Greater Springfield, Queensland

Greater Springfield is a private development undertaken by the Springfield City Group and one of the fastest growing developments in Australia; it is located in the south-west of the Brisbane metropolitan area in Queensland, Australia. It is the first privately built city in Australia and the country’s largest master planned community (tenth largest globally), encompassing 2,860 hectares (963 acres) designed to support population growth from Brisbane radiating out along the coastal strips from the Sunshine Coast down to the Gold Coast.

Greater Springfield
Queensland
Greater Springfield
Coordinates27.6855°S 152.9041°E / -27.6855; 152.9041
Population30,000 (2013)[1]
Postcode(s)4300
Location
LGA(s)City of Ipswich
State electorate(s)
Federal Division(s)

In 2013, the population of Greater Springfield was estimated around 30,000, with a projection to grow to 105,000 residents by 2030.[1] Community development is managed and coordinated by Springfield City Group. The plan is to have a group of suburbs with the population of Darwin by 2030.

In 2019, Springfield City Group was inducted into the Queensland Business Leaders Hall of Fame in recognition of their visionary entrepreneurship in establishing Springfield, as a nation-building project and Australia's first privately-constructed city.[2]

History

Greater Springfield was founded in 1993. The land was originally purchased for A$7.9 million and acquired in 1991 by Maha Sinnathamby and Bob Sharpless. Sinnathamby and Sharpless assembled a team and developed Greater Springfield masterplan based on interconnected pillars of health, education and information technology.

The Local Government (Springfield Zoning) Act 1997 was gazette in view of the long term nature of development being undertaken across Greater Springfield. This Act gave rise to a unique Planning Regime which provides certainty to the developer. The Structure Plan established a unique assessment process that ensures the intentions, provisions and understanding in and behind the Springfield Structure Plan are not to be overreached or changed through Local Planning Policies so to adversely affect the development entitlements conferred by the Structure Plan. All levels of Government recognise that the achievement of this goal is essential to ensure the certainty of the development rights. From Springfield City Group's (SCG’s) viewpoint such certainty is essential to the future proofing of the project.

Suburbs of Greater Springfield
Main entrance of the Greater Springfield Mater Private Hospital.

The suburbs of the region generally known as Greater Springfield are Springfield Central, Springfield Lakes, Brookwater, Augustine Heights, Spring Mountain and Springfield itself. 30 per cent of Greater Springfield is dedicated to absolute green space.

Facilities
Office building at Springfield Central, home of the Springfield City Group, 2014

The first stage of Springfield's largest shopping centre, Orion Springfield Central, has been open since 15 March 2007. Major tenants now include Woolworths, Big W, Coles, Target and Event Cinemas.

Greater Springfield’s Mater Private Hospital is an 80-bed, $85 million facility which provides a number of medical and surgical services. The 10,000 m2 hospital features four operating theatres, inpatient wards, a day surgery unit and medical imaging services as well as a combination of inpatient, day and chemotherapy beds supported. As of 2017, the hospital hosted 40 private doctors and 260 total employees.[3]

600,000 square metres of land has been set aside for commercial space, which is called the Parkside business precinct. The precinct already contains a 10-story tower which cost $60 million to build, as well as GE HQ and Polaris Data Centre.[4] The Polaris data centre was built at Springfield, opened in 2009 storing data for a range of companies including Dell, Suncorp and HP.[5] The datacentre cost $220 million to construct and was designed by Strategic Directions.[6]

In 2016, Greater Springfield’s town centre, Orion Springfield Central, was expanded to provide over 165 commercial spaces for commercial businesses.[7] This town centre also features Robelle Domain, a 24-hectare public space featuring boardwalks, sporting areas, playgrounds and water parks.[8] Within Robelle Domain is Orion Lagoon, an inland water park and paddle pool features pools from 0.3m to 1.5m and a range of public amenities.[9]

In 2018, Aveo Springfield opened its first two buildings, providing 86 living spaces for elderly residents.[10] The seniors living community is expected to host more than 2500 living spaces once the development is completed.

