Mackay Industrial Land Site Suitability Investigations

In 2006, the state government commissioned a Mackay industrial land demand study.

The study predicted the supply of industrial land in the region would be exhausted between 2016 and 2026.

It concluded that about 300 ha net of new industrial land would be required to service Mackay’s future needs - at least 500 ha of gross developable land.

The study identified four potential locations within the Mackay region that were considered suitable for further investigation:

  • North Mackay
  • Racecourse
  • Walkerston
  • Eton.

In 2007, the department commissioned the Mackay Industrial Land Site Suitability Investigations, which involved two stages:

  1. a review of the four identified sites and recommendation of a preferred site for further analysis
  2. desktop analysis of the suitability of the preferred site.

After consideration of the study findings by the state government and council, a fifth site at Rosella - 5 km south of the Paget Industrial Estate at South Mackay - was also included in the investigations.

Rosella preferred site

Following a comparative spatial analysis and a planning, environmental and physical constraints analysis of all the sites, Rosella was recommended as the preferred site, based on its:

  • superior locational attributes
  • potential compatibility with the Mackay Region Council's planning
  • lack of major constraints to development.

The desktop analysis concluded that the Rosella site:

  • would provide 530 ha of gross development area for industrial development
  • had no apparent major constraints to development that could not be overcome or mitigated.

The analysis also revealed a number of issues that would require further investigation as part of Stage 3 of the project - the investigation and concept design phase.

Download summary

Summary of Mackay Industrial Land Site Suitability Investigations (PDF, 11.2 MB)

Related studies

Mackay, Isaac and Whitsunday Regional Industrial Land Demand Study