Ipswich has positioned itself as the next manufacturing and defence capital of Queensland, pointing to an 8,000-hectare pipeline of future industrial land that dwarfs every other council area in South East Queensland.
Ipswich City Council has set out its pitch to investors, developers and major employers in a new prospectus, The City of Ipswich: Space to Grow, released this month. The document argues that as Brisbane’s industrial land supply nears exhaustion, Ipswich is the only SEQ city with the scale, zoning and connectivity to absorb the next wave of advanced manufacturing, defence, logistics and production investment.
An 8,000-hectare industrial runway
The council says Ipswich has a potential industrial land supply of 7,923 hectares – a figure it claims is greater than all other South East Queensland local government areas combined. That land, earmarked for commercial and industrial use, sits alongside a network of planned new employment precincts designed to absorb big-footprint tenants as sites in Brisbane, Logan and the Gold Coast thin out.
Ipswich Mayor Teresa Harding said the city was uniquely placed to attract advanced manufacturing, defence, production, innovation and logistics operators.
“Ipswich is in a prime position to help bring manufacturing back to Queensland and Australia,” Mayor Harding said.
“As a proven location for industry to thrive, Ipswich is HQ to operations of companies including Goodman Group, Coles, Suntory Oceania, JBS, Rheinmetall, L’Oréal Groupe, Australia Post, FedEx, TAE Aerospace, Visy, CHEP, Sunny Queen, Bombardier, DB Schenker and Bapcor. Officeworks and Asahi are also building large-scale facilities in Ipswich.”
According to council figures, manufacturing and defence are already the city’s two largest industries, contributing around 60 per cent of its $8 billion in annual exports.
A tightening SEQ market
The prospectus lands at a moment when industrial land supply is emerging as one of SEQ’s most pressing development constraints. Brisbane is projected to run out of developable industrial land within a matter of years, and several councils on the city’s fringe are nearing capacity on their serviced estates.
“The region overall is facing challenges when it comes to industrial land supply, with Brisbane predicted to run out in a matter of a few years,” Mayor Harding said.
“Ipswich stands ready to cater for the land requirements of a range of industries. Our city has a proud history of manufacturing and it remains one of the largest employers of any industry in our city.”
Property Council of Australia Queensland Executive Director Jess Caire has endorsed the prospectus, calling Ipswich a natural home for the state’s next phase of industrial investment.
“Ipswich’s scale, land availability and industrial capability position it as a natural home for Queensland’s next phase of manufacturing and defence investment,” Ms Caire said.
“As pressure builds on industrial land supply across South East Queensland, Ipswich stands out as one of the few locations able to accommodate major employers at the scale they need. This kind of long term, jobs focused investment is critical to strengthening productivity, supply chains and economic resilience for the entire region.”
Officeworks doubles down on Redbank
One of the most visible signals of that appetite is Officeworks’ new Omnichannel Distribution Centre, currently under construction at Redbank Motorway Estate. The highly automated facility is one of the largest logistics projects underway in SEQ.
“This is a significant investment in the future of Officeworks and in how we better serve our customers across every channel to bring their big ideas to life,” Officeworks Managing Director John Gualtieri said.
“Located in Redbank, with strong access to key transport links and a growing local workforce, this highly automated, future-ready Omnichannel Distribution Centre will help simplify our operations, create hundreds of local jobs, and support our team with a safer and more modern workplace.”
Workforce, catchment and incentives
Council is also selling Ipswich on demographics. The city’s population of 270,000 is forecast to more than double to over half a million by 2046, driven by priority residential growth areas, and its median age sits below the Queensland average. Its location – bordering Brisbane, Logan, Scenic Rim, Lockyer Valley and Somerset – is pitched as a gateway to the state’s west and a catchment of millions.
Mayor Harding said the city’s $15 billion economy is growing at 4.2 per cent a year, with more than 13,000 businesses and 95,000 jobs, and that council’s Economic Development Incentive Policy would continue to target “high value projects” that drive capital investment and job creation.
“We want to ensure Ipswich is the manufacturing and defence capital of Queensland, so that investment flows through our economy and leads to job opportunities for our residents, while also benefitting our fast-growing region and country more broadly,” Mayor Harding said.
The prospectus, The City of Ipswich: Space to Grow, is available via Ipswich City Council. Businesses interested in expanding or relocating to the city can contact [email protected].
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This would be a great solution to Brisbane’s housing crisis
Push all the industrial buildings out of Brisbane Council, and rezone the land for residential development.
A win-win: industrial companies score big-time by selling up their premium land. And residential developers get to add the missing medium density that Brisbane is severely lacking.
Bonus points -three to five storey residential buildings will need to excavate down for basement parking -which will help clean up old industrial sites with hazardous soils.