Charter Hall plans $112m mining manufacturing facility for Coles’ Smeaton Grange site

A major investment company plans to build a $112m mining equipment plant in Sydney’s booming southwest, replacing a Coles distribution centre.

An artist’s impression of mining equipment plant at 80 Hartley Rd, Smeaton Grange. Picture: Watson Young

One of Australia’s largest investment firms is set to build a $112m mining equipment facility at Smeaton Grange where a Coles distribution centre will be replaced.

Willowtree Planning lodged plans with Camden Council on behalf of asset management company Charter Hall – which manages over $80bn worth of funds and a $2.8bn property portfolio – for 80 Hartley Rd.

The multimillion-dollar proposal features a 65,628sq m industrial precinct with three large-scale buildings, a private access road and 407 carpark spaces.

A planner said the proposal would provide a “significant economic benefit” by creating employment opportunities during construction and operational phases.

However, Charter Hall did not provide this publication with specifics on the estimated number of jobs the projects would create.

The Coles facility closed down operations at the end of January. Picture: Google

The largest of the three buildings, spanning 24,046sq m and standing 17m high, will house a manufacturing plant producing products for Australia’s mining and tunnelling industries.

Manufacturing operations will primarily involve heavy steelwork, plate presses, product-forming machinery and welding.

Building 3 is the largest in the industrial precinct.

The other two warehouses will be used for storage, distribution and administration, each including 1666sq m of dedicated office space.

If approved, the industrial precinct will produce ventilation control devices, stiffening bolts, ground anchors, beams, trusses and other speciality products for mining and tunnelling.

A planner said the proposal would facilitate “the provision of greater and improved infrastructure; and promoting additional employment-generating opportunities, to the wider locality and community closer to home’’.

The site used to be home to a Coles distribution centre that employed more than 350 people but closed at the end of January.

The other two warehouses will be used for storage, distribution and administration. Picture: Watson Young

As part of its long-term plan to end operations at Smeaton Grange, Coles opened an automated distribution centre at Kemps Creek in August.

“Team members who were interested in redeployment, we support them to identify, where possible, a suitable alternative role in the business,” a Coles spokesman said.

Pending approval, the Charter Hall site will be delivered in three stages, beginning with demolition of the Coles centre, earthworks, and the construction of the first warehouse and a private road. The remaining two warehouses will be built in subsequent phases.

Planners stated that the proposed facility would strengthen the Smeaton Grange industrial precinct and “deliver a more productive Camden”.

Smeaton Grange is a key employment precinct in Sydney’s southwest, with its booming industrial hub and ongoing investments from companies including global delivery giant Amazon.