SOUTH Nowra is set to get a new $27.8 million Bunnings complex.
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Philip Drew, Bunnings’ development approvals manager has lodged a development application on behalf of the Bunnings Group with Shoalhaven City Council for the new complex, which will be built on the current site at South Nowra and take in an adjoining block of land to the north.
In plans and reports prepared by JR Brogan and Associates and Sutherland and Associates Planning, it is planned to demolish the existing warehouse complex on the Princes Highway at South Nowra, consolidate the two lots of land and construct a new hardware and building supplies and garden centre including car parking and signage.
The proposal will see the complex’s footprint grow by almost two and a half times its current size.
It is set to expand from the current gross floor area of 6,248 square metres to 14,130 square metres.
It is planned for the complex to take up the whole site, covering the current car park, with parking to be extended from the current 225 spaces to 428 spaces under the building.
The proposal worth $27,878,000 will see a new Bunnings warehouse (hardware and building supplies warehouse) including garden centre above an undercroft car parking level.
It is estimated the project will result in 470 jobs during construction and 200 (full-time and part-time) jobs once the new building is completed.
The new design will see the current complex layout on the site flipped, with the timber trade area moving to the south of the property, and an outdoor nursery and bagged goods canopy moving to the northern end.
The construction also includes a café, office, amenities, service road/ramps and loading areas.
The café, as well as the offices and other staff amenities areas are located at the northern end of the main warehouse floor and in a mezzanine level above.
The parking level is located under the footprint of the warehouse building.
It can be accessed by vehicles both from the north and the south in similar locations to the existing driveways into the site.
As well as 428 car parking spaces the parking level includes 12 accessible spaces. Lift, stair and travelator access is provided between the parking and ground floor levels.
The main pedestrian entrance into the store is located on the eastern side of the ground floor, with the main entry centrally located and containing lifts, stairs as well as the travelator providing access to the parking level.
A separate secondary entrance to the nursery is provided at the northern end of the eastern side of the building.
Proposed operation hours will be 6am to 10pm Monday to Friday and 6am to 7pm Saturdays, Sundays and public holidays.
Internal activities outside of these hours, such as restocking are proposed.
The questions as to where the Bunnings business would be located during the construction period has been put to the company.
Early suggestions are the business might relocate to the previously unopened for Masters’ site.