Planned medical centre finds a pulse in North Lakes business district

A planned medical centre in a bustling area north of Brisbane will result in four pharmacies within about 200 metres of one another

An artist's impression of a planned medical centre facing North Lakes and Lakefield drives in North Lakes.

CONSTRUCTION of a new medical centre and pharmacy at the heart of a thriving business area in the north of Brisbane may be one step closer to breaking ground.

A company called Lot 72/73 Developments Pty Ltd gained approval on March 11 to build the facility on vacant land in the North Lakes CBD.

The company this month sought approval from Moreton Bay Council to do $80,000 of landscaping and driveway works at the 42 North Lakes Drv site.

If approved, work on the new multimillion-dollar medical centre is expected to start soon after.

The planned medical centre, to be titled Our Medical Home, will offer a general practice, specialists, physio, dentist, pathology, allied health and radiology services.

It would also result in four pharmacies situated within about 200m of each other — with three Chemist Warehouse stores already nearby.

An artist's impression of the Lakefield Drive aspect of a planned medical centre in North Lakes.

There are concerns the development could worsen traffic congestion on Lakefield Drv, particularly on weekends when it gets clogged with vehicles heading into Westfield.

The proposed building faces the intersection of North Lakes and Lakefield drives with access via the adjacent North Lakes Central complex.

“The development has been designed to provide a high standard of visual amenity within the streetscape, and while it is only a single storey building the corner element of the building is designed as an 8.65m high feature to maintain the same height as a two storey building in this location,” the November, 2018 development report stated.

“The scale of the building complements the recently completed Aldi store, which is a single storey building adjoining the western boundary of the site, and the two storey building to the north, which is lower in elevation than the subject site.”

The site, on the corner of North Lakes and Lakefield drives, is 4360 sqm with the building occupying 1691 sqm.

An artist's impression of a planned medical centre at 42 North Lakes Drive in North Lakes.

It will offer 67 carparking spaces, an ambulance bay and a loading bay; it will also be controlled by boom gates to stop workers from nearby businesses parking there.

“Since the introduction of paid carparking at the Westfield site, there has been significant problems encountered with staff and customers using on-street parking, as well as carparking spaces on adjoining developments,” the report said.

“This site in particular has been accessed illegally for staff parking, which has required the erection of additional fencing and barriers to stop this.

“The proposed boom gate system will be controlled by the medical centre to ensure that access is available at all times for staff and patients of the centre, while ensuring that spaces are not occupied by people who aren’t using the site.”