Vicinity to expand Victoria Gardens Vicinity Centres and Salta Properties, the joint owners of Victoria Gardens Shopping Centre, have confirmed the purchase of land adjoining the centre in Melbourne’s inner-city suburb of Richmond. With the recent purchase of two plots of land on Burnley Street and Doonside Street totalling 3400sqm, a 1.3-hectare development site has been created. Vicinity Centres chief development officer Carolyn Viney said, “With Richmond experiencing on-going densificatio
sification and urban regeneration, Victoria Gardens is well positioned for growth. Our vision for the centre seeks to maximise the potential value of this prime inner-city real estate to include residential accommodation and commercial space to meet the growing needs of our community.”
Viney said realising value from mixed-use opportunities is a key part of Vicinity’s strategy, with Victoria Gardens identified as a priority for future development.
“Vicinity currently has two mixed-use projects under construction including the MGallery by Sofitel hotel at Chadstone, which will open on November 1, and the Golden Age Group’s residential development, Sky Garden, at The Glen,” Viney said.
Australia Post opens massive facility
Doors have opened and parcels are being processed at the Brisbane Parcel Facility, Australia Post’s newest and largest facility, ahead of what is expected to be the organisation’s busiest peak Christmas period in history.
The size of eight football fields, at 50,000 sqm, and with more than 500 employees on site, the facility will be able to process 700,000 parcels per day at full capacity.
The $240 million investment in the flagship facility comes complete with two Beumer high-speed sorters capable of processing over 50,000 parcels per hour, four robotic arms that can together clear 320 cages per hour, a parcel picker that can move 2500 parcels per hour, and 23 automated guided vehicles that can lift and move objects weighing up to 1.4 tonnes each then place them down to an accuracy of ~5mm.
“Australians love online shopping, spending $27.5 billion nationally online last year and this facility will be able to process those parcels more efficiently right across the network – getting it from merchant to customer quicker,” said Australia Post COO Bob Black.
Last year Australia Post delivered over 40 million parcels in December, and on two occasions delivered more than three million parcels in a day. This year, volumes are already greater than they were at the same time last year – with the period around Mother’s Day already the biggest since Christmas.
The facility also includes 3244 solar panels that generate enough energy to power 280 homes per year.
