Company
BlackRock Motor Park
Industry
Commercial Construction
Tourism
Project Phase
Commercial Approval
SHARE
The Project
The first sod was turned on Tuesday 26th of March at the Black Rock Motorsport Park at Wakefield.
The BlackRock Motor Park will see Lake Macquarie become home to Australia’s first dedicated recreation resort park for motoring enthusiasts. The $95 million project includes a 5.25km track, go-kart track, driver training, luxury accommodation and function centre, and café. This project will inject more than 450 jobs during construction, and 229 jobs ongoing.
Dantia CEO Tim Browne said he was pleased to see a project come to fruition that demonstrated what could be done on former mining land.
“As Lake Macquarie’s economy continues to evolve, we’re going to need more land available for businesses to set up and expand, bringing jobs and economic benefits to our city,” he said.
“We now have the blueprint for how we can achieve future land use that provides jobs and economic benefits across similar sites in our LGA”.
The Challenge
BlackRock is set to be based in Wakefield, a small tight-knit former-mining community. The project leaders understood the importance of engaging with and understanding the concerns of the community to progress this groundbreaking development project. Such a complex and unique project required careful planning, engagement, collaboration and communication.
Dantia facilitated early engagement with BlackRock, the neighbouring community and local and state government. We drove collaboration and assisted BlackRock to communicate the key economic and social benefits to key stakeholders. This engagement process helped identify and resolve issues and concerns early in the project, and reduced approval times and cost of redesign.
Undertook economic analysis
to determine the key benefits of the project to the city. This data was used to communicate the significant value of the development to the region.
Facilitated early introductions
to strategic planners in Lake Macquarie City Council. This allowed BlackRock to be clear from the early concept-planning phase on the issues the project needed address and to find sustainable social and environmental solutions to address the needs and expectations of all stakeholders. It also provided the opportunity to communicate the value of the project to the region and its alignment with Council’s strategic objectives. Establishing early common ground allowed for collaborative relationships.
Coordinated presentations to key stakeholders
including those in the tourism industry and elected council representatives. This encouraged a shared vision and resulted in authentic interest in the project and its potential success in terms of diversification, adaptive reuse of mining land, job creation and increased visitation to the region.
Assisted in the development of a community engagement strategy,
identifying key community leaders, influences and residents in the local area. This early consultation helped build community engagement and allowed for clear communication of the potential opportunities and challenges the project may have faced.
Provided letters of support and presented to the Joint Regional Planning Panel
to highlight the significance of the project and benefits for the community now and into the future.
Worked with current landowners
to aid in generating confidence in the land sale. We linked the landowners to the Department of Planning, Industry and Environment to help with transitioning the land use from a mining lease to alternate use that provide employment and community infrastructure.
TOTAL PROJECT VALUE
$95M
JOBS CREATED
229
ECONOMIC IMPACT DURING CONSTRUCTION
$357M
Tony Palmer
Managing Director, BlackRock Motor Park
We couldn’t have come this far without Dantia. Their contacts, project management approach and prioritisation of tasks has been critical to driving the project forward. They’ve made the essential calls to key people that I wouldn’t have been able to make and knocked down barriers that I didn’t think we would get through.