Camp capacity reduced for Gracemere Fitzroy to Gladstone pipeline camp

Capacity at a workers camp for the Fitzroy to Gladstone Pipeline will be changed, with council voting on new plans in a recent meeting.

A workers camp for a major water infrastructure project will be reduced in size with council voting on the change this week.

Councillors at the Rockhampton Regional Council general meeting voted in favour of the minor change to the plans in the general meeting which was held on Monday.

A material change of use application for the workers camp was first lodged with Rockhampton Regional Council in June, detailing plans for a temporary 200-person worker’s camp to be built at Gracemere.

The development permit was approved by council in August.

The camp is to house employees working on the $983 million Fitzroy to Gladstone Pipeline project and is being built at Lot 51 Enterprise Dr in the Gracemere Industry Park.

The original plans for the workers camp for the Fitzroy to Gladstone Pipeline.

The site was strategically chosen as the location for the worker’s camp as it is connected to existing trunk infrastructure, has sufficient area, heavy vehicle access and is located next to the pipe laydown yard.

“Lot 51 was selected given all services are available for connections, its proximity to FGP right of way where working crews will be travelling to daily, and direct access for a-double trucks required for pip deliveries to the laydown area,” the planning report stated.

The worker’s camp is not expected to be used for more than two years and once the project is complete the site will be returned to its pre-existing conditions.

The accommodation facility layout includes a reception, office, kitchen and dining, amenities, gym, laundry, locker room, linen store, storage, communications room and medical room.

The new plans for the reduced workers camp for the Fitzroy to Gladstone Pipeline.

In the original plans for the camp there were to be 50 accommodation buildings that could house 200 people at capacity.

However, under the minor change this will be reduced to 34 accommodation buildings with the capacity reduced to 136 people.

A staging was also proposed to be introduced with stage one construction of the camp to include the first 104 rooms, including camp facilities.

The final 32 rooms would then be added during stage two.

Divisional councillor Ellen Smith said, during the meeting, she was surprised there would be plans to downscale the camp.

Senior planning officer Kathy McDonald explained most of the workers were initially meant to work on the northside of the project, but those workers had since been shifted to the south side meaning they would be staying at camps within the Gladstone region.

The 116km Fitzroy to Gladstone Pipeline was given the tick of state government approval in February this year, with the first pipes arriving on sites in Rockhampton on June 23.