Purpose The Model West Wallsend Governance Partners Contact
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HALO

Housing. Activation. Land. Opportunity.

The current system only works while you recognise it. Build something better and it becomes obsolete -- without fighting it. We build communities that give back more than they take.

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The Context

Australia Has a Housing Problem

0

people experiencing homelessness on any given night

0

average time to save a home deposit in Australia

$0

average monthly rent in regional Australia

While land sits underused across the country, communities are locked out of housing. Traditional pathways are broken. HALO is a different approach.

Our Purpose

Activate Land.
Build Community.
Heal Country.

HALO provides a single, compliant, low-impact model that activates underused landholdings -- post-mining, government, idle rural -- to create local jobs, affordable housing, and long-term community value.

Landholders retain control. Cultural integrity is centred from day one. No subdivision, no permanent alteration. The land comes first -- and the community grows with it.

Replicable across every region in Australia

Aluxria modular cabin in natural landscape

Framework

The HALO Model

Four principles that make housing work differently

Zero Subdivision, No Permanent Alteration

Cabins sit on piers or screw-piles -- no concrete slabs, minimal earthworks. Existing land tenure remains intact. The land comes first, always.

This approach works within existing planning frameworks, using movable dwelling and temporary accommodation pathways to reduce approval timelines.

Infrastructure

The Built Environment

Low-impact. Upgradeable. Climate-ready.

Modular Cabins

1-2 bedroom, accessible options. Aluxria cabins manufactured by Luban. Installed on piers or screw-piles. Fully relocatable, NCC compliant.

Shared Facilities

Community kitchen and laundry, maker workshop, training rooms, multi-use hall, tool library. Infrastructure that builds connection.

Circular Utilities

Solar and battery microgrids, rainwater capture, greywater reed-beds, compost systems. Net-zero infrastructure from day one.

Food & Enterprise Systems

Market gardens with tech-augmented yield -- vertical farming, hydroponics, biochar. Furniture making from timber. Innovation hubs. Self-sustaining enterprises that create funding levers and make the village economically independent.

Aluxria cabin exterior detail

Essential Worker Accommodation -- Done Differently

Across Australia, essential workers on renewable energy projects, agricultural operations, and remote infrastructure builds are housed in dongas -- temporary boxes that ignore mental health, community, and human connection. Workers endure work-sleep-fly home cycles with no sense of place.

HALO changes this. Proper housing. Community spaces. Connection to country. Not just a bed near a worksite, but a village that supports wellbeing, builds skills, and creates lasting value for the region long after the project ends.

With 15-20 year renewable energy projects rolling out across the country, the essential worker accommodation market is enormous -- and ready for a model that treats workers like people, not logistics.

Flagship

HALO Estate: West Wallsend

A 50-100 home regenerative micro-town on Glencore's former mine lands in the Hunter Valley, NSW

Why This Site

Post-mining land with existing access roads, hardstands and services -- reducing cost and planning risk

Acute local housing need in the Hunter Valley region

Skilled workforce seeking just transition pathways from coal

A flagship mine-to-micro-town model that councils across Australia can replicate

Affordable, Code-Compliant Homes

NCC-compliant primary dwellings, fully relocatable

Paid Retraining & On-Site Jobs

Coal-to-careers pipeline with TAFE and RTO partners

Country-Led Regeneration

Traditional Owner governance from co-design through operation

Bankable ESG Compliance

Auditable governance that reassures lenders and councils

Resident Mix

Ex-coal families30-40%
Key workers15-20%
Downsizers15-20%
NDIS participants10-15%
Youth trainees10-15%

A shovel-ready, low-risk pathway to unlock housing supply, jobs and land repair on an already-disturbed site.

Workforce

Coal-to-Careers

Build while learning. With TAFE/RTOs and OEM partners.

01

Microgrid O&M

Solar, battery and energy management systems operation and maintenance

02

Water & Waste Systems

Rainwater harvesting, greywater treatment, composting and reed-bed systems

03

Low-Impact Civils

Screw-pile installation, site preparation, pathways and drainage without permanent earthworks

04

Modular Fit-Out

Cabin assembly, finishing, connection and commissioning on-site

05

Biodiversity & Land Repair

Revegetation, habitat corridors, soil remediation and ecological monitoring

06

Care & Community Ops

Estate stewardship, community coordination, NDIS support and resident services

Train Build Operate Progress

These aren't new skills -- they're transferred skills.

Mining professionals already think in systems, safety, and precision. Their WHS culture and systems thinking transfer directly into modular construction, utilities management, and land repair. HALO leverages that expertise through Recognition of Prior Learning (RPL) pathways.

First Nations

Healing Country Together

With Traditional Owners, not for them

Cultural Advisory Circle

Paid governance role for Traditional Owners. Real authority over land use, cultural protocols, and estate identity -- not advisory in name only.

Co-designed Country Plan

Seasonal calendars, cultural burning, habitat corridors, water and soil care. A living document that guides land stewardship across every stage.

Indigenous Procurement & Roles

Rangers, bush-foods nursery, monitoring and reporting, place identity. Real employment and enterprise, not tokenistic inclusion.

