About Us
Our Mission
Our mission is to revolutionise suburban living by creating a sustainable, innovative, and community-focused environment.
We aim to seamlessly integrate advanced agricultural practices with modern technology to provide fresh, locally grown produce, foster educational opportunities and promote a healthy, active lifestyle
Through strategic partnerships, we strive to enhance the quality of life for our residents while setting new standards in environmental stewardship and sustainable urban development.
Vision Statement
Our vision is to develop Pine Gully Agrihood into a model community that embodies the future of sustainable living. We envision a vibrant, connected neighbourhood where residents engage with nature, embrace technological advancements, and participate in a collaborative community.
By aligning with the Wagga Wagga City Council’s strategic goals and leveraging our partnership with Charles Sturt University’s AgriPark, we aim to create an Agrihood that not only supports the well-being of its residents but also serves as a blueprint for sustainable developments around the world.
We are committed to building a legacy that champions innovation, education, and environmental sustainability, ensuring a thriving community for generations to come.
Who We Are
The Thomson family is a fifth-generation primary production family that has lived in and around Wagga Wagga, NSW, for nearly 150 years. Fourth-generation Ronald Thomson was born in Wagga in 1930, and Mrs Thomson was born in Goulburn in 1929. Mr Thomson, now 94, still resides in Wagga today. The family farm, known as Pine Gully, has been in the Thomson family for over a century.
Why are we doing this?
Brent Thomson, grandson of Mr and Mrs Thomson, had a vision to create a lasting family legacy – one that would honour his grandparents and ensure financial security for current and future generations of the Thomson family. His goal is to build something meaningful, something that challenges the status quo and fosters pride among all who live there.
From this inspiration, the Pine Gully Agrihood concept was born.
Four generations of the Thomson family.
Our Team
Brent Thomson
Trustee & Managing Director, The Thomson Estate
Brent Thomson is a visionary entrepreneur and strategist with more than twenty years leading complex initiatives across infrastructure, energy, exploration and sustainable regional development. He serves as Trustee and Managing Director of The Thomson Estate, where he leads delivery of the Pine Gully Agrihood, a $1.5 billion regenerative community integrating housing, renewable energy, agriculture and education. Across the Pacific, Brent is Chief Executive Officer of Laba Holdings Ltd, guiding a community-owned enterprise supporting the PNG LNG Project and broader national development. He also advises the Autonomous Bougainville Government and volunteers with Sea Shepherd Global to advance maritime security and sovereign resilience. As Founder and Chair of GeoScan Australia Pacific, he is commercialising satellite-based magnetic resonance technologies that locate critical minerals and groundwater for ethical resource development. Grounded in legacy through innovation, Brent builds coalitions between government, industry and community to deliver projects that connect people, place and purpose while creating long-term regional prosperity.
Steven Watson
Chief Financial Officer, The Thomson Estate
Steven Watson brings more than twenty years’ experience in audit, funds management and financial governance across Australia’s property, infrastructure, education and government sectors. His background spans listed entities, private enterprises and public institutions, giving him deep fluency in complex reporting frameworks, risk management and transparent stewardship. As Chief Financial Officer of The Thomson Estate, Steven leads capital strategy, cash-flow governance and investor reporting for the Pine Gully Agrihood and related ventures, ensuring disciplined deployment of capital and project-level accountability from feasibility through delivery. He has previously served as Chair and Deputy Chair on Local Government Audit and Risk Committees, strengthening oversight of public accountability and regulatory compliance. Steven’s pragmatic, data-driven approach aligns commercial objectives with robust controls, supporting lender confidence, responsible procurement and long-term value creation. His leadership anchors the Estate’s financial architecture so visionary planning is matched by sound funding structures, clear performance metrics and timely, transparent communication with stakeholders.
Jeff Thierfelder (1972 - 2025)
Project Director, Planning & Architecture (Legacy)
Jeff Thierfelder (1972–2025) was a gifted planner and architect whose leadership helped shape some of Australia’s most sustainable communities. As Project Manager for planning and architecture at the multi-award-winning Witchcliffe Ecovillage, he oversaw urban design, approvals and design governance that set new national benchmarks for sustainability. Witchcliffe received AILA’s Garden and Infrastructure Award (2023) and UDIA’s Sustainability and Project of the Year (2024), recognising the calibre of Jeff’s contributions. Jeff worked with Brent from Pine Gully’s inception, helping to frame a regenerative, community-led vision and disciplined delivery approach. His mentorship, curiosity and generosity of spirit left a lasting imprint on collaborators and the profession. The Thomson Estate acknowledges Jeff’s enduring influence on Pine Gully Agrihood, where his commitment to excellence, creativity and environmental integrity continues to guide decision making. His legacy lives on in places that care for people, country and future generations. We honour his memory by pursuing outcomes that are practical, beautiful, and profoundly restorative.
Tom Goode
Director, Planning & Co.
