Jobs investment and sustainability in growth corridor

Jobs, investment and sustainability in growth corridorA new retail centre in Western Sydney will service 1.2 million people, create 1,000 local jobs and deliver sustainable outcomes while generating $100 million of investment in one of the nation’s growth corridors.Frasers Property Australia has been awarded development management rights for a major new retail centre of up to ,000 sqm at Eastern Creek in Western Sydney Parklands.The new retail hub will be built in four stages over a five-year period on a 15.7 hectare site on the Great Western Highway, between Rooty Hill Road South and the M7 motorway. Western Sydney Parklands Trust has set aside two per cent of the parklands for business hubs to fund the management of the remaining 98 per cent.”By activating vacant land with low recreational and ecological value, Western Sydney Parklands Trust is generating funds to develop and manage the adjacent Bungarribee Park, expand the 1,000 hectare biodiversity corridor and create more cycling and walking tracks for the community to enjoy,” says the Trust’s executive director Suellen Fitzgerald.As development manager, Frasers Property will contribute an annual access fee and obtain lease proposals for the new centre, with an option to exercise ground leases on the site.Peri Macdonald, Frasers Property’s executive general manager for retail says the new centre will be within a 15-minute drive for 330,000 people and less than 30-minutes away for 1.2 million.”The development will service an expanding catchment and our challenge is to create a shopping experience with the right mix of retailers and services in a place that’s convenient to access and adds value to the local community,” he says.Frasers Property plans to target to a 6 Star Green Star rating for the retail centre and to “investigate the most appropriate renewable energy, rainwater harvesting and waste minimisation options suited to the large-scale site,” Macdonald says.The development is an opportunity to “push the envelope” when it comes to sustainability, Macdonald adds.”By embedding sustainability as a guiding principle from the outset, it creates an energy among the project team and our partners to deliver better outcomes, not just environmentally but socially.”Frasers Property’s The Ponds shopping centre in north west Sydney achieved a 6 Star Green Star rating, and the company is currently involved in the development of what it envisages will be one of the world’s most sustainable retail centres at Burwood Brickworks in Melbourne.”As we’ve found through our work on other leading green retail projects, a sustainable focus is a powerful motivator throughout the duration of a development,” Macdonald adds.Construction of the new Eastern Creek retail centre is expected to begin in early 2017.