Putting employment land to work
A host of Sydney councils wanted their planning controls reviewed to plan for population growth
Location
Sydney
Many councils recognise us for our “ground truth” approach to employment studies
Employment land, which is the term used to describe land that has been set aside for industrial real estate development or other business-focused uses, is vital for planning healthy, growing economies.
The dynamics of a growing city, however, means that local governments need to periodically review their employment lands and planning controls to determine whether their existing strategies continue to support sustainable development.
We have an extensive history of providing employment land studies to a number of councils. More recent examples include Parramatta, Georges River, Woollahra, Central Coast, Waverly Council, Ku-ring-gai, and Blacktown.
Many councils recognise us for our “ground truth” approach to employment studies. This is due to our strong recommendation to undertake a ‘door-to-door’ land use survey as part of every employment study.
The benefit of this is to produce data that is of a much higher integrity than any alternative, and it has allowed us to amass a database of more than 50 suburbs which we can compare and contrast.
Additionally, the precinct and corridor analysis we undertake for the state government provides us with a valuable understanding of the broader economics of any area, as well as the ability to put into the context of Sydney the employment lands of each council.
Understanding the drivers for growth of employment land, as well as its constraints can provide a framework for growth through higher density or more diverse development.
We expect that councils will continue to require analysis of these strategic lands particularly as they adjust to accommodate Sydney’s population growth.
