Australian construction and property industries tackle modern slavery
On the international day of remembrance of victims of slavery, new research reveals the lengths Australian property and construction businesses are going to to end the scourge
3 min
Concerns about modern slavery usually focus on the garment and technology sectors but new research in Australia has focused on ways of identifying and dealing with the scourge in construction supply chains.
The Property Sector’s Modern Slavery Act Response Research Project is a joint project between Bond University, Better Sydney and Informed 365, an Australian tech company focused on monitoring compliance and supply chain transparency under the Australian Modern Slavery Act 2018.
The Act mandates annual reporting for companies with revenues of more than $100 million. The Global Slavery Index 2022 estimates that modern slavery accounts for nearly 50 million worldwide. Since the Act was introduced, company boards have been held responsible for public statements made by their companies on their abilities to assess and manage the risk of modern slavery in supply chains. The construction industry is considered to be particularly vulnerable thanks to the lack of visibility over long and complex supply chains, as well as the high demand for a low-skill labour force.
The research project, released to coincide with the International Day of Remembrance for the Victims of Slavery, was tasked with examining the Australian industry’s ability to cope with assessing and managing reports of slavery in the supply chain. It follows on from the launch of the Property Council Supplier Platform in 2019 by the Property Council of Australia and Informed 365 to provide a digital platform for the local property and construction sector to collect, compare and understand supply chain data on human rights and modern slavery.
Supply chain slavery issues are notoriously complex to identify but Property Council national policy director Francesca Muskovic said modern slavery in construction impacts millions of people in Australia and abroad and needed to be addressed at a national level.
“Our industry provides jobs for more than 1.4 million Australians – more than mining and manufacturing combined. This extensive influence places us in a unique position to address the social impacts of our activities and improve people’s lives,” Ms Muskovic said.
She said despite the challenges, the Australian construction and property industry sought to improve human rights outcomes both here and overseas.
“Our supply chains are geographically diverse, multi-tiered and complex. Understanding the human rights and modern slavery risks within them is essential in helping the industry make their supply chains more ethical and sustainable,” Ms Muskovic said.
“The property sector has forged a world-leading position on environmental sustainability, and it is pleasing to see leaders continue to step up their efforts on social sustainability.”
The research revealed that while 88 percent of suppliers to Australia’s leading construction and property firms understand what modern slavery is and 44 percent reported they had processes in place if a human rights incident or modern slavery was identified, smaller firms were less prepared.
“Many smaller firms were not aware of supply chain issues due to a lack of engagement, resources or audits, so there were mixed results in terms of supply chain mapping and risk assessment,” said Robin Mellon, CEO of Better Sydney, Board member for the UN Global Compact Network Australia, and Project Manager for the Property Council’s Human Rights and Modern Slavery Working Group.
“The report found 56 percent of suppliers who assessed their supply chains beyond their own immediate suppliers found some human rights issues or concerns, showing how important it is to investigate all levels of supply chains.”
Designed to better understand the challenges, strengths and opportunities for the property sector to improve its response to slavery, the research is part of Australia’s ongoing contribution to eradicating it worldwide.
Mr Mellon said access to resource materials are key to helping property and construction businesses stay informed.
“There are now excellent learning materials available through the Property Council, the UN Global Compact Network Australia, and anti-slavery organisations to help engage, educate and support suppliers towards continuous improvement,” he said.
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Jack Freeman believes the most compelling interiors are not decorated, but collected. The FREEMAN & CO founder creates layered, personal spaces shaped by art, travel and craftsmanship.
4 min
For Jack Freeman, a compelling interior should not look as though it was completed in a single shopping trip.
The founder and designer behind FREEMAN & CO prefers rooms that develop through art, travel, commissioned furniture and objects collected over time. It is an approach that treats the home less as a decorative project and more as an evolving portrait of its owner.
“I am a true believer in collecting versus decorating,” Freeman says.
That distinction underpins the international practice he has built across private residences, hotels, property developments, yachts and private aviation. Its projects stretch from Point Piper, Vaucluse, Circular Quay and Toorak to Mayfair, Bel Air and the Caribbean.
Although the locations and architecture vary considerably, the work is connected by a restrained design language. Natural stone, warm timbers and sculptural furniture establish the foundation, while art, bespoke lighting and individual objects give each interior its identity.
The objective is not to overwhelm a room with obvious symbols of expense. It is to create an environment that feels calm, layered and particular to the people living within it.
“The greatest luxury isn’t about excess,” Freeman says. “It’s about creating an oasis where you come home and feel immediately grounded — effortlessly chic and deeply personal.”
