Former Ford Falcon factory site’s future data centre objected by government agency
The Victorian government’s peak environmental agency has formally objected to plans to build a data centre where the Ford Falcon and Territory were once made.
A proposed data centre at the former factory site of the Ford Falcon outside Melbourne has reached its first major hurdle, after the Environment Protection Authority (EPA) of Victoria submitted a formal objection against the plans.
As reported by The Age, EPA Victoria submitted its objection to the development of the Barry Road site – located in Campbellfield, north of Melbourne – with the state’s Department of Transport and Planning, citing noise concerns relating to the site’s development and ongoing operation.
“In our role as a referral authority, EPA Victoria has objected to the proposal in its current form,” EPA executive director of strategy, Erin Bowen, said to The Age in a statement.
“Based on the information provided, we hold concerns over potential noise risks and the cumulative impacts associated with the overall site layout and development.”
First announced in May, the site of Ford’s former Broadmeadows Assembly Plant is set to be developed into a data centre by Singaporean firm Zerra DC, which has already filed for approval with the Victorian Government via its Development Facilitation Program.
Documents lodged by Zerra DC in April show the site, located on 300-340 Barry Road, will be home to a “substantial six-building Data Centre (nested within ‘Utility Installation’) campus and precinct, with ancillary ‘Office’ space”, if approved.
The Age reports the development has been estimated at costing $1.1 billion, and will take 12 years to build. When operational, the data centre will consume 336 megawatts of electricity, a figure which the publication reports is double the current power draw from existing data centres in Melbourne.
As the project was submitted to the Development Facilitation Program which aims to fast-track data centres and other tech infrastructure in Victoria, approval for it will need to come from state Planning Minister Sonya Kilkenny, with no consultation with Hume Council and neighbouring residents required.
While a technical assessment of the project – filed as a part of Zerra DC’s application to Minister Kilkenny – found the data site’s 294 rooftop chillers will emit a low-frequency sound within acceptable limits, later stages of the data centre will require acoustic screening on the roof to not disrupt nearby homes.
Prior to being demolished, the site opened as Ford’s Broadmeadows factory in 1959 to built the first generation of locally made Falcons, named the XK, which went on sale in 1960.
Every single Ford Falcon made in Australia went down the line at Broadmeadows, with more than three million examples of the sedan, coupe, wagon and ute produced from June 28, 1960.
In addition to the Falcon, the plant also made Falcon-derivative models, such as the Fairlane and LTD long-wheelbase luxury variants, as well as the revolutionary Territory, which was the only SUV ever made in Australia.
The Ford Cortina and the convertible Capri (based on the underpinnings of the Sydney-built Laser and Mazda 323) were also briefly made at Broadmeadows.
After building its first car in June 1960, production at the site ended on October 7, 2016 when the final Ford Falcon was made, an FG X XR6 sedan, finished in Kinetic Blue.
Though Ford Australia still has a significant research and development plus engineering presence locally – and in Campbellfield near the former plant site – the Broadmeadows Assembly site was sold to the Pelligra Group in 2019, and has been disassembled in parts in the years since.
