Freshwater Place management contract renewed

By Rhonda Dredge

Freshwater Place in Southbank is the “jewel in the crown” of the portfolio of properties managed by The Knight, according to its managing director Gregor Evans.

“There are 535 apartments, 22 retail lots and it’s a very iconic building, one of the largest for us,” he said.

The company has just had its Freshwater Place contract renewed for three years.

And last month The Knight won the 2020 Award for Excellence for Strata Community Management Businesses.

“It’s been a challenging year,” Mr Evans told Southbank News. Managing owners’ corporations during the COVID crisis hasn’t been easy.

Many of residents’ fears centred around the common areas of the building which The Knight manages.

“We worked with on-site building managers on the use of facilities, social distancing and regulations for visitors,” Gregor said.

One of the most challenging aspects was “communicating with clients via video conference. Running AGMs online is a challenge with 50 to 60 owners.”

There were a few cases of COVID in the buildings managed by The Knight.

“Not too many,” Mr Evans said. “At one property in Richmond, government housing, one of the carers had COVID. It spread to occupiers.”

Another real issue the company faced was the social isolation of residents during the lockdown.

“We did a presentation last year about community. We focused on people interacting with each other in a building.”

“If you’re confined to an apartment you can have conversations balcony to balcony. Some people were struggling. We reached out to them. Some were very afraid.” •