Precinct Proposals Bloom as Brisbane Middle-Ring Sheds its Past

For more than half a century, the aroma of freshly-baked doughy delights wafted across Brisbane’s northside from the Top Taste factory on Gympie Road. Ross Elliott remembers it well. “The smell used to be delicious,” the Suburban Futures director says. Part of the city’s middle-ring sensory urban fabric, it was lost when the ovens of the factory at Kedron were shut down in 2020. “Life changes,” Elliott, a pragmatic planning and development strategist, says. “It’s a classic example of a very large site within a precinct that used to be industrial and the industry has gone—clearly, they don’t bake cakes there anymore. The land use is no longer what it’s zoned for and there’s a higher and better opportunity. “And, look, that change is well and truly due. “So it’s exciting to finally see a large amount of capital now looking to repurpose some of these sites to provide the mix of uses that the community is going to need more so than having an empty big shed on their doorstep.” In particular, he is referring to the bold masterplan that has been revealed for the 3.64ha former Top Taste factory site, which in terms of the scale of its proposed buit form has more than a lingering hint of its leavening past. Under the proposal lodged by landowner George Weston Foods, preliminary approval is being sought for Bakery Square—a catalytic mixed-use precinct with a capacity for nine or more apartment towers rising up to 15 storeys. Overall, it would potentially deliver more than 650 new homes alongside retail, commercial and lifestyle amenities through future development permits. Delete Central to the masterplan is a 2500sq m urban common, flanked by outdoor dining and designed as “the beating heart of a future thriving community hub”. Another key element deemed critical for the site’s transition away from its industrial past is the integration of a “green grid”—including a passive linear park link providing pedestrian connectivity between Gympie Road and Bradbury Park, a 6.5ha green space with an innovative playscape that scored the Building of the Year gong at the 2024 Greater Brisbane Architecture Awards. “Bakery Square will act as a catalyst for change … [providing] opportunities to improve broader precinct outcomes beyond the immediate site boundaries,” an Urbis planning report says. The site is one of the largest landholdings in Kedron—about 8km north of the Brisbane CBD—with a 150m frontage to Gympie Road, which is among the city’s busiest transport spines. “Individual landholdings of this size are extremely rare in Brisbane, and especially so in prominent, accessible locations such as this,” the report says. “Bakery Square is one of the most critical locations to establish a new mixed-use precinct, with significant development uplift, on the northside of Brisbane. “Few other development sites can co-locate high density living, a lifestyle precinct and open space. Where they do, they represent high-quality, sought-after destinations. “A modern, mixed-use development generates momentum, by virtue of a substantial population base, for wider conversion of the Kedron industrial precinct to mixed use.” With buildings heights ranging from 12 to 15 storeys, the proposed masterplan is intended to bridge the scale between Chermside’s high-density skyline and the midrise character of Lutwyche. If approved, Bakery Square will be delivered in multiple stages over a decade. And according to the application, the proposed masterplan not only provides the framework for “a city-shaping, urban renewal project” but one which will also “contribute to the supply of much-needed housing, especially within Brisbane’s core residential corridors”. ▲ The Top Taste Factory on Gympie Road at Kedron ceased operations in 2022. By 2041, the Greater Brisbane region’s population is forecast to grow by more than 1.31 million residents, the report notes. “As a result, Brisbane is undergoing significant urban change. This includes densification of inner-city areas and reimagination of precincts across the city, including through urban renewal of former industrial land that is now best suited to infill development.” Elliott, who also chairs Brisbane City Council’s Better Suburbs Initiative, says it is just the begininng. “It’s the start of the evolution of Brisbane into a city of villages,” he says. “This is one of those things that's going to deliver meaningful improvements to the suburbs … and what it will mean is more local access to the sort of quality places that I guess for the last 30 years have mainly been all inner city. “Rather than just everything happening in James Street, New Farm or South Brisbane or West End. “Don’t get me wrong, they’re great places and I’m very proud of what the city’s