The warning comes ahead of the Property Council’s ACT Industrial Land Summit today, which brings industry leaders, planners, investors and government together examine the growing consequences of constrained industrial land supply across the ACT and Capital Region.
Property Council ACT Executive Director Ashlee Berry said industrial land was often overlooked in policy debates, despite being essential to housing delivery, economic growth, and the everyday functioning of the city.
“Industrial land is where goods are stored, trades operate, vehicles are serviced and construction materials are distributed. It’s the invisible infrastructure that keeps our economy running.
“While much of the public conversation rightly focuses on housing supply, every new home also requires builders, suppliers, logistics operators, storage facilities and essential services. We can’t grow a city without the land that supports that growth.
“Property Council analysis prepared for the summit highlights that the ACT currently has around 909 hectares of industrial land, with no new industrial land release identified in the ACT’s Housing Supply and Land Release Program over the next five years.
“At the same time, Canberra and the surrounding NSW region increasingly function as a single integrated labour market and supply chain, with more than 36,000 workers already crossing the ACT-NSW border for work each day.
The analysis highlights the growing importance of making sufficient employment land available to support both traditional industrial uses and emerging industries, including defence, advanced manufacturing, cyber security, digital infrastructure, and logistics.
“The ACT’s long-term industrial land supply is increasingly tied to the delivery of the Eastern Broadacre precinct, but that is a complex, long-term proposition,” Ms Berry said.
“In the meantime, neighbouring councils across the Capital Region are actively bringing forward employment land opportunities and attracting businesses seeking room to grow.
“It reinforces the need for a coordinated regional approach to employment land planning, infrastructure investment and economic development. The region as a whole needs enough employment land in the right locations to support future jobs and investment.
“Without a clear strategy, businesses will continue looking elsewhere, investment opportunities will be lost, and economic activity will increasingly flow outside Canberra,” Ms Berry said.
The Property Council is calling for the development of a Capital Region Industrial and Employment Lands Strategy to identify future employment precincts, protect strategically important industrial land and coordinate infrastructure investment across the region.
