Exclusive: GemLife secures 20-year patent on modular multi-storey building
GemLife unveils Australia’s first vertical land lease resort
- Sector first: Modular vertical lifestyle resort launching on Gold Coast
- Patent play: Apartments designed to be assembled and relocated
- Urban shift: Land lease model moves beyond broadacre sites
- Growth pipeline: GemLife targeting 1,500-plus apartments
The land lease community sector is about to undergo its biggest shake-up in four decades.
ASX-listed developer GemLife is to launch Australia’s first vertical lifestyle resort on the Gold Coast this year, after patenting an innovative new construction methodology.
Over the past year, GemLife has worked with Brisbane-based MAS Architecture to further perfect the design, resulting in final enhancements, which are currently before Gold Coast City Council.
The up to 200sqm three-bedroom apartments are designed to be constructed – and deconstructed – in multiple modules.
GemLife Managing Director and Group CEO Adrian Puljich said it would enable communities traditionally confined to broadacre greenfield sites to be built on inner city and infill parcels, helping address Australia’s critical land and housing supply shortage.
GemLife has been granted a 20-year patent over the new methodology for modular multistorey building, which it will roll out initially at its 215-apartment GemLife Currumbin Waters.
GemLife Currumbin Waters will feature nine individual buildings, including a four-level building, seven three-level buildings and a separate country club.
External works will start mid-year, with market launch and residential construction anticipated to commence in late 2026.
“We’re working towards lodging a development application for over 500 apartments on a second Gold Coast site in the next six months, and are investigating other opportunities, where 1,000-plus apartments could be possible,” Adrian said.
“We believe this is the single biggest innovation in land lease living to date, redefining what these communities look like, where they can be developed, and who will buy them, opening the door to downsizers and retirees who prefer apartment living.
“It will see the fast-growing land lease community sector move from horizontal communities to vertical living, helping address Australia’s land constraints and the growing demand for low-maintenance housing in established urban areas.”
To comply with legislation, apartments in a vertical land lease community must be moveable – a challenge GemLife has spent more than a decade researching and developing a solution for.
High-rise now on the cards for land lease
Adrian said while the initial buildings at GemLife Currumbin Waters were low-rise, the patented methodology had the potential to scale significantly over time, opening the door to high-rise applications.
“This means we can explore land lease communities in locations that simply weren’t possible before,” he said.
“To date, our communities have generally been developed on a minimum 15-hectare parcel, whereas an apartment development requires about four hectares or less and could be built on contoured or more challenging terrain.”
GemLife received approval for its $500 million GemLife Currumbin Waters, on Galleon Way, in late 2024.
“While modular in construction, the apartments will feature a high-quality architectural design, premium finishes and a built form comparable to a traditional residential development,” said Adrian.
“We plan to construct the Currumbin Waters apartments on site but see the potential as the technology scales to build the modules in a factory environment, which could enhance efficiencies.”
"The building structure and amenities will be permanent, but the apartments will be relocatable. The building’s façade is designed for disassembly, enabling the apartments to be removed in the same sequence the modules are installed.”
