Landmark Toombul sign to come down next week ahead of demolition

Toombul Shopping Centre is finally about to come down, more than a year after it was wrecked in the 2022 floods, with a landmark sign to be demolished next week. SEE WHAT’S NEXT

Toombul Shopping Centre is finally about to come down, more than a year after it was wrecked in the 2022 floods, with a landmark sign to be demolished on March 27.

Structural demolition was due to start almost immediately after that but would take until early next year, depending on the weather.

Local company Rosenlund Contractors moved heavy machinery on to the site a few weeks ago ahead of the demolition.

It has spent the past few months removing hazardous material and installing a watering system to help minimise dust, while Waveconn and TPG worked to move mobile phone towers to a new location on the huge site.

The famous “Big T’’ sign long associated with the northside shopping centre was erected in 1967 and quickly became an icon.

Photographs of it were now in the State Library of Queensland’s collection.

The Toombul Shopping Centre pylon sign fronting Sandgate Rd will come down on March 27. Picture: David Clark

The Big T was removed in 2003. Picture: Reina Irmer/state Library of Queensland

Heavy machinery moved on site several weeks ago.

The Big T was removed in 2003 when the site was redeveloped but was believed to still exist, in a storage shed in Eagle Farm, after a sign collector bought it.

Toombul’s owners Mirvac have yet to lodge a formal development application with Brisbane City Council.

However, last year they promised to include significant public green space and retain the busy bus interchange following community feedback on what locals wanted to see replace the shopping centre.

Mirvac has said a “mixed use’’ project with retail, office and residential space was the most likely option.

The site would also be made more flood resilient, as the area was low-lying and has routinely flooded over the past half a century.