Brisbane Catholic Education will leave its long-term Dutton Park home for a new headquarters in Woolloongabba

After a long search and a false start Brisbane Catholic Education will move into its new headquarters early next year.

AFTER a five-year search Brisbane Catholic Education will move early next year into new headquarters in the inner city.

The Catholic school support group has a 10-year-lease with an option on a two-level office building at 2 Burke St, Woolloongabba, that was previously occupied by engineering consultants Downer Group which moved to Milton Green in April.

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BCE executive director Pam Betts said the move will consolidate their current headquarters at 243 Gladstone Rd, Dutton Park, and another office in West End.

“We went to the market with a requirement for properties that would meet our needs and we received significant interest,” she said.

“We were looking for 4500sq m of office space, large floor plates, a preference for a lease, to be sole tenants, close to public transport and car parks in the order of about 150.

“We wanted a solution that we could move into sooner rather than later and after a process of elimination we chose 2 Burke St.”

Brisbane Catholic Education’s new HQ at 2 Burke St, Woolloongabba.

BCE initially went to market in 2014 looking to either buy or lease a property and a year later selected Consolidated Properties’ $850 million masterplanned community, Yeerongpilly Green, as its preferred option.

However, Ms Betts said the process ended last year because of timing difficulties and they started looking again.

The new headquarters will hold 430 staff and will only need a minor fit-out. On the corner of Ipswich Rd, the 4800sq m office building also has some warehouse space.

BCE has worked out of its Dutton Park base since 1986. The property is owned by the Corporation of the Trustees of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Brisbane and will be kept by the church.

BCE currently has 141 schools in southeast Queensland which will grow to 142 next year. It has 72,500 students and 12,500 staff.

Ms Betts said the new headquarters has enough room for growth.

“As the system grows we have to continue to look at how we can support the work on the ground,” she said.