JOINT venture partners Frasers Property Industrial and Aware Real Estate have kicked off construction on the 26,265 sqm new Oceania headquarters and production plant for global manufacturer Ardex at in Sydney’s west.
Ardex has committed to a 20-year lease over the facility within the $1 billion industrial estate The Yards at Kemps Creek, which is now over 76% committed, with commitments secured from technology, pharmaceutical, manufacturing and freight, and logistics users
The facility will be a consolidation of Ardex’s NSW operations and will be its regional support office for its 10 manufacturing sites within Australia and New Zealand. It will also serve as a base for Ardex’s regional expansion in the Australian, New Zealand and south east Asian markets.
The facility will feature a 40-metre-high manufacturing tower used to mix raw materials from powder, along with a 20-metre-high silo area for storage of liquid materials and a 3,500 sqm, three-storey office and training facility.
It will service the company’s key brands such as Ardex, Dunlop, DTA and ABA, and will also include areas for training and testing, battery charging and spill containment.
Completion is expected in the September quarter of 2023.
Ardex has a manufacturing and operational footprint in over 50 countries with 71 subsidiaries. It has been manufacturing in Australia for over 55 years.
“This is the largest investment in such a site in Ardex’s history and demonstrates the confidence that the global business has in Oceania,” said Fabian Morgan, regional managing director, Ardex.
The facility has been designed to target a 6 Star Green Star Design and As-Built v1.3 rating from the Green Building Council of Australia. A planned solar panel system spanning 17,000 sqm will allow Ardex to manufacture utilising its own energy production, in addition to rainwater collection tanks and energy-efficient lighting that will be incorporated into the building’s design.
A recent sod-turning event onsite for the Ardex facility was attended by Frasers Property Industrial’s executive general manager, Ian Barter, Altis Property Partner’s executive director, Alastair Wright, and Ardex’s chief financial officer, Uwe Stockhausen and Regional Managing Director, Fabian Morgan.
“With the start of construction, we have reached an important milestone in the development of Ardex’s new Oceanian headquarters, and we look forward to continuing our partnership with Ardex into the future as we deliver their state-of-the-art facility, which will shape its future operations and further enable growth in the region,” Roland Martin, general manager – NSW, Frasers Property Industrial said.
The Yards is located about six kilometres north west of the future Western Sydney-Nancy Bird Walton Airport and is one of Sydney’s largest industrial estate developments at about 70 hectares.
Following on from the run of deals at The Yards, Frasers Property Industrial beefed up its Kemps Creek footprint in September with the acquisition of two closely connected land parcels spanning more than 73 hectares, that will become its second estate in the suburb.
