Avington Point Cook is a lifestyle village set 22km outside Melbourne. Over 200 residents make up the vibrant community, made up of the retired, semi-retired and some still working full time, all enjoying resort-style facilities and a central clubhouse with a fully equipped bar and private dining room. Alongside the extensive facilities, residents enjoy easy access to the city’s CBD, Geelong and Point Cook town centre and shopping precincts, via public transport links or nearby access to the Princes Freeway.
Central to the smooth running of Avington Point Cook’s community is BuildingLink’s community management software. One of the key benefits that BuildingLink delivers to the managers and residents of Avington Point Cook is the enhanced level of communication. Some of the biggest challenges faced by residents in lifestyle communities revolve around connection and communication. Avington Point Cook utilises BuildingLink to help residents settle in and enjoy their new lifestyles.
How did residents respond to the new system when BuildingLink was implemented at Avington Point Cook?
Initially, there was a lot of curiosity and some trepidation about needing to become familiar with new technology. However, the team at BuildingLink have been great at supporting both our management team and our residents with the system. The online tutorials are perfect for reacquainting residents with lesser-used functions and the announcement boards work really well throughout our facilities.
Tell us about how the notice boards and emergency broadcasts are used by the management team.
Our residents lead such active and involved lives here that it’s not uncommon for them to overlook email notifications – after all, for many their days of being tied to a desk are over!
We found that BuildingLink’s system is ideal for making announcements that are relevant to our community members. We can advise residents by email and text that the Hearing Australia Bus will be parked at the clubhouse on a Friday afternoon or that we’ve booked Irish Dancers for St Patrick’s Day. This ensures that everyone is kept up to date about the events going on in our community. Equally, if an emergency announcement needs to be made, it’s a simple process to reach everyone via their preferred method of contact.
On top of this, our bulletin board gets used for displaying the calendar of events coming up for the month ahead and the public display boards help us to advertise the various health and well-being services we arrange for residents. It’s a less prescriptive way of inviting involvement from community members and seems to increase participation from our community members.
Do residents make use of their online portal for booking amenities or leaving instructions for the front desk?
Yes, this is a well-used part of the system. Partly because we have a wide range of facilities that residents enjoy using and partly because it makes their lives so much easier. We have tennis courts, a swimming pool, gym, spa & sauna, snooker room, a small cinema and private dining rooms that are ideal for celebrations or getting together with friends and family.
The resident portal allows all community members to check the availability of these facilities and book their amenities in advance by as much as a month. This ensures that everyone has a fair opportunity to enjoy the facilities and arrange their own get-togethers and special events too.
When family come to visit or parcels are being delivered, it’s an equally simple process for residents to advise the front desk and ensure packages, friends and family don’t get lost in the 169 homes we have here.
There’s a lot to manage in such a large community like Avington Point Cook, how does BuildingLink improve the management process for you?
One of the godsends of the BuildingLink system is the maintenance module. The ability to create checklists for regular inspections and streamline residents’ maintenance requests for common areas is fantastic. We know that everything is checked and taken care of to the same standard no matter who is on duty for that task that week.
Residents are able to submit their requests with images and then we can follow that work through with just a few clicks – sending our approved contractors in to do the work and also signing it off from the system once it’s been finalised. It provides peace of mind for our residents and saves our management team hours of time on calls and chasing up work.
BuildingLink has provided the robust digital infrastructure that is so important for a high quality of life in lifestyle communities like Avington Point Cook. The easier communication ensures all residents are included in activities, communication flows freely between residents and our management team, and a greater level of security and safety is possible because of it.