Officially he finishes with the company on December 18.
“I’ve been with Spiire for 20 years and eight years ago with two others, Mark Breuer and Steve Nolan, we undertook a management buyout of Spiire,” Mr Lewis said.
During the past eight years the company has transformed itself into an industry-leading, respected and in-demand consultancy with offices in Shepparton, Melbourne, Canberra, Geelong, Ballarat, Bendigo and Albury.
“We have grown the business from around 120 to 350 staff; when we completed the management buyout it was a risky move, but we knew we had good people in our business and with the right business model it would succeed,” Mr Lewis said.
“I’m very proud of Spiire and what we have achieved.”
In recent years, a sideline in property development has grown into a passion and Mr Lewis will make it full-time through his involvement in Development Edge.
Development Edge is behind successful residential developments Seven Creeks Estate, The Vines, Sanctuary Park, Woodlands Estate, Golf Rise Estate, Grammar Park Estate and Providence Field.
“I think like anything in life you are always looking for the next thing, I want to challenge myself and I’m passionate about the development side of things and that is now what I want to do,” Mr Lewis said.
Being involved in multiple residential developments has driven home the importance of the property industry in Greater Shepparton and other surrounding regional towns and cities.
Not only does it support suppliers, trades and small businesses involved in development and construction, but new housing helps the city to grow and prosper.
Mr Lewis said Shepparton still had significant scope for growth and the key was to ensure there was enough zoned land available providing a variety of housing options for the market.
“Town planners always say we need a pipeline of at least 15 years of land zoned for development, but given recent sales activity we are well and truly short of that requirement,” he said.
“Based on developers’ current projections in about two to two and a half years all of the existing estates in Shepparton will be all sold out, with only limited zoned land available for future development at this point in time, which is a real risk for the local housing sector.
“We are seeing people from Melbourne buying blocks with a plan to relocate and work from home.
“Land development, housing and the construction industry is the starting point for one of the biggest sectors of our regional economy, the endeavour of companies like Development Edge is one of the reasons why Shepparton has grown.”
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