Developer for Toolijooa snubs interview visit

KATINA CURTIS

Above a shopping centre on the busiest road in Cremorne is a discreet office furnished with half a dozen bare desks and a couple of computers.

The rest of the building houses an IGA, Oaks Concierge Apartments, Hotel Cremorne and merchant banker haunt Minsky’s Piano Bar.

This office is the home of Wygiren Pty Ltd, the development company that wants to put more than 1000 houses in Toolijooa Valley.

The man behind the company is Laurence Gill, who turns 45 this week and lives in Neutral Bay.

Australian Securities and Investments Commission records show Mr Gill is the sole directory and secretary of Wygiren Pty Ltd.

He is also the director and secretary of the company that holds 80 per cent of Wygiren’s shares, Buhed Pty Ltd.

Mr Gill is a chartered professional engineer with the Institute of Engineers Australia and holds a current NSW building licence.

The office suite in Cremorne Town Centre Offices says Metro Properties Pty Ltd on the door, another company of which Mr Gill is director and secretary.

The company’s website states that it is “linked to a newly established project management company, equipped to handle works ranging from small buildings to large installations”. This could be referring to Wygiren Pty Ltd, which was established in December 2006.

Although Metro Properties appears to be the most public of Mr Gill’s companies – and the only one with a web presence – they are still not at all open to the media.

The Kiama Independent left several messages at the office and Mr Gill’s home, none of which were returned.

When this reporter went to the Cremorne office and introduced herself, the man in the office said he was not interested and slammed the door shut.

Metro Properties is a development and construction company that has been operating since 1994.

An eight-day Land and Environment Court hearing regarding the Toolijooa application begins on March 27.