Spencer Howson - Bmag

informed
Airport boom on way
A new master plan prepares for dramatic growth at
Brisbane’s airport precinct. Leonie Briggs reports
Queensland’s aviation growth is
driving $1.6billion of commercial and
recreational development at Brisbane
Airport, including hotels and a pitch-and-putt
golf course. This latest expansion is outlined
in the Brisbane Airport Corporation’s (BAC)
recently released property master plan that
seeks to keep pace with the state’s economic
growth and increasing passenger numbers
forecast to more than double to 46 million a
year over the next two decades.
The airport’s strategic access to major
highways, Brisbane’s port and the CBD (only
an eight-kilometre, 20-minute drive) underpins
the master plan’s objective to create a mixeduse
urban precinct around one of Australia’s
busiest airports. The construction program
over the next five years alone comprises 25
buildings, including two hotels, and a range of
retail, industrial and recreational projects.
Work also is due to start this month on the
$1.3billion parallel runway, due for completion
in 2020 and described by BAC’s chief executive
officer, Julieanne Alroe, as the biggest aviation
project in Queensland since the airport
was built. The airport chief, who took up
her appointment in 2009, says construction
activity at Australia’s biggest airport site (2700
hectares) is set to continue for decades. “In
South East Queensland the airport is a vital
connection point to everywhere, regardless
of whether you are in the resource sector,
construction industry, tourism or agriculture,”
Alroe says.
“These all rely on being connected to an
airport to grow and prosper; and if you live in
our part of the world, aviation is always going
to be growing and developing,” she adds.
Alroe says she can’t be more specific about
the proposed hotels and the pitch-and-putt
facility because negotiations are continuing
with interested parties. However, she says a
number of other developments are underway
such as the nearly completed, six-storey
Federal Police building beside the
international terminal, a state-of-theart
flight catering facility for Qantas,
a roadside service centre including
a variety of food and beverage outlets, and new
facilities for freight companies AAE and DHL.
Novotel Brisbane Airport’s general manager,
Alex Penklis, says occupancy has been a
challenge since the hotel’s opening in 2009 but
adds this “is not unusual for a new hotel”. He is
upbeat about the steadily growing conference
market and increasing business from “concerts
and other events” due to the hotel’s convenient
location to venues such as the Brisbane
Entertainment Centre at Boondall.
“We get a significant number of bookings
from people who drive from the Sunshine
Coast or Toowoomba to attend these events,”
Penklis says. Transiting passengers and airline
staff also contribute to the hotel’s bottom line.
Penklis says the growing number of cars in the
Airport Village car park also is a positive sign
Aerial view of the planned airport precinct development
of increased patronage from visitors and the
airport’s 19,000-strong workforce.
The Lord Mayor of Brisbane, Graham Quirk,
says the BAC’s master plan reflects council’s
20-year planning for the city’s economy to
double to $217billion by 2031. Cr Quirk says
global property company, Jones Lang LaSalle,
predicts Brisbane will grow faster than any other
established world city by 2020, including top
performers such as Singapore and Hong Kong.
“There’s no doubt that the challenges ahead
are extensive but, by working in partnership
with all levels of government, businesses and
the education sector, we will be on track to meet
our goal of achieving 1.5 million jobs by 2031,”
he says.
Find out more about the master plan at bneproperty.com.au
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