Schools

Greater Springfield now hosts 10 different schools, offering both primary and secondary, public and private education.[11] An 11th school in the Greater Springfield area opened in January 2019, Spring Mountain State School.[12]

The Springfield Anglican College has a campus on Springfield College Drive, with a second campus (Middle & Senior) on the Springfield–Greenbank Arterial road. In 2008, St. Peters Lutheran College Springfield was opened with the school celebrating its 10 year anniversary with a book launch.[13]

The University of Southern Queensland has a campus in Springfield. Classes began in February 2006. In 2015, a new four-story, 9000 square meter building, known as Building B, was opened at a cost of $45 million.[14] TAFE Queensland South West, previously Bremer Institute of TAFE also has a campus in Springfield.

Transport

Springfield is connected to Brisbane CBD by the Centenary Motorway and the Springfield railway line, a branch of the Ipswich railway line that starts at Darra station, and extends to Springfield.[15]

  • Orion lagoon, 2019
  • Orion playground
  • Robelle Domain parklands
  • "The Circle"
  • Robelle Domain stage and amphitheatre
  • University of Southern Queensland, Springfield campus

See also

References
  1. Key Facts About Springfield. Retrieved 27 August 2015.
  2. "2019 Hall of Fame". Queensland Business Leaders Hall of Fame. State Library of Queensland. 2019. Archived from the original on 19 July 2019. Retrieved 19 July 2019.
  3. Jensen, Myjanne (15 June 2017). "10000 surgeries for Mater Springfield". Greater Springfield Daily Record. Archived from the original on 17 February 2019. Retrieved 17 February 2019.
  4. "High hopes at tower opening". The Queensland Times. APN News & Media. 5 March 2009. Archived from the original on 10 August 2011. Retrieved 5 April 2010.
  5. Drew, James (28 August 2013). "Springfield's digital fortress – the Polaris Data Centre – holds the secrets of many big companies and can sustain a natural disaster". The Courier-Mail. Retrieved 17 February 2019.
  6. Suzanne Tindal (17 October 2010). "Installing Polaris data centre generators: Photos". ZDnet Australia. CBS Interactive. Archived from the original on 28 January 2012. Retrieved 28 February 2012.
  7. "Mirvac's Orion Springfield Central expansion complete". Inside Retail. 2 May 2016. Archived from the original on 17 February 2019. Retrieved 17 February 2019.
  8. "Robelle Domain in Springfield | Water park and playground". Brisbane Kids. Archived from the original on 18 February 2019. Retrieved 17 February 2019.
  9. "Orion Lagoon, Springfield". Must Do Brisbane. Archived from the original on 17 February 2019. Retrieved 17 February 2019.
  10. Johnson, Hayden (3 March 2018). "Almost 100 new places at major aged care facility". The Queensland Times. Archived from the original on 18 February 2019. Retrieved 17 February 2019.
  11. Palaszczuk, Annastacia (18 August 2017). "Greater Springfield celebrates a quarter of a century". Queensland Government. Archived from the original on 17 February 2019. Retrieved 17 February 2019.
  12. Sanderson, Julie (16 August 2018). "Spring Mountain name emerges as early favourite for new school". The Queensland Times. Archived from the original on 17 February 2019. Retrieved 17 February 2019.
  13. "Book launch for the 10-Year History of St Peters Springfield". St. Peters' Lutheran College Springfield. February 2018. Archived from the original on 17 February 2019. Retrieved 17 February 2019.
  14. "USQ Springfield opens new $45 million building". The Queensland Times. Archived from the original on 17 February 2019. Retrieved 17 February 2019.
  15. Brad Weier (7 June 2010). "Springfield railway 2 years early". The Queensland Times. Archived from the original on 6 July 2011. Retrieved 10 March 2011.

Further reading
  • Houghton, Des (11 August 2011). "Sleepy hollow turns miracle city". The Australian. Retrieved 11 August 2011. (subscription required)
  • King, Madonna; Fagan, David (2018). Greater Springfield: Australia's Newest City. St Lucia, Queensland: University of Queensland Press. ISBN 978-0-7022-6017-9.
  • McCreadie, Karen (2012). Stop Not Till the Goal Is Reached : The 10 Principles for Fearless Success that Inspired Maha Sinnathamby to Build a City. Milton, Queensland: John Wiley & Sons. ISBN 978-1-74246-856-3.
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