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Another slice of inner-city riverside land looks set for a major transformation, with plans submitted to Brisbane City Council for a $2 billion-plus mixed-use precinct on contaminated land at West End.
ICD Property handed its plans to the council for approval last week, promising to deliver 1102 units across six towers on the 16,823-square-metre site – with its 200-metre Riverside Drive frontage – by 2030.
“Brisbane is facing one of the tightest housing markets in the country, with population growth outpacing supply and vacancy rates near historic lows,” ICD Property chief executive Matthew Khoo said.
ICD Property’s plans for a $2 billion riverside precinct at West End.Credit: Plus Studio
“West End has always been a place of connection – to the river, to culture, to community.
“Our vision is to extend that legacy, creating new homes and public places that balance density with liveability and community benefit.”
But first, the site would need to be remediated.
The Queensland government included the site in its environmental management register of contaminated land, telling this masthead in 2023 coal tar pollutants 20 times higher than public safety levels had been discovered there.
In an assessment report prepared and submitted to the council on ICD Property’s behalf, town planning firm Urbis said meetings had been held with the state government about obtaining a development suitability statement and GHD, a contaminated land consultant, had been engaged for the project.
“Detailed testing and reporting have commenced, and [ICD Property] considers the benchmark can be resolved via a relevant condition of approval,” Urbis said.
The proposal, which has been designed by Plus Studio, included five 30-storey towers and one 12-storey tower across the Brisbane River from Park Road in Milton.
It would include 201 one-bed units, 592 two-bed units and 309 units with three bedrooms and include parking for 1368 cars and 996 bicycles.
If built, the precinct would include 1102 new homes spread across six towers.Credit: Plus Studio
Along with the residences, the proposal had ground-level food and beverage tenancies, a laneway connection between Donkin and Hockings streets and two parks.
Plus Studio director Danny Juric said it would revitalise a site currently home to mostly vacant industrial buildings.
“This is a rare chance to transform an underutilised industrial site into a new riverside landmark,” he said.
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“We’ve drawn on the character of West End while responding to the lifestyle and landscape qualities that define Brisbane today, creating a destination that connects the city’s past and future.”
The site includes 200-year-old fig trees, which IDC said would be retained in the development “within a network of subtropical boulevards and green spaces”.
Just across Hockings Street from the proposal, Heidelberg Materials was planning three 50-storey towers and a riverside park fronting nearby Nott Street, but almost a year after submitting its development application, the council had not yet made a decision.
Both developments were submitted under the Kurilpa temporary local planning instrument, a short-term override of the Brisbane City Plan Act to “facilitate housing supply, affordability and diversity” in the area.
ICD Property expected the council to decide on its project’s approval by mid-2026.
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