An application to establish a food and beverage collaborative manufacturing, education and innovation centre in a growing industrial hub has been submitted to Sunshine Coast Council.
It is understood the development application is to create the multimillion-dollar Turbine Precinct, which is touted an Australian-first purpose-built food and beverage project.
The 30,321sqm site, which is owned by the state government, is at Corbould Park.
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The precinct would comprise: a food and beverage manufacturing plant; brewery; distillery; bottling area; warehousing, packaging and distribution space; individual industrial tenancies; education space; and an administration section including office, research space, and staff facilities and recreation area.
The proposed development is impact-assessable and defined as ‘Industry – High Impact’.
The town planning report submitted to council by Adams and Sparkes Town Planning on behalf of the applicant, Turbine Sunshine Coast Ltd, states that a pre-lodgment meeting with council officers was held in August and the proposal was supported in principle.
The application says the planned development involves or may involve commercially producing beverages exceeding 200,000 litres (non-alcoholic) and/or exceeding 400,000 litres (alcoholic) per year; processing dairy products exceeding 200 tonnes per year; smoking, drying or curing meats; and bottling or canning food exceeding 200 tonnes per year.
The facility would allow access by vehicles up to the size of a 26m long B-double, and have a total of 164 car parking spaces.
Turbine confirmed in a statement that negotiations are underway for a site in Caloundra.
The statement says that, when complete, Australia’s first collaborative food and beverage manufacturing precinct will enable SME (small-to-medium enterprise) food and beverage manufacturers to innovate and scale up. The precinct is set to become Australia’s leading industry-based food and beverage research, education and commercialisation facility.
This end-to-end collaborative food and beverage precinct is a world first, and it will provide lucrative opportunities for businesses at all stages and sizes to build, to scale and to export, all under one roof.
The location of Turbine will allow for seamless access to domestic and global markets and it is anticipated that this precinct will be the blueprint for collaborative manufacturing, drawing national and international recognition to the region.
“This project has significant economic benefits to our region and as such, the location is incredibly important,” Turbine CEO and project director Andrew Eves-Brown said.
“We are continuing to lay the groundwork to be able to get this project shovel ready and will be able to provide further updates in the coming months.”
The town planning report says the application also requires referral to the state government.
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