More than 50 people will be employed at a new concrete plant and laboratory in Beresfield if plans for the A$3 million development are given the green light. Boral Resources (Country) has lodged a development application with Newcastle City Council to relocate its regional administration building and testing laboratory to a 8808sqm block in Holmwood Industrial Park at Beresfield. The application also includes a plan to build a new concrete batching plant on the site, which is expected to operate 24 hours a day, seven days a week and produce 30,000t of concrete a year.
Newcastle City Council city west development and building co-ordinator Geoff Mansfield said it was anticipated the batching plant would employ seven people, with a further 40 permanent positions and five casual part-time positions created in the administration and laboratory building. He said he believed the medium-scale development, worth about $3 million, would not be the first within the industrial park to operate on a round-the-clock basis should it be approved.