Sunshine Coast’s Produce to Fly High with Innovative New ‘Turbine’ Food and Beverage Manufacturing Precinct at Sunshine Coast Airport

Sunshine Coast Airport is planning to host a new food and beverage manufacturing precinct that will help accelerate the region’s capacity to develop and export the Sunshine Coast’s high-quality food and beverage products interstate and internationally.

Planning is underway for a ‘Turbine Precinct’ to be located within the Southern Gateway Precinct at Sunshine Coast Airport, as a result of $8.78 million Federal Government funding from the Modern Manufacturing Initiative Translation stream which aims to create Australia’s first purpose built, end-to-end collaborative food and beverage manufacturing precinct.

The project was announced at Sunshine Coast Airport by the Federal Government Member for Fairfax, Ted O’Brien MP, with the first stage of the project scheduled to be completed later in 2023.

The Turbine Precinct project is an initiative of the Sunshine Coast’s Food and Agriculture Network (FAN) and will build on the region’s reputation for high quality agriculture, food and beverage production.

The Turbine Precinct is designed to drive innovation, reduce barriers to scale and increase productivity for food and beverage manufacturers through collaboration around common-use infrastructure and manufacturing services.

The Turbine Precinct will include a research and development facility, warehousing and logistics, an expertise hub and an industry-embedded training centre.
 

(L-R) Simon Michelangeli, Founder of the Queensland Drinks Accelerator (QDA); Ted O’Brien MP, Federal Member for Fairfax; Emma Greenhatch CEO, Food and Agricultural Network (FAN); Andrew Brodie CEO, Sunshine Coast Airport

(L-R) Emma Greenhatch CEO, Food and Agricultural Network (FAN) and Andrew Brodie CEO, Sunshine Coast Airport

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Sunshine Coast Airport Chief Executive Officer, Andrew Brodie, said the proposed establishment of the Turbine Precinct is consistent with the Sunshine Coast Airport Master Plan 2040.

“We are committed to creating jobs and opening-up opportunities for our regional producers to expand their markets and ultimately their business and this announcement will build on the Sunshine Coast’s enviable reputation in food and beverage production with the end goal of increasing the region’s export of premium produce,” said Mr Brodie.

“While we are still in the early stages of planning for the precinct, we see this as a tremendous opportunity to support long-term economic growth for the region.

“Sunshine Coast Airport is the perfect location with our new international runway and our plans for co-located freight and logistics facilities will provide direct access to domestic and in time, international markets.

“Having the Turbine Precinct at our Airport will encourage future investment and exports, while also providing even more incentive for airlines to fly direct into the Sunshine Coast.”