Ray White Commercial Canberra’s Frank Giorgi: Canberra needs more industrial land. Photo: RWC Canberra.
The ACT urgently needs to release industrial land in the right places to adequately service a growing national capital, according to a prominent commercial property agent.
RWC Canberra managing director and head of industrial, Frank Giorgi, who recently brokered the $7.2 million sale of the Bunnings Trade Centre site in Mitchell, said industrial land was drying up in Canberra and selling at a premium.
Mr Giorgi said people complained about a lack of residential land, but it was even worse when it came to property suitable for industrial uses.
“We just don’t release anywhere near enough industrial land, and whenever we do put blocks on the market, we just keep seeing record after record and these prices going up year on year,” he said.
Mr Giorgi said that with Canberra’s growing population and densification, the trend towards online shopping and home delivery would only accelerate, and more land was needed for warehousing and distribution centres instead of the supermarkets and big retailers trucking everything down the Hume Highway.
“We don’t have a Woollies or a Coles large stock warehouse in the ACT,” he said.
“They’re bringing everything from Sydney every day, so you can imagine how many trucks are up and down the highway every day.”
But Mr Giorgi said it was important that any land to be released was in the right place for the logistics companies.
“The only place we have released land is Hume and Jerrabomberra, and a lot of these companies with freight don’t want to be there because they end up spending way more money on petrol than they want to,” he said.
“They need their fleet either in Fyshwick or on the Majura Highway, for example.”
The Eastern Broadacre study area. Image: ACT Government.
The ACT Government has long identified the eastern side of Canberra, or the Eastern Broadacre area, for potential industrial uses due to the area’s proximity to national freight routes, Canberra Airport and existing industrial areas of Fyshwick, Symonston and Hume.
The City and Environment Directorate (CED) has just released a tender for the much-delayed Eastern Broadacre Strategic Assessment (EBSA) that will examine the Majura and Jerrabomberra valleys and pave the way for eventual land releases.
The tender acknowledges that there is no sustainable long-term industrial land supply pipeline, and very limited unleased industrial zoned land to support Canberra’s economic prosperity.
The study will examine the suitability of land for industrial purposes, as well as identify areas and habitats that require protection, including agricultural land.
When complete, CED will submit it to the Commonwealth for approval, which would set in train projects such as an environmental impact statement, rezonings and establishment of new nature reserves.
Mr Giorgi said there would be enormous benefits for ACT consumers and the economy in general if more land became available and urged the government to get a move on with the Eastern Broadacre study.
“If they can get that sorted with a timeline, there’ll be a massive amount of takers for that land,” he said.
The government has its sights on more than just distribution centres, with the tender highlighting sectors such as space, cyber security, defence, renewables and advanced technologies.
The tender says the government realises the urgency of the situation. The successful consultant will need to submit a draft report to CED by September next year and a final report by April 2027.
