Ipswich City Council in Queensland has requested further information from the developer of a proposed 10-storey data centre at Swanbank, questioning its height, scale and parking provision while seeking new or revised assessments of mining risks, environmental impacts, traffic, stormwater, bushfire and noise.
The application by Northern Concept Swanb Pty Ltd, in the Swanbank industrial area, proposes a data centre around 72.25 metres high. HPC Planning’s town planning report in the documents gives the project a gross floor area of 82,576 square metres, while the architectural plans show a total of about 103,954 square metres, including data halls, plant, amenities and office space.
The project is being assessed under the superseded Ipswich Planning Scheme after the council agreed in June to accept, assess and decide the application under the older planning framework. HPC Planning’s town planning report says the project is a code-assessable development and argues that the data centre is appropriate for the industrial site, which is close to Powerlink’s Blackstone substation and an approved battery energy storage facility.
The report recommends the application for approval, subject to conditions, saying the proposal generally accords with the relevant planning provisions. But an information request issued by Ipswich City Council has thrown up several potential sticking points.
Height and build form
The council says the proposed 10-storey building substantially exceeds the scale anticipated by the code. It says the Regional Business and Industry Zone seeks a low-rise, human-scale building profile, and the relevant probable solution generally anticipates buildings of no more than three storeys or 11 metres unless a greater height is shown to be appropriate.
It adds that the approximately 72.25m building substantially exceeds that scale and has not adequately demonstrated that its visual prominence, bulk and scale are consistent with the intended character of the Swanbank New Chum industrial area.
As a result, it has asked the applicant to provide a new visual amenity and built-form assessment, including an explanation of why a materially lower building could not accommodate the proposed use. The applicant has also been asked to investigate opportunities to reduce the height, bulk and scale of the development.
Council also wants a risk assessment or written approval from the Department of Defence and Airservices Australia, saying the development exceeds the RAAF Height Restriction Zone of 90m AHD. HPC’s report had concluded that the proposal complied with the relevant height overlay.
Parking, mining and ground conditions
The council says the proposed 589 car spaces substantially exceed the demand identified in the applicant’s traffic assessment, which puts peak staffing at about 177 people. It has asked the applicant to justify the number or reduce it, along with associated hardstand, earthworks and retaining wall heights.
Given the city’s background, Ipswich City Council has pointed out the application does not adequately demonstrate compliance with the Mining Influence Area Overlay Code, and it has requested a site-specific mining geotechnical report certified by a Registered Professional Engineer of Queensland.
That report must assess historical and/or current mining activity, including potential subsidence, ground instability and mine workings, and establish whether the land is suitable for the proposed development.
Water demand also emerges as an issue
The engineering infrastructure report says the site has access to existing water mains and is likely to connect to them as its primary water supply. However, it warns that the nature of the proposed data centre means it may require large amounts of water, subject to occupier requirements and the cooling systems proposed.
Using demand from a comparable data centre and traditional cooling systems as a reference, the report says demand is expected to be larger than the existing adjacent water network can provide without significant upgrades.
It identifies rainwater harvesting, closed-loop cooling and connection to an existing recycled-water main among the alternatives that should be investigated. The recycled-water option would draw from the adjacent waterbody and, the report says, would need treatment because of the likelihood of PFAS or other contaminants. The architectural plans show multiple water tanks within the proposed development and a substantial plant area associated with the data centre.
Environmental and infrastructure assessments
The council wants an amended ecological assessment and layout that applies the avoid-and-minimise hierarchy, including any matters raised by the State Assessment and Referral Agency, before mitigation or offsets are proposed, saying the applicant’s assessment identifies about 3,190 native trees for removal, impacts to 3.73 hectares of Category B remnant vegetation and a significant residual impact requiring offsets.
It has also requested an amended traffic impact assessment, saying the submitted report does not sufficiently demonstrate compliance with relevant planning and infrastructure requirements.
On stormwater, the council says the proposed 900mm outlet pipe could cause erosion and ponding downstream and should generally be no larger than 525mm. It wants retaining walls, which range up to about eight metres, limited to 3 metres in single heights, with terracing and landscaping where required, and has requested a revised bushfire assessment.
Council has also asked for a new noise impact assessment, saying rooftop plant and cooling equipment could carry noise differently at night than ground-level industrial development, despite the nearest sensitive receiver being about 1.5 kilometres away.
Powerlink and pipeline issues
The site is also subject to referral to Powerlink because it is within 100 metres of the Blackstone substation. Powerlink, a referral agency (advice), determined that the application was properly referred.
Santos has separately given conditional approval, in a letter to HPC dated 5 May, because of the Moonie to Brisbane high-pressure transmission pipeline, subject to conditions covering excavation, pipeline crossings, construction traffic and activities around the pipeline easement.
The applicant has three months from the 24 August information request to respond, unless a further period is agreed with Ipswich City Council. If it does not respond in that time, the assessment continues from the day after the period ends. However, the applicant can also provide part of the information and ask the council to proceed.