Champions of diverse development

Property Council of Australia invited Mayor Darren Power and Logan City Council’s Director of Growth, Economy and Sustainability, David Hansen, to take centre stage at their ‘Spotlight on SEQ’ breakfast at South Bank today.

Deputy Mayor Natalie Willcocks and fellow Councillors Jon Raven, Karen Murphy and Miriam Stemp were also in the packed audience.

The Mayor and Mr Hansen talked up new health, innovation and commercial opportunities, as well as highlighting that Logan was well above Queensland Government mandated urban housing targets.

The Mayor also called on more assistance from the Queensland Government in the next version of the SEQ Regional Plan, as significant growth puts pressure on councils across the region.

He added that social infrastructure such as healthcare facilities and libraries, were essential for making those areas attractive for young people.

“We need some assistance from the state,” he said.

“There has to be some compensation to councils like Ipswich, Moreton and Logan.

“If we are carrying the load and doing the heavy lifting, you must put that social infrastructure into cities like ours to make sure its attractive for people to relocate.”

The population in Logan is set to double by 2036, and attendees at the breakfast learned how Council would harness the opportunities presented by that extraordinary growth.

Those opportunities will be further boosted by the City of Logan securing a potential competition or training venue for the 2032 Olympic and Paralympic Games.

Mr Hansen highlighted exciting changes in the city’s healthcare and innovation sectors, which are attracting major firms.

Multiple private hospitals, acute care and specialist medical facilities are being built in Meadowbrook and Springwood to alleviate health service demands, particularly at Logan Hospital.

Meadowbrook is fast becoming a major health and wellbeing precinct.

Down the road, an innovation precinct at the border of Underwood and Slacks Creek will host a range of cutting-edge industries.

It is already home to Go1, an internally electronic education hub where, every three seconds, someone in the world accesses an online training program.