How Lendlease Creates Sustainability Real Estate Returns, Positive Social Impact, Spaces Where Communities Thrive, Journey to Carbon Net Zero & More | Micah Schulz, Lendlease (#025)

SRI360 | Socially Responsible Investing, ESG, Impact Investing, Sustainable Investing

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.
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1. Episode introduction. (00:00:00)

2. Micah tells us about growing up in Queensland, and why he chose to study Real Estate & Development over Physiotherapy. (00:02:29)

3. We discuss Micah’s early career. (00:04:55)

4. Micah shares how he came to join Lendlease, as Deputy Fund Manager of their APPF Commercial Fund. (00:07:57)

5. We hear about Micah’s transition into the sustainable real estate investment space. (00:10:53)

6. Micah gives us an overview of Lendlease, and their mission to ‘create spaces where communities thrive’. (00:13:12)

7. Micah describes sustainability as being part of Lendlease’s DNA, and describes how Lendlease’s Founder, Dick Dusseldorf, was so far ahead of his time with regards to his views on sustainability. (00:16:12)

8. We hear about Lendlease’s ‘Sustainability Framework’ and how it is used. (00:18:00)

9. We discuss to what extent sustainability can be seen as a driver of value. (00:21:35)

10. Micah talks about cement, steel and aluminium being the key products contributing to embodied carbon, and how they are working hard to de-carbonize these products, but still have a long way to go. (00:27:56)

11. We discuss Micah’s views on whether mass timber could be a potential pathway to net carbon zero. (00:33:29)

12. Micah cites the example of the ‘Barangaroo Precinct’ in Sydney’s central business district as a great representation of Lendlease’s investment strategy in action. (00:39:23)

13. We hear about Lendlease’s tenant/customer WorkLife™ portal, which was introduced as part of their strategy to authentically demonstrate a positive social impact. (00:44:44)

14. Micah talks us through the various levels of Lendlease’s screening and due-diligence process, when making investments. (00:46:12)

15. We hear about Lendlease’s typical investors and how Lendlease’s key capabilities within the sustainable real estate sector are being valued increasingly by investors. (00:55:52)

16. We discuss the plethora of different ratings used within the sustainable real estate sector and to what extent greenwashing exists within the space. (00:57:22)

17. We discuss the effects of the built environment on biodiversity and what needs to be done to improve this. (01:02:26)

18. Micah shares his views about the impact that technology will have on the sustainable real estate sector in terms of fulfilling sustainability objectives and driving social and environmental impact. (01:05:26)

19. The single most important challenge in the sustainable real asset space right now. (01:08:44)

20. What Micah knows now about sustainable real estate investment that he wishes he’d known when he joined Lendlease in 2016. (01:08:56)

21. Lessons learned from an investment that didn’t work out as planned. (01:10:27)

22. Micah gives his advice on how to break into the sustainable real estate investment space. (01:13:49)