BUILDING activity in Brimbank is on the slide, according to new state government figures.
The Planning Department’s latest permit activity report reveals the value of projects in Brimbank tumbled from $847 million in 2009-10 to $521 million in 2010-11.
Brimbank Council collected $724,353 in fees from 1240 planning applications in the 12 months to July last year, a slight rise from 1199 the previous year.
But the average cost of each project was well down, reflecting a move to smaller projects.
Bruno Granieri, director of Sunshine North construction company Granieri Constructions, said an overall downturn had flowed on to the local construction industry.
“We haven’t really experienced much change ourselves, but I would say the amount of work has dropped off because we are hearing from a lot of tradies looking for work.”
Council’s general manager of city development, Stephen Sully, said there had been fewer applications for larger industrial and commercial developments and an increase in the number of smaller medium-density developments and subdivisions.
But Mr Sully believed building activity in Brimbank would pick up rather than drop off even further.
“It is likely there will be a slight increase in the value of works as construction costs continue to rise,” he said.
“Additionally it is anticipated there will be an increase in residential medium density and industrial activity again as investor confidence is restored following the GFC [global financial crisis].”
Despite the drop in the size of projects, the average number of days taken to make each planning decision stretched from 111 to 120.
Mr Sully said this included the time the council waited for applicants to provide relevant documentation.
“This aspect of the process is out of council’s control,” he said.
“Additionally, the shift in the types of applications to include more medium-density development impacts on this because these types of development must be advertised for 14 days, whereas most industrial developments are exempt from notification, therefore reducing the processing time.”