HALO is led by Steven Phillips, a proud Gomeroi man and member of the Lands Council in Coonabarabran. HALO holds MOUs with Traditional Owners in Darwin, including songline custodians with connections to Arnhem Land. Supply Nation certified.

Values

The HALO Compass

The human layer embedded in every agreement and circle

Seed Gratitude Awareness Trustworthiness
Support Patience Integrity Courage & Honour
Sustain Perseverance
Self-awareness
Rhythm

These values sustain culture, safety, and pride across every HALO community. They are embedded in every governance agreement, resident covenant, and training program.

Governance

Bankable by Design

Co-op/Trust model with estate covenants. Transparent, auditable governance that reduces council risk, reassures lenders, and builds resident finance histories.

SINC Fund

Site Integrity & Improvement Fund

A dedicated lifecycle fund for maintenance and upgrades providing bank-grade stewardship and protecting council reputation.

Resident Contributions

Regular payments into the fund

Operating Surplus

Revenue from estate operations

Grants & Credits

Government and carbon credit funding

Enterprise Revenue

Income from estate enterprises

SINC Fund

Maintenance, improvements, land repair, community programs

The Strategic Pathway

HALO's strategy is deliberate: use regenerative essential worker villages under a consortium model to prove the system works. Build with strong governance, transparent financials, and measurable outcomes. Once proven, the model speaks for itself -- and it can't be denied.

If established interests try to block it, HALO has legal standing to test their assumptions -- in courts that are increasingly favourable to First Nations rights and regenerative land use. The model doesn't fight the current system. It builds something better alongside it, and lets the results do the talking.

Prove it. Protect it. Scale it.

E

Environmental

  • Energy self-sufficiency ratio
  • Water capture and reuse rate
  • Biodiversity index improvement
  • Waste diversion from landfill
S

Social

  • Housing affordability index
  • Training completion rates
  • Indigenous employment ratio
  • Resident wellbeing surveys
G

Governance

  • Cultural Advisory Circle reporting
  • Financial transparency audits
  • Covenant compliance tracking
  • Resident participation rates

Timeline

Delivery Roadmap

Four stages over 30 months to a fully operational regenerative micro-town

0

Stage 0 - Foundation

0-4 months

MOUs, protocols and due diligence. Country Plan co-design with Traditional Owners. Master-planning, site assessment and regulatory pathway confirmation.

1

Stage 1 - First Homes

5-10 months

Deploy 20-25 cabins plus core community hub. Launch Coal-to-Careers training program. Install first circular utility systems. Begin land repair works.

2

Stage 2 - Scale

11-18 months

Scale to 50-75 cabins. Establish repair-reuse lab and social enterprise. Expand food systems. Second cohort of training graduates operating estate systems.

3

Stage 3 - Complete

19-30 months

Complete to 100 cabins. Full community self-governance operational. Audited ESG report published. Model documented for replication across other sites.

Indicative Commercials

Cabin cost each

A$80k-A$220k

Shared infra/dwelling

A$30k-A$50k

50 homes total

~A$5.5-A$13.5m

100 homes total

~A$11-A$27m

Target Outcomes

0

Self-Sufficiency Index

0

Jobs & Training Placements

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Country Health Improvement

Ecosystem

Built to Work Together

HALO is a collaborative framework. Every partner brings essential capability.

Aboriginal Land Organisations

Cultural governance, Country Plans, land stewardship, procurement and employment pathways

Councils & Local Government

Planning endorsement, land access, community engagement, compliance facilitation

State & Federal Government

Policy alignment, grant funding, housing targets, just transition frameworks

Landholders & Mining Companies

Site access, post-mining land activation, ESG offset outcomes, legacy value

Training Providers

TAFE, RTOs, OEM partners. Curriculum design, RPL pathways, on-site delivery

Industry & Lenders

Bendigo Bank, Indigenous Business Australia, CSCEC. Finance, procurement, supply chain

International Alignment

Sally and Nigel from The King's Foundation share HALO's vision for regenerative community-led housing. Their work on sustainable placemaking, traditional craftsmanship, and community resilience aligns closely with the HALO model -- a powerful signal that this approach has global credibility.

Next Steps

The Offer to Partners

Council & State

Endorse master-planning. Agree Stage-0 resourcing. Nominate representatives to a joint working group.

Traditional Owners

Formalise Cultural Advisory Circle and Country Plan co-design. Establish paid governance and procurement pathways.

Industry & Lenders

Align on procurement, training partnerships and compliance dashboards. Finance pathways from rent to ownership.

Community

Brief neighbours, Landcare and unions. Schedule open days. Build local awareness and support for the model.

Finance with Purpose, Policy with Impact

Immediate Ask

Approve Stage-0 (0-4 months) to commence master-planning, due diligence and Country-led co-design for the West Wallsend flagship.

Aluxria cabin by Luban

The Product

Every HALO Home Is an Aluxria Cabin

Precision-manufactured by Luban, NCC compliant, and fully relocatable. Aluxria cabins can qualify as primary dwellings, delivering quality housing that meets the same codes as any site-built home.

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Get Involved

Join the HALO Ecosystem

Whether you represent council, a land council, a training provider, or a lending institution -- we want to hear from you. HALO works because it brings the right people together.

Focus Areas

Regional and Semi-Urban Australia