Collecting instead of decorating
Decorating can imply the completion of a room: selecting the required furniture, filling the available walls and producing a coherent finished image.
Collecting is less conclusive.
A collected interior has room to change as its owners travel, discover artists, inherit pieces or reassess how they use their home. Its character comes from the relationship between objects rather than adherence to a single brand or season.
That does not mean placing unrelated pieces together without discipline. The designer must understand scale, proportion, material and provenance well enough to create a dialogue between them.
A contemporary artwork might sit beside a historic piece of furniture. A precisely detailed new interior may be interrupted by an irregular object made by hand. Smooth stone can be balanced by timber, textiles or a patinated metal surface that becomes richer with age.
The tension between those elements is part of the appeal.
For Freeman, art is not an accessory to be added once the furniture plan is complete. It forms part of the architecture and atmosphere of the room from the beginning.
Lighting is considered in the same way. Beyond its practical purpose, a bespoke fitting can operate as a suspended sculpture, changing both the room’s composition and the way its materials are experienced after dark.
A design perspective shaped by travel
International travel plays a significant role in Freeman’s creative process.
Design fairs such as PAD Paris and Salone del Mobile in Milan provide opportunities to encounter emerging designers, established galleries, new materials and collectible furniture away from the filter of social media.
More spontaneous discoveries can prove equally important.
“Sometimes it’s the simple things,” Freeman says. “That piece found on a shopping trip with a client in Paris, stumbling across an artisan’s workshop, or a special memory that forms the narrative of the story.”
Objects selected during travel bring more than visual interest into a home. They carry an association with a place, maker or experience, giving the client a connection that cannot be reproduced by ordering an entire interior from a catalogue.
Freeman’s influences are international, but his projects are not conceived as replicas of Parisian, Milanese or Californian style. Each commission responds to its architecture, setting, natural light and the daily lives of its occupants.
A waterfront Sydney residence demands a different treatment from a Mayfair townhouse. A Caribbean estate shaped by brutalist architecture and reflecting pools calls for another response again.
The designer’s role is to absorb those references without allowing them to overwhelm the individual qualities of the property.
Designing the complete experience
FREEMAN & CO extends beyond conventional interior decoration.
The practice’s stated services include interior design and architecture, project management, property acquisition, development advice, concept design, documentation, furniture and lighting design, procurement and art curation.
That breadth allows the team to become involved before a room’s dimensions and finishes are fixed.
Early participation can be important at the top end of the residential market, where architecture, landscape, interiors, technology and art must operate as one environment. Decisions about ceiling heights, wall dimensions, sightlines and lighting can directly affect where art is installed or how custom furniture is proportioned.
The practice can then carry those decisions through to procurement and final installation, maintaining the design narrative as a project moves between architects, builders, specialist craftspeople, dealers and suppliers.
Its residential portfolio includes a South Coast retreat conceived as an escape from urban life, a Caribbean estate with reflecting pools, an East Coast-inspired Palm Beach residence and a Mayfair townhouse organised around an expressive drawing room.
The studio also says it has worked on highly tailored Sydney residences with values exceeding $100 million, although the private nature of such commissions means individual addresses and clients are not always disclosed.
A home that can keep changing
The risk in creating a perfectly resolved interior is that it can become too static — a composition that looks exceptional in photographs but leaves little room for life.
Freeman sees the home as something that should evolve with its owners.
“I love the evolution of design,” he says. “We are talking about people’s lives, and as they evolve, so too should their private sanctuaries.”
That evolution might involve adding art, reupholstering a significant piece, adapting rooms as a family changes or making space for objects gathered through future travels.
The original design needs to be strong enough to accommodate those layers.
This may be the clearest expression of Freeman’s approach to luxury. It is not simply access to rare stone, collectible furniture or commissioned craftsmanship. It is the creation of a personal environment whose meaning deepens rather than diminishes with time.
Fact box
- Designer: Jack Freeman
- Role: Founder and managing director
- Practice: FREEMAN & CO
- Base: Australia, with international projects
- Project locations named by the practice: Point Piper, Vaucluse, Circular Quay, Toorak, Palm Beach, the NSW South Coast, Mayfair, Bel Air and the Caribbean
- Sectors: Private residences, hotels, residential developments, private aviation and superyachts
- Services: Interior design and architecture, property development, project management, property acquisition, documentation, furniture and lighting design, FF&E procurement, interior dressing and art curation
- Design philosophy: Collected, personal interiors shaped by art, craftsmanship, travel and enduring materials
- Website: free-man.co
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