Shadforth brothers’ firms behind e-commerce, business park pitch at Tanawha

A renowned Sunshine Coast family has revealed plans for its key landholding, with a massive new e-commerce and business hub pitched for approval. See the plans here.

The site of the proposed new e-commerce business park at Tanawha.

A site once earmarked as a new tourist park is set to become the Sunshine Coast’s next innovation hub if a high-profile family’s bold plans pitched to council are given the green light.

An 82-lot industrial and business park dubbed Sippy Cleantech Enterprise Park has been proposed for a 42ha site at 29 Parkyn Rd and 110 Sippy Creek Rd, Tanawha.

The project was worth about $10m including supporting infrastructure.

The proposal was lodged with the Sunshine Coast Council on October 30, 2023 on behalf of Riversleigh Super Pty Ltd and Habania Pty Ltd.

Australian Securities and Investments Commission documents show the former is directed by Peter Shadforth and the latter John Shadforth, the brothers both prominent, long-time Sunshine Coast businessmen.

The former sand quarry had been earmarked back in 2019 as a new tourist park with an application lodged for 461 short-stay accommodation sites comprised of 306 general sites, 125 RV sites and 30 glamping spaces envisaged as cabins.

The vision had been centred around family entertainment.

The site of the proposed new e-commerce business park at Tanawha.

But a shortfall in the Sunshine Coast industrial market for tech and innovation has triggered a change of tact.

Sippy Cleantech Enterprise Park project manager Sam Williams said the vision was to create a hub for a mix of e-commerce and creative industries.

The site’s rural zoning meant the proposal was subject to an impact assessment.

The site of the proposed new e-commerce business park at Tanawha.

Mr Williams said the site’s proximity to the Bruce Highway and other major roads made it ideal for the likes of high-end clothing manufacturers and similar operations seeking to package and export product.

“We want to create a bit of a hub for the community to utilise,” he said.

Mr Williams said there was a lack of space for creative and e-commerce industries and he wanted to provide sites with office space above, and expected there would be demand for shared working and content creation spaces in their proposal.

He said it would be well placed to tap into the expertise in the growing Harmony estate at nearby Palmview and provide space on what was a “beautiful piece of land”.

Sam Williams.

“We want to create a community within a community,” Mr Williams said.

“We’re trying to create a point of difference and we want to cater to that cross-pollination of industry.”

He said the shift to the innovation space was driven the region’s “overbrimming” talent and a desire to better cater to it after so much growth on the Sunshine Coast.

“It’s about bringing in that missing middle and that talent,” Mr Williams said.

The site of the proposal sits about 800m from Aussie World and near the Sunshine Coast Animal Refuge.

The proposal seeks to provide for future developments up to 12m high from the existing 8.5m limit and for future development to be assessed under industry and business uses, overriding the existing rural zoning.

The rollout was expected to take place in three stages according to planning documents.

Economic analysis documents provided as part of the application found vacant industrial land in the region was predominantly zoned high impact industry and there would be a strong need for the land given the forecast growth to come for the Sunshine Coast.