The Industry Central employment land precinct in South Murwillumbah may not be officially open yet but it has already proved to be a winner as Tropical Cyclone Alfred bore down on the Tweed.
The innovative project, part of Council's community and business flood resilience program, saw the development of flood-free land at Lundberg Drive (Industry Central) which is to be used in the land swap for flood-prone Murwillumbah businesses.
The earthworks and infrastructure were completed at the beginning of March and an official function was planned to mark the occasion just as Tropical Cyclone Alfred became a threat.
While the official festivities were put on hold, Council decided that the area would prove useful as the threat of flood approached. The precinct was unlocked and businesses were invited to move vehicles and equipment to the site to keep them safe.
Council's decision was welcomed by a broad range of businesses who took advantage of the flood-free parking.
Tweed Shire Council General Manager Troy Green, who was instrumental in creating the Industry Central Land Swap project, said that although this was not what he expected the area's first use to be, it proved that the completion of the precinct was a significant step forward in building resilience into the Tweed economy.
"Industry Central's completed roads were used by many businesses to park their vehicles and equipment out of potential flood zones," Mr Green said.
"This project is evidence that businesses can invest with confidence in the Tweed and is a strong sign that Council is looking at ways to adapt to the impact of climate change by providing flood-risk free, employment-generating land."
JH Williams was one of the businesses which took advantage of the offer to move vehicles to the precinct.
General Manager Lyndon Poirrier said with recent weather events on the Tweed, the company was able to put its flood evacuation plan to good effect.
"In conjunction with our trusted local contractors, we were able to decommission and move our manufacturing facility and the majority of our stock from our site to the elevated land allocated to us in Lundberg Drive in a programmed fashion over the course of 36 hours," Mr Poirrier said.
"The land at Lundberg Drive enabled us to move all our fleet to safety (which we struggled to do previously) ensuring we were able to save it all and re-establish our fleet and manufacturing capacity within a week of the end of the event.
"We would have struggled without the ability to utilise the soon-to-be facility that we are intending to relocate to ASAP.
"This outstanding initiative by the Council will certainly prevent a lot of the horror associated with events of this kind into the future."
Through a land swap agreement, 6 successful applicants will be relocating from flood-risk sites to the new precinct following an expression of interest process. The first to start building will be Tweed Shire Council's new Murwillumbah depot.
For more on Industry Central, visit Industry Central land swap | Tweed Shire Council
