First glimpse at plans for new Roadcraft driving school building

A 40-year stalwart of Gympie’s business community wants to make a major change to its operations, with plans lodged with the council revealing the reasons why.

Roadcraft driver education has applied to move part of its Gympie offices to a new location.

The impact of the floods which devastated the Gympie region in 2022 continues to linger, with long-time driver training school Roadcraft looking to make a major shift as part of its recovery.

The popular not-for-profit, which has been a staple of the Gympie region for 43 years, has asked for permission to move part of its base of operations a few blocks further away from flood-prone land.

The centre is located about 6.5km southwest of the city on Drummond Dr.

Development application documents lodged with Gympie Regional Council reveal the centre wants to move its offices around the corner to Dennis Little Dr.

A relocatable building with office and bathrooms is already on the site, along with a separate shed.

If approved by the council, these buildings would be torn down and replaced by a new office building with three classrooms, kitchen, dining room, staff room and board room.

The proposed new location for Roadcraft’s offices (marked) is a block away from its Drummond Dr home, which flooded in early 2022 when the Gympie region was inundated.

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The new offices will include 10 parking spaces in its basement.

Eight more parking spaces will be available at street level.

Class numbers will be capped at 24 and the not-for-profit has a staff of 20, the application says.

A new office building with expanded parking options is proposed to be built at the Dennis Little Dr block, where a relocatable building is presently located.

The new building would be near the centre’s “brand new, state of the art, purpose-built driver training facility”, the application says, “so it is imperative that the classroom facilities are located in close proximity”.

The previous driver training course was bisected by work on the $1bn Gympie Bypass.

Other facilities, including Roadcraft’s storage shed, would remain at the Drummond Dr property.

The centre has been a key driver of road safety reform since its inception, advocating for an improved curriculum in the ongoing fight to lower the country’s road toll.

Roadcraft’s students include not only school students and motorists, but Queensland’s paramedics too.