Village Building Company managing director Bob Winnel announces retirement

For almost 28 years, Mr Winnel has headed up the affordable housing-focused Village Building Company in the nation's capital and across the eastern seaboard. His plans to retire follow a 14-year saga with land bought at South Tralee for residential development.

Mr Winnel said one of his final aspirations was to see work start on the ground at the controversial site on the border of the ACT and NSW.

"I'm spending the year basically just tidying up a few key aspects of the company, like getting Tralee actually under way," Mr Winnel said.

The development of the land, initially identified as the next corridor for development in the region in a planning strategy adopted in 1998, has been mired in controversy.

The Village Building Company started buying land in the area in 2002, and it was rezoned residential 10 years later. A public spat with the Canberra Airport eventually resulted in a peace agreement being signed in 2013.

When Queanbeyan City Council approves the final applications the company plans to develop up to 2000 homes on the site – much less than the initial projection of 6000 dwellings.

Mr Winnel said it was a "very long and cumbersome process".

"When you take more than three years to get a DA approved to get on to site, that is a long time and it adds quite significantly to costs. Developers don't pay the cost, it's the end home owner that pays the cost."

While Mr Winnel said South Tralee was the greatest planning challenge he had faced in his career, dealing with the building union was also one to chalk up to experience.

He said the ongoing royal commission was the first time he had seen a number of companies at the "big end of town" speak up about the outrageous culture.

While Mr Winnel put up his hand to give evidence, he was told 30 other entities with worse stories than his were selected from Canberra.

"This is the only place in Australia where the industry as a whole spoke up, and said we don't accept this stuff, it's not right."

Mr Winnel will step down in July next year. While his health was the main reason for the decision, he was looking forward to spending more time with his children and grandchildren.