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Canberra’s highly successful property development company, Village Building Company, will this week see a ‘changing of the guard’ as Robert (Bob) Winnel retires from the role of Managing Director, effective 30 June 2016, and a new Chief Executive Officer begins his tenure.

Village, which has been in operation for 28 years in Canberra, was founded by Bob Winnel who will leave a huge legacy of building achievements with developments in Canberra in addition to other capital cities and regional areas around Australia.

Village has also announced the appointment of a new Chief Financial Officer which coincides with the official commencement of tenure for Villages’ new CEO, Travis Doherty, who will take the reins for Village Building Company from 1 July 2016.

“Bob Winnel was responsible for injecting affordable housing into the Canberra market and played a major role in the Master Builders Association in the 1980s and 1990s,” said Travis Doherty, incoming CEO for Village Building Company.

“Village Building Company, under the direction of Bob, was also responsible for contributing $1million to establish the Village Centre at the National Arboretum.  Bob has also been an Arboretum Board Member for a period, and Village has always been the major sponsor for Canberra’s annual Voices in the Forest event. Bob’s legacy of developments and creating Canberra communities is tremendous,” Mr Doherty continued.

Bob Winnel first started the Village Building Co., which was then called MBA Land, as a cooperative of builders back in 1988. As time went on, and the business moved in to the development of several major sites in a number of cities, it was renamed Village Building Company.

The company’s early projects included the development of large sites in Tuggeranong Valley and the Golf Course Estate in Belconnen. Village Building Company has completed over 14,000 dwellings, sites houses and apartments, created the large South Jerrabomberra development, and also moved interstate with developments in Brisbane, Melbourne, Wollongong and Coffs Harbour.

“Villages’ philosophy is to provide amenities such as parks, playgrounds, wetlands, bicycle tracks and sculptures into its developments, so as to provide as sense of community, and to provide affordable housing to the Canberra community. All while adhering to strong environmental ethics,” said Bob Winnel.

“Our contribution to the National Arboretum will stand as one of our major community contributions to the city in terms of a place that everyone can visit and enjoy. It shows off the natural attributes and the best points of planning of the city,” Bob continued.

Incoming CEO, Travis Doherty, echoes Bob Winnel’s sentiments on Village having created Canberra communities, and also says that the business will continue on its mission to help Canberrans fulfil their dreams of home ownership by giving first homebuyers in Canberra value for money opportunities.

Travis takes the reins from Bob after twelve months with Village as Chief Operating Officer and says he is passionate about building, construction and development, and aspires to honour, respect and leverage the company’s rich history, but also add to it the experience he has gathered working in large corporates both in Australia and abroad.

“In 28 years we’ve built up enormous expertise, credibility and respect across the industry,” Travis said.

“We will leverage off all the hard work that Bob, the Board and the whole business have delivered in the past, and start to grow and enhance the long term thinking around getting the right level of diversification in our business across the Eastern Seaboard, the right geographical mix, the right product mix and making sure we’re setting ourselves up very efficiently but also delivering great returns to our shareholders and investors, and equally great experiences for our customers,” Travis continued.

Travis Doherty takes the Village Building Company team into a new era along with newly appointed Chief Financial Officer, Melanie Andrews, who joins Village officially on 15 August 2016. Ms Andrews comes direct from 18 years with CIC Australia Ltd and has worked previously on the Googong and Crace property developments.  Melanie says she is thrilled to be joining the fresh new leadership team and to be able to help shape Village’s strategic direction.

“It’s an exciting time to be a part of this Canberra business success story, and Village Building Company looks forward to a bright future ahead,” concluded Travis.