Tom Goode is an accomplished urban planner with more than twenty years’ experience leading rezonings, planning proposals and complex approvals across New South Wales and Victoria. As Director at Planning & Co., he specialises in statutory strategy, policy alignment and multidisciplinary coordination that translates visionary concepts into deliverable pathways. For Pine Gully Agrihood, Tom leads the approvals stream, shaping the state-assessed Planning Proposal, development application strategy and integration of technical studies including traffic, flood, ecology and infrastructure servicing. He works closely with Wagga Wagga City Council and state agencies to align the project with the Northern Growth Area Structure Plan while maintaining commercial viability. A long-standing contributor to the Property Council’s Residential Committee, Tom brings current market insight and practical understanding of government process. His measured, solutions-focused approach bridges design ambition and statutory requirements, reducing risk, compressing timelines and enabling confident investment decisions for complex regional projects. Tom’s leadership emphasises clear decision gates, early issue resolution and rigorous documentation.
Craig Allchin
Director, Six Degrees Urban
Craig Allchin is an award-winning architect and urban designer recognised for city-shaping work across Australia and Asia. As Director at Six Degrees Urban, he brings decades of experience spanning metropolitan strategies, mixed-use frameworks and regenerative placemaking that elevate liveability and long-term value. Craig contributed to Sydney’s Metropolitan Strategies (2005, 2010) and has led major urban renewal studies from Melbourne to Shanghai, aligning market feasibility, transport integration and design quality. For Pine Gully Agrihood, Craig provides senior design oversight and urban strategy, ensuring street networks, centres and landscapes cohere as a legible, resilient neighbourhood. He fosters collaborative problem-solving between planners, designers and engineers so spatial vision and statutory pathways remain aligned. His approach blends creativity and technical precision, producing outcomes that respect context, unlock economic opportunity and strengthen community identity. Craig’s guidance helps Pine Gully set a benchmark for sustainable regional living and enduring place value. He is committed to practical excellence and measurable, people-centred outcomes.
Bob Barton
Creative Director, Mala
Bob Barton is a respected designer and placemaker whose work sits at the intersection of ecology, culture and community. As Creative Director at Mala, he leads integrated projects that restore landscapes, celebrate local identity and enable meaningful, enduring places. Bob’s portfolio spans regenerative land-use, tourism and public-realm design, delivering outcomes that balance environmental stewardship with economic vitality. For Pine Gully Agrihood, Bob co-leads the design narrative and landscape integration, shaping public spaces, green corridors and farm interfaces that connect people to country and everyday life to nature. His process combines deep listening, collaborative workshops and evidence-based design to translate community values into spatial form. Bob’s storytelling through design builds attachment, encourages stewardship and strengthens social cohesion. By aligning landscape function, cultural expression and regenerative management, he helps create a distinctive, purposeful place that feels authentic on day one and grows richer over time. His guidance ensures beauty, productivity and resilience are embedded as everyday experiences.
Darren J. Doherty
Founder & Principal, Regrarians
Darren J. Doherty is a globally respected authority on regenerative agricultural design with three decades of practice across five continents. Beginning as a professional agricultural planner in 1993, he has refined a pragmatic approach that couples ecological restoration with profitable enterprise. His innovations in landscape hydrology, tree systems and soil building underpin resilient farms and regional food security. At Pine Gully Agrihood, Darren advises on the integration of regenerative farming, water-smart systems and carbon-positive management within the masterplan, linking food production, biodiversity and community wellbeing. He mentors the project team on staged implementation, risk-aware operations and measurable outcomes, ensuring systems are robust, teachable and economically sound. Darren’s work demonstrates how regenerative design can rebuild natural capital while strengthening local economies and culture, providing a compelling model for future regional communities. His decades of training and on-ground delivery inform a practical playbook that integrates farm enterprise, landscape repair and community education, turning principles into everyday practice at precinct and paddock scales.
Michelle Calleja
Associate Director, Mesh Planning
Michelle Calleja is an Associate Director at Mesh Planning and an accomplished urban designer known for community-centred masterplanning and sustainable neighbourhoods. Her practice synthesises social, environmental and commercial drivers to deliver human-scale places with strong spatial legibility and credible implementation pathways. For Pine Gully Agrihood, Michelle leads the urban design strategy, coordinating street networks, block structures, housing typologies and mixed-use anchors that support everyday amenity and regional prosperity. She works closely with planning, landscape and engineering partners to ensure concepts remain feasible, staged and approvals-ready. Michelle’s collaborative facilitation and evidence-based design process translate vision into clear diagrams, controls and illustrative material that inform statutory documents and community engagement. With a focus on inclusion, walkability and climate resilience, she helps set a new benchmark for sustainable regional living while preserving local character and celebrating connection to landscape. Her leadership emphasises transparent decision making, disciplined iteration and measurable outcomes across each project stage.
Yota Kojima
Yota Kojima is a Senior Consultant Urban Designer at Mesh Planning with extensive experience in masterplanning and landscape architecture across Australia and New Zealand. His work bridges ecological systems and urban design, focusing on creating resilient, human-centred environments that integrate natural processes, culture, and community. At the Pine Gully Agrihood, Yota leads refinement of the built-form strategy, residential typologies, movement networks, and public-realm interfaces to align with the project’s sustainability and innovation objectives. His expertise in 3-D visualisation, digital modelling, and iterative testing enables the team to translate complex spatial ideas into visually engaging, contextually responsive, and technically robust outcomes. Collaborative and analytical by nature, Yota works to align consultants, specialists, and technical teams around a shared design vision. His commitment to adaptability, long-term durability, and design excellence ensures that the spaces created within Pine Gully Agrihood are practical, elegant, and enduring. Through his work, Yota helps shape a community where people, landscape, and purpose thrive together.
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