Jack Roche's Adelaide Development Company grows to one of nation's largest land developers
Adelaide Development Company managing director from the 1950s, John Roche, selling land packages from the boot of his car.
Image courtesy Adelaide Development Company
Adelaide Development Company, founded in 1922 by Jack Roche, with his family’s third generation still in control into the 21st Century, has remained a South Australian property market leader with commercial enterprises and opening more than 40,000 home sites.
Jack Roche got the jump on his Melbourne rival T.M. Burke in securing prime land around Adelaide in 1922. Between the world wars, Roche again bought land in suburbs to be created by the South Australian Government rollout of tramlines. Roche also set up Estates Development Company in Perth and employed 400 land salespeople across the two states. It was among first to sell allotments on terms helping first home buyers and attracting investors.
More big growth came when son John Roche, as managing director in the 1950s, led an active land buyup, creating much of Fulham, Hope Valley, Holden Hill and Newton suburbs. In the 1960s, John Roche created prestigious projects in suburbs such as Roslyn Park – often selling land from his car’s boot – and developed innovative Wattle Park shopping centre and a ground-breaking 10-flats complex in Ward Street, North Adelaide.
In the 1970s, Adelaide Development Company pioneered partnerships with builders to create house and land packages, with six or seven builders on an estate – leading to the common display village. John Roche was a joint founder of the Urban Development Institute of Australia and the first of three national presidents coming from the firm.
By the 1980s, Adelaide Development Company was one of the largest land developers in Australia – eclipsed only by new public companies and big masterplan communities. Adelaide Development Company adapted, applying principles of estate masterplans to its holdings or entering partnerships, such as with Minda Inc. at Blackwood Park and estates like Flagstaff Pines; Encounter Lakes, Encounter Waters and Franklin Island at Victor Harbor.
