Presented by:
David Laing
Senior Principal
Cardno
13 October 2014
“A Healthy Pipeline of
Employment Lands”
Presentation to NSW State Planning
Conference,
“Making it Happen” Hunter Valley, 15 –
17 October 2014
Who am I?
David Laing, Senior Principal Cardno
 25 year career covering a broad range of environmental and planning fields
 PCA NSW Divisional Council, Chair Illawarra, positions with PIA
 Passion for regional growth
 Key position in various industry groups
 Strong ties with industry especially mining and land development
 Like to think about the ‘big picture’ and opportunities that arise
 Like to do things a little differently and challenge status quo
Views expressed here are not necessarily those of Cardno, PCA, nor my own
Cardno’s Industrial Heritage
A broad range of industrial experience:
 Development – due diligence, concept, engineering,
planning, environment, design, construction, monitoring
 Strategy – Land use studies, master planning, feasibility
assessments, rezoning
 Advocacy – PCA, UDIA, RDA, PIA, i3net, local councils
 Clients – mining, heavy industry, ports and harbours,
transport and logistics, warehousing, manufacturing,
infrastructure and energy, state and local government
What are we talking about? (PCA)
Employment lands are about the creation of jobs close to where
people live.
 Heavy, light industrial, commercial development but not in a
CBD or regional centre
 Warehousing, distribution centres, manufacturing, business
parks and research facilities.
 Lynch pin of the manufacture, storage and distribution of
goods, including fresh food, throughout Australia.
 Ensure employment lands operate efficiently reduces the cost
of goods to the consumer.
 Their success depends on efficient land releases, location,
delivery of infrastructure, and access to transport, including
road and freight networks.
Why are Employment Lands Important? (PCA)
 Jobs growth is critical
 Growing our existing employment base
 Efficient freight movement underpins a strong economy
If NSW does not release, service and develop enough new employment land…
 Associated development and jobs growth will be lost to attractive interstate locations,
such as south east Queensland and Victoria
 People will be forced to travel longer distances to work
 Congestion on roads and public transport will continue to accelerate
 NSW wont be the centre of Australia’s business and investment activities
Changes Globally
 Coming decades will see the world economy shift from
west to east and north to south
 Asia will become even more important to the economy of
Australia
 Local manufacturing will need to specialise to prosper, cant
compete head on with these guys!
 Increased automation, global competition, currency
changes
 More import of goods
 More freight and logistics, rise of intermodals
 More containerised transport and warehousing
Changes Locally
 Industrial market showing sings of recovery post GFC
 Restructuring of traditional industries like BlueScope
 Ongoing expansion of our ports and harbours
 Stronger enquiry rates for warehouse/logistics esp. global/national
operations
 Lower enquiry rates for manufacturing
 Two types of demand – local and national
 Service-based industries
 Also distinguish between developers and industrialists
A State of Perpetual Inaction…PCA
NSW has often failed to identify, release or service employment
land:
 Infrastructure and essential services are missing.
 Land is burdened with excessive and inefficient
infrastructure charges.
 No certainty around the supply pipeline because future
employment land is only being ‘investigated’.
 No comprehensive strategy to manage the rapid growth in
freight movements across NSW.
How we map our supply
How we map our supply
How do we compare to our neighbours ?
Region
Newcastle
Geelong
Ipswich
Wollongong
Natural Attributes
>
Flat developable land
>
International Harbour
>
Proximity to Sydney
>
Flat developable land
>
International Harbour
>
Proximity to Melbourne
>
Flat developable land
>
Situated along transport
corridor
>
Proximity to Brisbane
>
Constrained by Escarpment
and Ocean
>
International Harbour
>
Proximity to Sydney
Current
Pop
Est Pop in 2031
2031 Job Creation
Creation Target
% Pop
Growth
Industrial Land
517,500
652,600
66,000
+26%
936 ha
278,000
398,000
37,000
+43%
539 ha
157,701
434,788
120,000
+176%
1,234 ha
288,100
340,400
24,250
+18%
603 ha
Industry Concerns
Yes we may have enough ‘zoned’ land but there are still significant barriers
to development not recognized in Policy:
 Constrained nature of our urban landscape
 Parcel size / lot fragmentation
 Policy constraints (yes but no)
 Utilities and infrastructure
 Topography
 Environmental constraints
 Overall strategic context
Scope of Study
The DPE responded to the calls from industry and commissioned
Cardno to:
 Review previous industrial land monitoring in the region
 Quantify the type and amount of industrial land supply
 Identify the major physical and servicing constraints
impacting the development of industrial land:
 Bushfire, Flooding, Steep Grades, Biodiversity
 Water, Sewer and Electricity
Preliminary Results
 603ha (19%) out of a total 3,100ha is vacant
 321ha in Wollongong, 264ha in Shoalhaven
 Virtually none in Shellharbour and Kiama
 Physical constraints affect 471ha (78% ) of vacant land
 Bushfire 60%
 Flooding 35%
 Steep Grades 12%
 Biodiversity 3%
 Services to vacant industrial land needs urgent work:
 67% has no sewer, 42% no water, 22% no electricity
Only 46ha (i.e. 7%) of vacant industrial land is serviced and free from physical constraints
Opportunities…
 Identify the critical infrastructure requirements for employment lands esp. improved road
connections and services
 Identify and resolve the policy impediments (esp. state v local controls)
 Coordinate delivery to improve regional competitiveness, monitor supply, collective
marketing and promotion, chase down leads
 What to do with those large transforming industries
 Facilitate major employment generating developments to access streamlined approval
times
 ‘Big Picture’ - esp. in freight and logistics, regional links
So what do we need?
Comment
Score
Size
Is the size of the site suitable for Light industry (ideally >2,000m2) or heavy
industry > 2-5ha?
L/M/H
Landform
Is the landform appropriate for Light Industry (ideally >2,000m2) or Heavy
Industry > 2-5ha?
L/M/H
Do the current (or proposed) Federal, State and Local policies facilitate
development of the site and surrounds (i.e. goods to and from the site)?
L/M/H
Are there any natural hazards (flood, bushfire, stability, PASS, contamination,
airport) or site constraints (ecology, heritage, visual) that would restrict
development
L/M/H
Is there adequate provision of utilities (water, sewer, power, gas,
communications, other) to allow development of the site for the intended use?
L/M/H
Is there adequate provision of suitable road and rail to allow development of the
site and movement of goods to and from the site?
L/M/H
Policy
Hazards/
Constraints
Utilities
Infrastructure
Masterplan and Feasibility Assessment Cont.
Key constraints include:
 Flooding
 Ecology
 Servicing and Infrastructure
The above assessments informed a bulk
earthworks scheme to create developable
areas and precincts.
Next steps - planning proposals, market
analysis, neighbourhood planning
Let’s do things differently!
 Really understand your local strengths, customer base (hi-end, agriculture)
 Address the awkward alignment between spatial planning and economic policy
 Also align State (sector-focussed) with region-specific policy
 Governments needs to be more involved and assume some of the risk – be less reactive and
resist the ‘command and control’ approach
 Identify and focus on clusters of similar industries – understand the system better
 Partner with industry on key initiatives - both ‘top down’ and ‘bottom up’ approaches
 Roll out ‘red carpet’ not ‘red tape’, set up major projects teams
Questions?