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Other Reports

Jackson Planning and Giles Consulting International have provided strategic planning and economic and
. employment impact Reports, respectively, in support for the proposed Noosa Civic Stage 3 development. In
particular, their advice has been relied upon in response to the Information Request (Economics: Items 1 & 2)
material, in which we have reviewed and provide the following comments:

> Urban Economics in general agreement with a number of qualitative arguments provided by Jackson
Planning, including the remaining capacity for future office-based employment opportunities within the
Shire Business Centre, the community benefits of satisfying future retail demand, as well as the ability
for the Shire Business Centre to achieve a critical mass of retail activities in order to increase the
likelihood of attracting non-retail functions that deliver a diversity of activities and employment
opportunities that the Centre is seeking to establish.

> Notwithstanding the above, it is my opinion that the additional potential floorsapce and employment
capacity estimates for office-based employment within the Shire Business Centre, that have been
prepared by both lackson Planning and Giles Consulting International are overstated. Our review of
remaining ‘uncommitted lands’ (land not occupied by Noosa Civic Stages 1, 2 and 3) indicated that
there is only capacity for some 41,000m? of additional commercial office space (GFA) remaining within
the Shire Business Centre that is estimated to provide some 2,500 office-based employment
opportunities. These are well below the estimates stated within the Applicant’s supporting material.

> It is evident that both Jackson Planning and Giles Consulting International both rely upon justifying the.
future opportunity for knowledge-based activities through outlining the remaining development
potential for commercial office space within the Shire Business Centre and its capacity to accommodate
future office-based employment. This is in contrast to justifying the future need and demand for
knowledge-based activities through a more rigorous approach of detailed projections as to the future
performance and composition of Noosa’s economy and employment base. It was Urban Economics
" expectation that this justification from an employment demand and needs perspective would be
provided in response to the Information Request (Economic) Items 1 and 2, however, this did not
eventuate. We refer to the findings of our Strategic Review Report, which are addressed in forthcoming
sections of this letter of advice.

> Indeed, it is acknowledged that the physical and locational requirements for knowledge-based
industries remains largely hard to quantify and the fragility in this sector to grow is often dependent
upon other key variables including the significant vision, investment and effort required by major
stakeholders, strong community support, rigorous marketing and implementation strategies, etc.