Jeff McCloy is a Belmont boy, born and bred, with deep ties to the Hunter and its people. The father of five, and grandfather of five (soon to be seven) went to Belmont Primary and Belmont High before attaining a Civil Engineering degree at Newcastle University. Out of Uni he headed to Sydney and worked as a site engineer for Lend Lease, before returning to the Hunter.
Since then, he has driven McCloy Group to a pre-eminent position in the Novocastrian building and development community. Newcastle has seen many changes over Jeff’s lifetime and it’s fair to say he has been instrumental in many of them, not only as a developer but also one-time Newcastle Lord Mayor.
“Life is full of uncertainties and doors open everywhere,” Jeff said in reflecting on his journey. “I headed to Sydney out of uni, looking to gain experience. I’d grown up around building sites with my dad (Don Francis McCloy) from about the age of 10 and being a site engineer for Lend Lease on projects like the MLC Building back then was something that, in my role, kind of came naturally for me.”
“But I guess, when it comes to directions in life you look for things that suit your tastes, your styles and your personality and ability. I wasn’t overly in love with living in Sydney and when Dad asked me to come back to Newcastle, well it was a business I felt very comfortable in.”
It was a business that expanded quickly upon Jeff’s return in the early 1980s. Flexibility, innovation and business culture have been the keys to his success, Jeff said.
“We’ve always sought a broad range of contracting jobs so that at any one time depending on economic conditions, you could pivot. You wouldn’t last long if you didn’t.”
McCloy Group has predominantly been a commercial building contractor over the years, and has built for Public Works, Department of Housing and occasionally some Commonwealth projects.
“More lately McCloy Group moved into building communities, aged care facilities and the revitalisation of Newcastle,” Jeff said. “We’ve also played with other things too. At one stage we had an aluminium window making business, and a small earth moving enterprise for our subdivisions. We’ve also run an award-winning barramundi farm up in far north Queensland on the Daintree River and over the years we’ve been involved in hotels like the Jewells Tavern, Mattara Hotel and The Lucky Hotel.”
Jeff lists John Hunter Hospital, Western Suburbs Leagues Club and the construction of various phases of Newcastle University as early highlights for McCloy Group.
More recently the revitalisation of inner City Newcastle, the Telstra Building, City Exchange (the old Hunter Water site), and the old Churchills Building stand out from more than 20 building projects the McCloy Group has had involvement with over that time.
As far as community developments go, standout examples include Green Point, Boat Harbour and Northlakes, but the footprint has extended to places like Lismore, Muswellbrook, Medowie, Raymond Terrace and Maitland.
“We’re also now doing retirement villages,” Jeff said. “With the Hunters’ ageing population, it’s a growth business. We are establishing facilities at Medowie, Newcastle Golf Club and Rutherford to name a few.”
“We treat them like all the communities we build. We go the extra mile with a focus on green spaces, parks, landscaping and facilities because we want to improve peoples’ lifestyles, not set them backwards.”
Perhaps the most ambitious project is yet to come for McCloy Group with the redevelopment of the vast old aluminium smelter site at Kurri Kurri. “The design is spectacular and as usual we have set a very high standard,” Jeff said. “There will be over 2000 homes, area zoned for an industrial site, solar farms and a commercial section for supermarkets and hardware stores and so forth. Almost a whole self-sustaining town, which is something the Cessnock, Kurri, Maitland area has been desperate for.
“It will produce jobs in construction and then ongoing when completed.”
“There will be the usual McCloy Group trademark emphasis on parks, gardens, sporting fields etc. There are attractive natural wetlands and the community can look forward to a sculpture park.I think it will be an exciting opportunity for the area, they’ll have everything that you could ever want at their fingertips.”
These days Jeff lives in Newcastle on the Esplanade with views over the beach and harbour. It affords him a perspective on Newcastle and the Hunter that perhaps few share given the role he has played in kick-starting the revitalisation during his time as mayor, between 2012 and 2014.
“I remember driving around Newcastle back then and being dejected by the amount of buildings dormant on Hunter Street, and the fact young people had to leave the city to get a job,” he said. “I decided to run for mayor, build stuff and try and get some momentum going.”
“There was a lot of good people at the council, but I think needed a bit of direction. I wanted them to be proud and achieve results.”
“I got together with Ken Goldthorpe and we identified the Bathers Way as a project we could achieve incrementally. At the same time the Honeysuckle Corporation was doing up the harbour side of things and the harbour and the ocean were being joined up. It was a real turning point for the city and we saw a lot of results in a very short period of time. I think it gave people on council a lot of pride.”
Jeff feels Newcastle has come a long way now and the momentum won’t stop. “The secret is definitely out about Newcastle and its attractiveness as a place to live and work,” Jeff said.
“People are coming from everywhere now and sales are through the roof. Covid has played a major role, of course, as has technology and infrastructure. The Hunter is home to many new and emerging industries in the wake of the BHP closure and that is attracting people.”
“People can now work from home too, and not necessarily in the same city as where their head office is. So they are looking for houses outside the metropolitan areas where you can have two offices at home for example, as well as enjoy an unbelievable lifestyle.”
On the topic of working from home, Jeff is a fan, to a degree. “Personally, McCloy Group has adapted to it,” he said. “Working from home is not a bad thing at all although I personally want people in my office because that is the way you build a company culture. And company culture is the most vital thing any successful company can have.”
On lifestyle, Jeff enjoys going to the vineyards, or driving to Port Stephens for a meal on the waterfront. “At the same time, I enjoy entertaining and cooking at home looking at the beach and harbour” Jeff added.
Some outsiders may still have a minor hangover about Newcastle and the Hunter being a Steel City and all that, but Jeff believes Novocastrians are well past that. “Newcastle is a beautiful and vibrant place with great restaurants, great local produce and great culture that is only going to keep getting better,” he said.
“The harbour is the largest exporter of coal in the world, we have an expanding international airport at Williamtown, freeways and railways service the valley. Yes there’s been a lot of development and change, and that is important, but what really changes the world, or a country or a town are lots of little things. These things – combinations of a lot of people doing a lot of things – are equally or more important to the evolution of a place.”
“I believe the Hunter will only get stronger and stronger from here, absolutely. More and more people will want to come here, and why wouldn’t you? It’s a great place to work, live and raise your family.”
Hunter Our Backyard | Simon Walker
April 2022