The Canberra developer passionate about ensuring future residents are friends

Do you want a neighbour who will be there for you when the rain starts to pour?

The plot of many American sitcoms may centre around neighbours in apartments, but the reality is very different.

A recent HSBC survey found only 21 per cent of people consider their neighbours to be friends, and this was particularly stark in inner-city areas where apartments are the dominant stock.

So unlike sitcoms, your neighbour is probably not going to be your future husband. And you’ll most likely never see your annoying neighbour in an affable light – imagine losing the entertainment that comes with a friend like Kramer. 

But one Canberra developer is seeking to change this. KDN Group managing director George D. Katheklakis has recently started hosting dinner parties for future residents in Gungahlin’s Lumi development.

Mr Katheklakis decided to host the parties as he wants Lumi to be as sustainable as possible, and he believes social wellbeing is a key factor in this.

“We’ve come to understand sustainability is not just about an environment rating per se, it constitutes a number of factors and the one thing that is quite often missed is the value of a social element to sustainability in the sense of meeting and creating communities,” he said.

“Communities are at the core of real sustainability … if you don’t connect with your neighbours you’re actually missing a key element of what sustainability is all about.”

The dinner parties are hosted on a level-by-level basis, and Mr Kathelakis said there has been a great response – at the first dinner party they had to virtually push the people out the door upon the finishing time as they were having too much fun. 

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A former president of the ACT Property Council, Mr Katheklakis is actively involved in the social sustainability committee and is working to develop a way to codify social wellbeing in apartment buildings.

“We’re trying to figure out if it’s possible to create a tool that measures the effectiveness of a development or place,” he said.

“You are looking at a range of different criteria – diversity of product, affordability, inclusiveness of design, the actual community of networks you are establishing so it’s not just the hardware, it’s the software that’s important.” 

Chris Nanteau is one of the future residents who attended a dinner party on Thursday night.  A self-described extrovert, he thinks it’s a great initiative.

“I thought it was fantastic we could meet our neighbours. It’s always good to have that community feel – when we were growing up, you’d always go over to your neighbour’s yard and kick a soccer ball around,” he said.

“Having Yerrabri Pond nearby with the skatepark and basketball courts, it’s good to meet up with your neighbours and say, ‘Do you and the kids want to come and play or have a barbecue?’ ”

Mr Nanteau will be moving into the apartment with his wife, who is pregnant with their son. He doesn’t have any qualms about living in a unit with a young family.

“We love the idea of it … we are in that generation now where we are in the crossover of old town Canberra [and] people are starting to embrace the idea of going into apartments,” he said.

“I think [apartments] are fantastic. It’s safe, the security of it, with houses there’s more of a potential for it to be broken into, but apartments are more safe and secure.”

Apartment living is not new to Mr Nanteau, he presently lives in one and lived in two prior. In his current apartment complex, he said he did not know his neighbours by name but, in the past, he has gotten to know those living adjacent.

“When I moved into my first apartment I actually knocked on each of my neighbours’ doors to introduce myself and I got told that was weird, but I actually like the idea of that,” he said.

Lumi is expected to be completed next year.