For a second consecutive year, the value of building construction works in Wyndham has passed the billion-dollar mark.
The Werribee Mercy Hospital expansion and Pacific Werribee’s redevelopment are big-ticket items among the building works approved in Victoria last year and valued at more than $1.22 billion.
Building permit data released by the Victorian Building Authority shows the city had the fourth-highest value of building permits in the state.
Eight municipalities recorded $1 billion or more in the value of building permits issued in 2015. Melbourne topped the list with works costing $4.16 billion.
The top three building permits issued in Wyndham last year included building expansion for a mental health facility at Werribee Mercy Hospital valued at $13.1 million, a stage of the Pacific Werribee redevelopment ($10.7 million) and a warehouse in Laverton North ($10 million).
Wyndham first broke through the billion-dollar barrier in 2014, approving works valued at $1.38 million.
The municipality also reported the state’s second-highest spending on domestic building last year, with $892 million in housing approved – up 20 per cent on 2014.
Wyndham council’s economic portfolio- holder, Intaj Khan, attributed the large building spend to Wyndham’s population growth and the council’s move to streamline building permit applications.
Cr Khan anticipates that Wyndham will surpass the billion-dollar barrier again this year, with big-ticket projects such as the East Werribee Employment Precinct and the completion of Wyndham Harbour Marina on the cards.
“Wyndham is one of the fastest-processing councils [for building permits] compared to other councils,” Cr Khan said. “There’s a lot of pressure on council to manage the growth.”
Population growth
The new data came the same week as the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) revealed Truganina has the second-fastest population growth in the state, behind Cranbourne East, with some 2600 new residents last financial year boosting the population by 14.7 per cent.
Point Cook had the fourth-largest population increase nationally in the same period, with 3200 new residents moving in.
ABS director of demography Beidar Cho said Melbourne’s outer suburbs had some of the biggest growth in Australia. “Seven out of the country’s top 10 growth areas were in greater Melbourne,” she said.