done there … [but] I’d like to be hearing about the wonders of Bakery Square, Kedron in a similar vein. “I mean, why can’t we have cool little laneway bars and things like that at Kedron. I think now it’s entirely possible.” Heralding what is shaping up as an era of precinct-scale suburban renewal across the River City, last month the green light was given to the masterplan for Australia’s first fully integrated arts village, The Paint Factory . ▲ A rendering of The Paint Factory Arts Village proposed for the former Taubman’s site in the inner-west of Brisbane. The transformation of the old Taubman’s paint factory at Yeronga on a 3.43ha site in the city’s inner-west will include buildings ranging from four to eight storeys—including five residential buildings, paving the way for hundreds of new homes. “The vision for the proposed development is for a vibrant mixed-use community, comprising artist studios, art gallery, artistic training, catering, food and drink outlets, event space, office space, performance space, green space and communal zones, as well as residential uses that support the creative arts,” the planning documents say. Some of the 6800sq m of existing factory structures will be retained and adaptively reused, providing a foundation for the innovative mixed-use precinct. Meanwhile, Runcorn Central—a proposed redevelopment of a historic industrial site into a transit-oriented mixed-use neighbourhood— lodged in 2023 is still going through the planning process. It is understood issues have been raised over the proposal’s potential impact on the adjoining railway infrastructure, including level crossing safety. The submitted masterplan scheme incorporates 931 new homes, 9500sq m of commercial space and 20,400sq m of new parklands. Next to Runcorn train station—about 14km south-east of the Brisbane CBD—the site was originally established as a bonemill in the late 19th century before later being converted to a sawmill and a foundry. The former Franklin’s Sawmill building still stands and is deemed an item of heritage significance. Under the plans, a mix of three to five-storey buildings are proposed for the majority of the site with a central core of buildings up to eight storeys. The Brisbane City Council has identified more than 70ha of industrial land across 14 Brisbane locations that can be transitioned to modern mixed-used residential developments. In May, a major new neighbourhood masterplan for Nathan, Salisbury and Moorooka in Brisbane’s south was greenlit, paving the way for 2500 homes, and lifestyle and employment precincts. As part of the growth corridor plans, the Moorooka Magic Mile—a strip best known for its car dealerships—has been earmarked as a lifestyle precinct, complete with a “shady subtropical boulevard”. It will become home to six sub-precincts to “reinvigorate the area to encourage businesses and improve liveability” with new residential development allowed up to seven storeys. Most recently, the council also launched the Alderley Centre Suburban Renewal Precinct Plan, a blueprint to unlock more housing and jobs in another of the city’s key northside hubs. It joins Mt Gravatt in Brisbane’s south and bayside Wynnum, which the council also has earmarked as suburban renewal precincts. And there are more to come. ▲ A 2023 rendering of the proposed Runcorn Central mixed-use development. “Things are now starting to happen … but I’d like to have seen it all happen much sooner,” Elliott says. “To me, it’s bleeding obvious how some of these areas are just ripe for renewal. “It’s just the reality that sometimes the paperwork can take as long as the building work. “To get a change of land use considered by the council planners, brought to council debate, then supported by the state government and, finally, gazetted and all the rest of it, the whole process can take many years.” Nevertheless, he says the city remains a force to be reckoned with when it finally gets to flex its precinct creation superpowers. “In terms of that legacy of inner urban renewal, we are probably the gold medal winners.” He cites New Farm and West End, as well as riverside Teneriffe. “Now we’re applying the same thinking to suburban precincts…and I think that’s overdue.” But at least there is a faint scent of success in the air—albeit not yet quite as sweet as the odour from a batch of oven-fresh Top Taste jam sponge rolls. “As far as I'm aware, we are the only large metropolitan jurisdiction that has a deliberate policy of looking for suburban renewal opportunities,” Elliott says. “So we’re probably still ahead of other states and other cities. But I'd like to think we could have been even further ahead.”

Precinct Proposals Bloom as Brisbane Middle-Ring Sheds its Past

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