Di Elliffe (BSc, UNSW) retired from the Commonwealth public service in 2012 with extensive experience in a range of management roles. In late 2020 she moved into a newly completed strata residential building in Hobart, The Commons, seeking a vibrant inner-city lifestyle and a supportive collegial community. Even before moving in she was active in building this community, setting up a Slack forum to help the new owners buying ‘off the plan’ to share information as the build progressed. She has been involved in the management committee of this strata scheme from its inception, holding several portfolios and serving for two years as the chair.
The Commons was created with a vision to demonstrate sustainable living in the urban environment, and a commitment to creating community within the building. It has a number of innovative features designed to reduce the entry price for apartment living, such as a shared laundry and outdoor clothesline, an EV carshare program (with no individual carparking spaces provided), a building-wide hydronic space heating system supported by solar PV panels and a heat pump, a focus on active transport such as bike riding, a greenwall growing up the exterior of the building, a vegie patch and active resident volunteer working groups.
As a result the Commons Committee has dealt with a number of unique management tasks, on top of the usual challenges of strata and group decisionmaking. Di finds this to be a continuous learning experience. Tapping into the expertise and resources of national voices such as the Owners Corporation Network, the Flatchat forum and Lookup Strata has been very helpful.
Increasing our urban density is critical to reducing urban sprawl, so making strata living easier is important. Di is keen to promote wider understanding of strata owners rights and obligations, so that more Tasmanians can confidently choose this lifestyle and enjoy living in community.
To that end she has been working with a small group of similarly motivated people to develop a voice for Tasmanian strata homeowners – this group has now been accepted as a subcommittee of the Owners Corporation Network.
