BlueScope’s Michael Yiend (left) and Planning Minister Paul Scully marked a significant milestone in the Port Kembla Land Transformation Project. Photo: Keeli Dyson.
A massive multi-decade land transformation at BlueScope, which is pitched to shape the Illawarra economy for generations to come, is now one step closer, with plans to rezone the land to allow new industries and opportunities seeking feedback from the community.
A fast-tracked rezoning proposal for the 200-hectare site set to become a future-focused hub is on public exhibition, with plans to change the use of the land from industrial to special purpose enterprise essential to allow the vision of a multi-industrial precinct to become a reality.
“That essentially is a change of permissible uses,” NSW Planning Minister Paul Scully said.
“It’s about setting things up so that BlueScope can go out and work with potential partners into the future to attract that investment, to attract that employment and to make sure that once again this site is a thriving employment hub for the Illawarra.”
The current zoning restricts many industries or businesses from using the underutilised site, but BlueScope head of property development Michael Yiend said there was already significant interest with early conversations underway.
“One of the biggest challenges that you have with getting capital, getting a development partner and a tenant is them having a time frame that they actually know that they are going to be able to achieve the occupational use of the site,” Mr Yiend said.
“This gives them that confidence to be able to start to invest early and once the zoning is through and the detailed planning applications come in, that gives them the certainty that this can be delivered.”
Mr Scully added: “I know there are large data centre operators that are interested in the site, there’s advanced manufacturing, TAFE continuing to talk to BlueScope about the opportunity to have educational activities going on here.
“So anything that fits into the mould of those future-focused industries has the potential to be located here.”
And although the full project is expected to take decades to complete, Mr Yiend anticipated some activity would begin in a ”pretty rapid” time frame.
“Post rezoning, we would be looking at trying to get some applications in fairly soon to start repurposing some of the existing facilities and starting to build some new facilities, pending tenant interest and investor interest,” he said.
In 2023, BlueScope unveiled plans to transform the surplus land into an economic hub, which boasted up to 30,000 local jobs and opportunities for emerging industries such as clean energy and defence.
It is set to be the biggest change to the region’s industrial landscape since steel making began, with the transformation currently the largest in the world.
“Currently, the BlueScope precinct contributes around 1 per cent of gross state product each year to the NSW economy, and once fulfilled, this will see that potentially doubling,” Mr Scully said.
The designs include a combination of new and repurposed builds, with some of the more iconic heritage structures to be retained.
The proposal prompted the NSW Government to establish a Cabinet-endorsed working group with important stakeholders such as Transport for NSW, the EPA, Wollongong City Council and BlueScope to ensure a coordinated effort to execute it in a timely manner.
“It’s an approach that allowed us to get everyone who needed to be at the table at the table, from day one, with a thorough understanding of what was needed so that we could move at pace,” Mr Scully said.
“We have been moving at pace on this because it’s important to the government and it’s important to the region, but we’ve not been compromising on the quality.”
Now the community can have input on the proposal, with key documents, including technical studies on transportation, heritage and flood, now on exhibition alongside the draft masterplan and Explanation of Intended Effect.
Submissions are open until 5 October and can be made through the NSW Planning website.
