Industry welcomes Brisbane’s new industrial strategy

The Queensland property industry has welcomed the release of Brisbane City Council’s new Industrial Strategy, which outlines a number of targeted planning reforms aimed at encouraging investment and job creation.

“Brisbane’s industrial property market has been one of the shining lights of the city’s economy over recent years,” Property Council Queensland Executive Director, Chris Mountford said.

“This new strategy seeks to maintain this growth by removing a number of the obstacles to further investment that are currently being experienced by the sector.”

The Brisbane Industrial Strategy 2019 sets out a new policy and land use direction to manage industrial uses in the Brisbane local government area.

Brisbane City Council have committed to nine actions through the strategy, including amending the City Plan to allow for large-format, high-impact logistics uses within heavy-industrial zoned precincts, and aligning car parking and building height requirements to reflect modern technological requirements.

“It is encouraging to see Brisbane City Council taking steps to keep their planning controls flexible to the rapidly changing industrial sector,” Mr Mountford said.

“Increasingly industrial land is being used for clean high-tech industries and logistics uses servicing an on-demand world.”

“Today you are more likely to find millions of dollars’ worth of robotics and workers in lab coats rather than smoke stacks and overalls.”

“That is why it is so important that our planning system moves with the times and ensures there is flexibility to attract the industrial uses of the future, rather than locking up land in a dogmatic way.”

“By removing some of these investment roadblocks, Brisbane is taking a proactive step towards securing more jobs and investment in the burgeoning next-gen industrial sector.”