RNA Showgrounds Brisbane « Bees Nees The Buzz

Posts Tagged with RNA Showgrounds Brisbane

A glimpse into Brisbane’s future

Posted by Rob Honeycombe on 12 October 2009

We were recently asked to dust off our crystal ball for www.ourbrisbane.com and paint a picture of inner Brisbane in the year 2020. No Jetsons-like spacecraft but it still takes some getting your head around!

“I closed my apartment door and while I waited for the lift to climb to the 25th floor I glanced across to the city skyline, its buildings piercing the morning clouds and soaring through them. A quick stop for my usual caffeine fix then down into the subway for the two minute commute under the Brisbane River to Eagle Street station.”

Brisbane’s property landscape will change enormously over the next decade. An imaginary day in the year 2020 will include a Gabba resident calling a 25th storey apartment their home. A new, high speed subway will likely link that suburb, and many inner suburbs, with the offices of the lower CBD. With a scarcity of land, its office towers will probably top 100 storey.

It might be mind boggling but this vision of Brisbane is almost here.

Our population continues to grow and taller buildings are being encouraged to house these new arrivals. Many middle-ring Brisbane suburbs will resist the trend, residents unhappy for ‘seismic’ change in their neighbourhoods. But change will be relentless in the inner city as light industry and other land uses make way for apartment development. Huge tracts of land in Bowen Hills, the RNA Showgrounds amongst them, are already in planning. The Gabba, South Brisbane and Milton are some of the suburbs that will look very different by the year 2020.

The landmark Fourex brewery may well be redeveloped into apartments, shops and, hopefully, a bar or two!

Despite the State Government’s plan to decentralize its workforce by pulling 20% of its offices out of the CBD, the demand for central office space will see heights rise. Our city centre will also spread, crossing the river as South Brisbane accommodates 30 storey offices. More bridges and more tunnels will link Kangaroo Point, New Farm, Toowong and West End.

Council will spend more on parklands, greening the city like never before to counter its ‘urban-ness’. North Bank will be developed, a substantial green belt and dining precinct lining the Brisbane River alongside offices and apartments that straddle and veil the Riverside Expressway.

Planners will take advantage of this greater population, encouraging streetside cafes, arts precincts, entertainment options and cosy laneway bars. The Parmalat site (Paul’s Milk) in South Brisbane might even be the site of Brisbane’s own Opera House …

Adding almost half a million new residents by 2020, Brisbane will not be the same city as it is today. For better and for worse.

Visit the real estate pages of www.ourbrisbane.com for more interesting articles.

Tags: Bowen Hills Brisbane, Brisbane River, Eagle Street Brisbane, Fourex Milton Brisbane, Kangaroo Point Brisbane, Milton, North Bank Brisbane, ourbrisbane.com, Parmalat site South Brisbane, population growth Brisbane, Riverside Expressway Brisbane, RNA Showgrounds Brisbane, Toowong Brisbane, Woolloongabba Brisbane
Posted in Brisbane CBD, Brisbane's future & new infrastructure, Brisbane's rental market, South Brisbane and South Bank, West End, Woolloongabba, trends in Brisbane property | No Comments »

Ekka redevelopment to keep dagwood dogs coming

Posted by Rob Honeycombe on 6 August 2009

Ekka time in Brisbane with the RNA’s major show starting today. Amazingly the Ekka’s been held at the same RNA showgrounds for over 130 years and thanks to some careful redevelopment planning it may continue for a long time yet. The Association announced in May it had appointed Lend Lease as its “Preferred Development Partner” for the 22 hectare (50+ acre) site. Ideas and plans have been tossed around for a couple of years but there’s now a company involved who can make it all happen.

To put this in perspective the Ekka showgrounds are 30% bigger than South Bank, have a railway station at their centre, are comfy walking distance from most of the CBD and are smack bang amongst inner Brisbane’s rapid growth suburbs. And while they do host plenty of non-Ekka events, for most of the year the site’s locked off as an impenetrable island.

There’s a lot of planning to come yet but with a likely value of $3billion and a 15 year timeline (GFC’s and property cycles to be considered) the RNA redevelopment could have a massive impact on the inner city. The planning logic so far is good: protect genuine heritage buildings, make the site active every day of the year, build offices and shops, make room for new apartments, create walkways and bike paths so the site can be traversed and is more integrated into its neighbourhoods and front new buildings onto existing road infrastructure of St Paul’s Terrace, Exhibition and Brookes Streets.

One exciting idea is the establishment of a big fresh produce market. It’s a nice fit with the Ekka’s brand and would be a winner given the popularity of markets like Davies Park and the Powerhouse. Around 5 hectares of the whole site will be developed. And hopefully generate an income for the RNA to ensure it can run the Ekka, and the remaining site, efficiently into the future.

We do wonder if some of the planned densities and heights are too conservative though. Most new buildings seem to be proposed as 8 storey with just one lot of 20 levels. Sites close to heritage buildings couldn’t be included and we do need sunlight and a sense of space. But with such easy access to the full amenities of the inner city isn’t this one of those opportunities for thinking big?

When that first Ekka was held in 1876 Brisbane’s population numbered just 22,000. Now that our city has almost 100 times the residents our key inner city landholdings like the RNA showgrounds need forethought like we’ve never used before.

We’d love to hear your comments.