Housing plans for Boral’s former Perth site
The new owners of Boral’s former brickmaking site in Perth will trim the size of the operation to make way for a mixed-use industrial and residential offering.
Midlands Bricks was sold by building products group Boral last month to a West Australian consortium comprising Linc Property, Birchmead, and Fini Group.
The consortium says much of the 83ha site in the suburb of Middle Swan is effectively redundant and used for storage.
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It now hopes to fully capitalise on the site by confining the operations of Midlands Bricks to the northern corner of the site.
This will allow for a large scale redevelopment of other areas. While a preliminary site plan has yet to be released, the consortium noted opportunity for residential development along the riverside edge of the area.
“We believe that consolidating operations at the site will result in surplus land areas that can be used for high quality in-fill development over time,” a spokesman for the consortium says.
“We believe approximately 83ha can be developed over time for a combination of industrial, commercial and residential in-fill,” the spokesman says.
“Areas of the site can provide excellent residential amenity close to the Swan River, Midland and Guildford Town Centre and other suburbs; along with commercial and industrial uses that complement the site’s access to key transport infrastructure like Reid Highway, Great Northern Highway and Perth airport.”
Most of the site is zoned for industrial use, with a smaller portion allocated to residential use. The consortium is expected to lodge an application with the Department of Planning and the Shire of Swan to expand the amount of approved residential land.
The deal with Boral is expected to be settled by the end of the year. Once finalised, construction is slated to begin soon after, with the first residential lots anticipated to be released in 12 to 18 months.
The consortium previously collaborated on the Tonkin Highway Industrial Estate, 8km from the Perth CBD.
Boral sold the site after a tough year, with the soft residential housing market dragging down the company’s Australian arm.
This article originally appeared on www.theaustralian.com.au/property.
