Springfield City Group has launched an initiative to find a tender partner to help spearhead its ‘Knowledge Precinct’ project
Latest development is set to turbo charge the project after plans were postponed last year
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THE team behind Springfield’s $15 billion ‘Knowledge Precinct’ have this week launched an ambitious plan to find a partner to help spearhead the project.
Springfield City Group, the developers behind Ipswich’s first-ever master planned community, revealed on Wednesday it would soon start speaking with interested parties.
Chairman Maha Sinnathamby said the latest step forward would “turbo charge” the project based in the booming area’s CBD.
“The main thing to know is that we are looking at world-leading companies to play a role in the development,” he said.
It comes after initial plans to take the tender to market were postponed in February last year.
“There was an attempt to take it to market, but we had to cancel it because of COVID-19,” Mr Sinnathamby said.
“We invited about 30 odd people to a cocktail event in Sydney to explain the project and five days after that we had to cancel the whole lot.”
The precinct is “unconditionally approved” for 1.22 million sqm of commercial space and 5340 apartments on 119 hectares of land.
“We wanted to prove to the market that this is not just a plan or a dream,” Mr Sinnathamby said.
“We are now ready to go and bring an advantage to the market, for others to look at this as an opportunity.”
LOCAL NEWS: Project to generate 20,000 jobs, $12 billion into economy
Construction of the precinct is predicted to generate about 20,000 new jobs.
Long-term, about 35,000 jobs are expected to be created once businesses are opened, further catering to the area’s expected population boom.
Experts believe Springfield’s current population of 46,000 will triple in the next two decades.
Works would also allow the Mater Hospital to grow from 80 beds to 1200 and a full-scale University of Southern Queensland campus to be developed.
Mr Sinnathamby said the project had been widely supported.
“I don’t see why there would be any criticism, it was unanimously passed by Queensland parliament A) and B) has had the support of council and it has enjoyed that for the last 20 years,” he said.
“Anybody who knows about this project and wants to move here knows what the restrictions are and what’s available.
“One of the beautiful things about this project is that of the 3000-odd hectares, many of those would be left for open space.”
Deputy Chairman Bob Sharpless said Springfield was only 25 per cent developed.
“With considerable established infrastructure, eleven schools, residential developments, a hospital, existing local and regional transport links such as highways and two rail stations, and much more, we are already well on our way to becoming an economic centre for southeast Queensland,” he said.
“With the right partnership in place, we will usher in the next chapter for our city.”
Read more stories by Kaitlyn Smith here.
Originally published as Springfield City Group has launched an initiative to find a tender partner to help spearhead its ‘Knowledge Precinct’ project
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