Bunnings $131m tick for the future of Ipswich city

AUSTRALIA’S biggest hardware group has stamped the future of Ipswich City with a massive $131 million investment.

AUSTRALIA'S biggest hardware group has stamped the future of Ipswich City with a massive $131 million investment.

Bunnings has just opened a new store at West Ipswich and before the year is out they will have two more warehouses operational in the city.

Work started late last year on a Bunnings store for Bundamba and now construction is underway on a $38 million store at a site next to the Orion Shopping Centre at Springfield Central.

Bunnings Chief Operating Officer Peter Davis said the new Springfield store would be 16,000 sq m, which was slightly bigger than the warehouse recently opened at West Ipswich.

Each new Bunnings store brings with it a host of job opportunities for district residents, with the three new stores combined expected to produce around 500 positions.

The construction phase of the project will also generate jobs with more than 270 workers required.

The new Springfield warehouse will also include an indoor playground, cafe as well as parking for more than 300 cars.

The Bunnings project at Springfield Central falls in line with the current unprecedented expansion of the Springfield precinct.

The GE building, which will be home to hundreds of workers, is nearing completion, the Mater medical precinct is under way, the Robelle Lagoon water park project has started and later this year the second stage of the Orion Shopping Centre should open to the public.

Added to this was the recent announcement that a $500 million- plus resort will be built at Brookwater.