want to be formula based or ever feel we are in a comfort zone.”  

Cognizance of indigeneity is incorporated into Belingbak’s very ethos – a priority even when it was a glimmer in the three guys’ eyes over a beer at the local brewery.  

“As a property developer in Australia, your first principle is you are building on Indigenous land,” says Montgomery.

“We approach each site as custodians rather than with a sense of ownership.”  

It is a foregrounding that begins with the developer’s very name. Belingbak is the First Nations word for growth and the name of Montgomery’s family home that was built around a heritage tree. 

The trio is already in the midst of forming their Reconciliation Action Plan and formalizing the practices that are already governing their business.

As with their collaborators on Pitt Street— Melbourne-based developer ICD and Woods Bagot — Belingbak put large stock in the likeability and value-alignment of their partners.

“With Woods Bagot for example we felt we were working with people who were also pushing and pulling at the edges of what can be achieved within typologies. A trust developed from this commonality.”

Project principal on 372 Pitt Street, Jason Fraser says that it’s a mutual admiration club: 

 “To work with people who’ve established their business on a foundation of pioneering and cultural sensitivity is a joy and a rarity.”