Property Council of Queensland
QUEENSLAND’S extraordinary $174 billion construction pipeline has been mapped in one place for the first time, revealing the sheer scale of development ahead and the workforce and materials challenge facing the industry as projects compete to get out of the ground.
More than 617 major projects worth at least $50 million each are captured in the new Queensland Construction Portal, which brings public and private development pipelines together with forecasts for labour, skills and building materials.
Launched by Brisbane Economic Development Agency (BEDA), the Property Council of Australia and Better Brisbane Alliance, the Australian-first platform has been developed alongside government, BuildSkills Australia, the Queensland Major Contractors Association, RLB and industry.
The figures point to an enormous period of construction activity through to 2029-30, with the total major project pipeline valued at $173.76 billion.
By 2026-27, major projects alone are forecast to require 59,790 workers across 22 occupation groups, from a statewide workforce of 223,880 in those occupations.
For projects valued above $50 million, the analysis estimates Queensland will need an additional 320 paving and surfacing labourers and 490 crane, hoist and lift operators.
Major projects are forecast to consume about three million cubic metres of concrete in 2026-27, along with 256,000 tonnes of reinforcement steel, 463,000 tonnes of structural steel, and 774,000 square metres of glass.
BEDA chief executive Anthony Ryan said Queensland was entering what could be its most important construction decade.
“For the first time, Queensland’s construction industry will have access to a single source of truth that connects major project pipelines with future workforce, skills and materials demand,” Mr Ryan said.
