Boral proposes addressing Gold Coast’s housing, infrastructure, and waste management crisis
Boral proposes addressing Gold Coast’s construction material shortage and landfill constraints.
www.boral.com.au
Boral’s Executive General Manager Queensland Paul Noakes said the company’s application to unlock this State Key Resource Area at Reedy Creek together with the West Burleigh Construction Waste and Resource Recovery Project, provides a considered proposal that would continue the journey of building a better future for Gold Coasters and the surrounding region.
“Boral has been an integral part of the Gold Coast through supplying more than 40 million tonnes of quarry construction materials over the past half century to the Gold Coast’s building and construction industry,” Mr Noakes said.
“The Gold Coast population is projected to reach 1 million by 2046. This requires an additional 161,700 homes and supporting critical urban infrastructure like waste management facilities. The surrounding region is predicted to tip to 5.9 million by 2046 which requires almost 840,000 new dwellings.
“Failing to plan for this future could result in aggregate supply shortages, skyrocketing construction costs and house prices, heavily congested roads and a significant shortage of critical strategic infrastructure and landfill space to cope with the expanding population.”
The twin proposals would see 26 per cent of the 216.7 hectare Reedy Creek site used for quarry development. The current West Burleigh Quarry would transition to resource recovery activities integrated with landfill for construction waste and assist in relieving the strain on the City’s diminishing landfill capacity.
“Feedback and consultation undertaken in recent years has been incorporated into these new proposals, with a reduction in the quarry area a key difference to the past Reedy Creek application,” Mr Noakes said. “There’s been significant thought to the environment which includes protecting 74 per cent of the Reedy Creek site.”
“If there is no replacement for the West Burleigh Quarry in the southern Gold Coast area, construction materials would need to be transported from the City’s north leading to an extra 31,000 extra heavy vehicles on the road annually to meet market demand.”
www.boral.com
