With around 430 owned properties, and another 350 leased, Defence operates one of the largest real estate portfolios in Australia. This diverse estate includes training areas, command headquarters, airfields, ship repair facilities, offices and living accommodation, warehouses and explosive ordinance facilities.

The Defence portfolio therefore includes places important to indigenous people, places prized for their natural and biodiversity values, places which are valued for their Defence history and places which are significant in the broad sweep of Australias history and cultural life. Many places have multiple values.

Defence is one of the largest land and property owners in Australia and is responsible for many of Australias special heritage places. The Defence estate consists of approximately three million hectares of land, some 25,000 facilities, and is valued at around $16 billion.

Woodhead was one of three heritage consultancy firms appointed to an Environment and Heritage Panel in 2004, which will operate for a period of three years.

Panel activities include strategic advice, preparing heritage values assessments, involvement in heritage management projects and support tasks for the Defence Environmental Management System.