Glenfield. $12 million car park opened

The NSW Government today officially opened the brand new $12 million multi-storey, 700-space car park at Glenfield railway station, the latest milestone in the NSW Government’s delivery of the $2.1 billion South West Rail Link. The car park has been designed to accommodate another floor should the car park need to be extended in the future When the South West Rail Link is completed, Glenfield Station will become an important interchange for the East Hills, South, Cumberland and Glenfield to Leppington lines. Under the Metropolitan Plan, the population of south west Sydney will increase from 410,000 in 2006 to 874,000 by the year 2036.

South West. $43 million road upgrade

Work has started on the NSW Government’s $43 million upgrade of the Camden Valley Way, between Narellan Rd and Cobbitty Rd. This is stage three of the upgrade of the Camden Valley Way: the arterial road linking the Hume Highway, M7 and M5 interchange at Prestons, near Liverpool, with Camden. This 1.9 kilometre construction project is part of the government’s ongoing widening of the 25km Camden Valley Way to four-lanes. Stage 4, the 10.7 kilometre Cobbitty Road to Cowpasture Road upgrade is currently in the planning stage.

Blacktown. New 500-space car park

Construction of a 500-space commuter carpark on the northern side of Blacktown station is due to commence in the coming weeks. The project will provide parking over four levels and include lifts, lighting and CCTV surveillance cameras. Transport Construction Authority contractor, AW Edwards, will start by installing 124 piles, using a 70-tonne piling rig at the First Avenue site, with completion scheduled for mid-2011.

Seven Hills. Grant enables firm to expand

Paul-Tec Security (Australia) Pty Ltd, at Seven Hills, will be able to hire eight new staff following a $30,000 grant from Industry and Investment NSW. Managing director, Lindsay Brooks, said the grant would enable him to increase his employees to 40 for his 24/7 monitoring service of commercial and government premises and work sites. The company provides RealGuard, one of the latest remote security robot-like monitoring services model, which is a self-contained camera tower on-site guarding service linked to security officers at their remote guarding centre.

Blue Mountains. Tourism report queried

Blue Mountains Lithgow and Oberon Tourism chairman, Randall Walker, The Blue Mountains’ tourism chief has moved to hose down reports of the slow death of the region’s number one industry despite the release of concerning visitor statistics. Recently released regional expenditure survey by Tourism Research Australia showed a steady decline in the number of domestic visitors to the Mountains since 1999 including a cut of almost 50 per cent in overnight stays. “We are not doing worse than other regions. We have held our own in a declining market,” he said in the Blue Mountains Gazette. He did concede ongoing problems at the Fairmont Resort had affected the region’s tourism figures. He said the Fairmont had shown improvement under receivers and also cited positive figures in the past financial year for tourism mainstays including Scenic World, The Carrington Hotel and The Mountain Heritage.

Blacktown. 20-storey building, more to come

Better Buildings Pty Ltd has approval to build a 20-storey apartment building at 29-31 Second Avenue, Blacktown, and has similar plans for another site nearby. The building will contain 42 one-bedroom residential units, 114 two-bedroom units, 12 three-bedroom units and have commercial space on the ground floor, with six levels of basement car parking. Developer licensee, Theo Groutsis, said Better Buildings was investing in Blacktown because it was a future growth area. “Blacktown ticks all the boxes,'' he said. The developer plans to build another apartment building with 70 units and retail space at the former McDonald's site at the corner of Sunnyholt Road and Main Street. Although building height regulations in Blacktown's city centre allow for up to 20 storeys, the highest building standing in the area is eight storeys.

Camden. $14 million club approved

Camden Council has approved an application by the Eastern Suburbs Leagues Club for a $14 million registered club in Narellan The plans include lounge areas, a gaming area with 150 machines, a restaurant, cafe, dining room, TAB facilities, public bar and a children's area and playground.

Campbelltown. $16 million apartments to open

The $16 million Quest Serviced Apartments will open in Campbelltown in mid-September. Quest chairman, Paul Constantinou, said the development was a much-needed addition to Campbelltown. “It's a thriving business district, experiencing rapid residential and industrial growth (which) has spurred an increase in demand for serviced apartment accommodation," he said

The Hills. Attracting business to the region

The Hills Shire Council’s industry development officer, Nick Keyko, and Alexandra Knezovic, from Hills property development and investment company, Capital Corporation, are meeting regularly with other business owners to form the Invest Sydney Hills Group, which aims to explore ways to attract companies to expand or relocate to the Hills. Ms Knezovic said Capital Corporation had seen many firms expand to the Hills and reap the benefits, including more than 560 businesses in Norwest Business Park.

Parramatta. GPT Group helps Mission

Global property giant, GPT Group, has bought a long wheel-base refrigerated van to recover some of the tonnes of food collected by garbage trucks and dumped into landfill each week, to enable Parramatta Mission to give a 10 per cent boost to the 100,000 meals it serves each year to the needy in the Parramatta area alone. GPT staff hopes to expand the program to all food retailers in the centre. When GPT was seeking a partner organisation for the food recovery program it contacted Parramatta City Council which, in turn, referred the company to Parramatta Mission.