Sustainable Road Resource Centre

Project Details

Viva Energy Pty Ltd operated the Clyde Oil Refinery in Rosehill. After closing and demolishing the refinery and converting it to a terminal for the receipt, storage and dispatch of petroleum products, 35 hectares of surplus land remained. Viva Energy Property decided to subdivide this land and form an industrial estate known as the Central Sydney Industrial Estate.

Downer acquired a parcel of land in the Central Sydney Industrial Estate to collocate its nearby operations.

The State significant development (SSD) application included: 

• a 14 lot subdivision including civils and services;
• the Downer Sustainable Road Resource Centre comprising:
• a 550,000 tpa state of the art asphalt plant;
• a 250,000 tpa Reclaimed Asphalt Pavement storage and processing facility which recycles RAP for reuse as a raw material in new asphalt production;
• Reconomy facility that recycles 40,000 tpa of street sweeping waste and hydro-excavation soil and recovers the sand and aggregates for use as a raw material in asphalt production;
• A 15,000 tpa bitumen emulsion plant that manufactures bitumen products for asphalt production and road maintenance.

Element Engagement

Element lead the SSD application, which was assessed by the Department of Planning and Environment. Element’s engagement included:

• Project management of the SSD application including 12 technical studies
• Preparing the scoping report to obtain Secretary’s environmental assessment requirements
• Preparing the Environmental Impact Statement
• Preparing the Social Impact Assessment
• Preparing the response to submissions
• Government agency and community consultation
• Preparing the environmental management plans required by conditions of consent
• Preparing the environmental protection licence application
• Advising on environmental management and compliance

Project Achievements

The zoning height limit is 12 m. Downer needed to construct and operate the most efficient and sustainable asphalt plant they could find globally, which is 42 m high, 3.5 times the height and 30 m higher than the maximum permissible height of buildings on the site.

To achieve the sustainability goals for the development Element needed to convince DPE  and Council that the development was appropriate in the zone.

Element with our visual communication partner developed an innovative approach to assessing the visual impacts of the project using the most advanced technology.  This progressive approach received exemplary compliments from DPE and Council, that they hadn’t seen this done before and is the new ‘gold standard’ in visual impact assessment. This approach also gave Council the confidence to support and DPE the confidence to approve, a development 3.5 times the height and 30 m higher than the zoning height limit.

"Element Environment have developed a successful and long-term business relationship with Downer. We have found Neville and various members of the team to be extremely professional, responsive with an in depth knowledgeable, detailed understanding, practical experience and extensive expertise of various environmental matters and legislation, subjects and sustainability. Their personalised service and ability to advise and collaborate with Downer on a number of projects is testament to their ability to deliver for their client within the tight timeframes." - Jason Hearn, Senior Project Director, Downer Group

"Faced with a monumental challenge of time and complexity Neville and the Element team’s skill, knowledge, experience and commitment delivered outcomes which exceeded all our goals and expectations.  Working with them was easy and led to new exciting projects where they also excelled." - Malcolm Frost, Downer Group