Capalaba’s long-running town centre redevelopment has moved further into its construction phase, with a September building approval covering major ground works and staged works to the first building and carpark.
Redland City Council’s Development.i register records building application BX339737 for 14 Noeleen Street as decided on 3 September 2026. The approval covers Stage 1A early works, including bulk earthworks, shoring and retention, as well as staged approval for the balance of works to the carpark and Building 1.
It is another step in a project that has been moving through planning, demolition and construction approvals for several years, but it is not an approval for the entire Capalaba Town Centre masterplan.
A long approval trail reaches the building stage
The broader redevelopment had already cleared its principal planning hurdle well before the latest decision. Development approval for the masterplan and Stage 1 was obtained in June 2024, followed by an infrastructure agreement between Redland City Council and the project’s development partners in July.
Attention then shifted to clearing and preparing the site. Council announced preparations for demolition in February 2025 after the library and Customer Service Centre had been relocated to temporary premises at Capalaba Central. A separate building approval for demolition of the former library was recorded that April.
By 2026, the focus had moved from removing the old civic buildings to delivering the first part of the new precinct. Council said in March that Stage 1 construction was planned to start from May, before announcing in June that construction had begun.
The 3 September decision sits within that progression rather than replacing the approvals that came before it.
Approval spells out the next layer of work
What makes the latest record notable is the detail it provides about the physical work covered.
For Stage 1A, Development.i lists bulk earthworks together with shoring and retention. Those activities allow excavation and preparation of the site while supporting the ground around the areas being worked on, an important part of progressing a development that includes multi-level car parking.
The same record covers staged building approval for the balance of works to the carpark and Building 1. Its wording limits that component to those parts of the development, so the decision should not be interpreted as a building approval for everything depicted in the wider town centre masterplan.
Building 1 forms part of the project’s first stage, which is planned to return Council’s library and Customer Service Centre to the precinct. Community and arts facilities and three levels of office space are also included in the Stage 1 plans.
From demolition site to construction site
For residents who have watched the former civic centre disappear, the September approval is best understood as another marker in the site’s transition rather than the starting gun for construction.
Work had already reached that point. Council announced in June that Stage 1 construction was underway, while BADGE Constructions has publicly identified its Capalaba Town Centre team as working on the development.
The distinction matters because the full masterplan extends well beyond Building 1. The longer-term vision includes a mixed-use town centre combining civic facilities with commercial, retail, residential and public spaces around the Capalaba Central precinct.
Those later elements should not be bundled into the September approval simply because they form part of the same masterplan. The latest building record is narrower: it advances defined works within Stage 1 and provides a clearer picture of what has reached the building-approval phase.
Shayher Group has forecast completion of Stage 1 in 2028. For now, the September decision adds another concrete step along that path, with the approval trail progressing from demolition and site preparation to substantial ground works, the carpark and the first building.
Published 28-Sept-2026
