Brisbane's central, industrial and retail precincts

Brisbane City Council supports and promotes Brisbane’s central precincts, industrial precincts and retail precincts to recognise their unique identities. Use this page to find out more about these precincts.

Central precincts

Brisbane is Australia’s third largest city and its central precincts include Brisbane City, South Bank and Fortitude Valley. Council is committed to building a city centre that is welcoming, inclusive and open for business. Through plans and strategies such as Brisbane's Inner City Strategy, we aim to elevate the city centre as a vibrant neighbourhood and destination of choice, as well as a workplace that is adapting to meet rapidly changing needs.

Brisbane City

Brisbane’s Economic Development Agency, a wholly owned subsidiary of Brisbane City Council is responsible for supporting Brisbane City through activation and activities. Find out more about what’s on in Brisbane City.

South Bank

Located on the southern banks of the Brisbane River in South Brisbane, South Bank is Brisbane’s premier lifestyle and cultural destination.

Fortitude Valley

Eclectic and cosmopolitan, Fortitude Valley has a vibrant nightlife and restaurant scene. Council supports the promotion of Fortitude Valley through My Valley.

Industrial precincts

Brisbane has industrial land for a broad range of industries, with the benefit of excellent road, sea, rail and air freight connections. The industrial sector is a critical part of our city, and key industrial precincts have scalable industrial activity, world-class business environments and global research. By 2041, industry will contribute more than $22 billion to Brisbane's gross regional product (GRP) and account for 13% of our workforce.

Brisbane: Our Productive City is Council's strategy to remain competitive by improving and adapting key industrial areas. Unlocking growth in industrial areas, combined with a supportive infrastructure network and high quality urban precincts, will provide Brisbane with a globally competitive industrial future.

Council encourages sustainable partnerships with stakeholders and investors to facilitate future growth to realise the vision for Brisbane's industrial precincts.

Brisbane's industrial land network

Urban enterprise areas (UEA)

Concentrated economic and employment activity within a network of accessible inner city locations, including parts of Albion, Newstead, Bowen Hills, East Brisbane, Woolloongabba and Milton.

Major industry areas (MIA)

Includes the following areas which are major hubs for industrial activity within the region.

Australia TradeCoast

Australia TradeCoast is Brisbane’s global export hub, with world-class infrastructure and mature governance arrangements.

Northern Industrial Area

Includes the suburbs of Geebung, Virginia, Northgate, Nudgee and Banyo. This precinct supports a range if industrial businesses that leverage their proximity to the Port of Brisbane and Brisbane Airport.

South West Industrial Gateway

Extending over southwest Brisbane, this precinct is the largest of Brisbane's industrial areas as one of South East Queensland's main freight gateways.

Other industrial land and productive areas

Industrial areas throught the city that effectively service businesses and residents and link the wider network of industrial land use across the city.

Brisbane Technology Park, Eight Mile Plains

Home to biotech, health and medical, mining, communications, electronics and software development businesses.

Boggo Road Innovation Precicnt, Dutton Park

A centre for health, research, education and science with world-class facilities.

Retail precincts

There are close to 300 retail precincts across Brisbane including principal centres, major centres and suburban shopping strips. Council offers practical advice and information as a resource for all retail precincts and through the Growing Precincts Together program.

Retail precincts in Brisbane generally correlate to centre zoned land under the Brisbane City Plan 2014, which guides the planning intent of the city. Under this plan, Brisbane’s retail precincts are generally characterised by four centre zonings.

Principal centres

The purpose of these centres is to provide for the largest and most diverse mix of uses and activities including concentrations of high-order retail, commercial, employment, residential and health services.

The six principal centres are:

City Centre
Fortitude Valley
Spring Hill
Kurilpa
Chermside
Upper Mount Gravatt.

District centres

District centres are intended to provide for a large variety of uses to service a district of the Brisbane Local Government Area (LGA) and include administrative, business, community, cultural, entertainment, professional, residential or retail uses. These centres are intended to service a district catchment, along with visitors, workers and residents in the centre. There are 88 district centres located across Brisbane.

Major centres

Seven major centres provide for a large variety of uses and activities to services such as offices, residential, administrative, community services and retail requiring large catchments. The seven major centres are:

Nundah
Toombul
Mitchelton
Toowong
Indooroopilly
Wynnum
Carindale

Neighbourhood centres

Neighbourhood centres provide for a small variety of uses and activities to service residents and may include other small-scale uses and activities that directly support local residents such as community services, convenience shops or offices.

Neighbourhood centres are the most prevalent throughout the city and are generally characterised by a small group of shops. Given the small scale of neighbourhood centres, these centres generally trade well. Find out how Council is creating a city of neighbourhoods through suburban renewal to support better ways to live, work and relax.

Other retail developments

Retail development can also occur in locations beyond our designated centres either as parts of mixed-use development such as residential/office developments with ground floor retailing or as separate developments.

Mixed-use developments that incorporate ground floor commercial spaces are often small-scale retail intended to cater for the new residents/workers of the above development, while also activating street frontages.

Current retail precinct projects

Working closely with selected precincts through the Growing Precincts Together program, Council supports tenants and owners of businesses to promote precincts as vibrant and attractive destinations.

Council is currently working with the following precincts:

Previous suburban retail precinct projects

Bulimba Local Business Partnership Initiative

In 2021, Council engaged with the business community in Oxford Street Bulimba to encourage and identify opportunities to enhance and activate the precinct as a vibrant dining and retail destination. Council funded a suite of online feature articles, e-newsletter promotions and social media assets to promote the Oxford Street Bulimba precinct as a destination to the broader Brisbane community.

Mt Gravatt Central Local Business Partnership Initiative

Council engaged with the Mt Gravatt Central business community in 2021 to identify opportunities to enhance and activate the precinct and local economy. Council funded Springboard Digital to work with local businesses to develop a Digital Presence Strategy, focusing on a website and social media strategy for the precinct. In May 2022 the Mount Gravatt Central website was launched to attract new visitors to the precinct. Council also funded a series of capability workshops to help businesses build their customer base and develop social media strategies.

Destination plans

From 2017–2019, Council worked with local business areas in Moorooka, Nundah, Wynnum, Sandgate and Stones Corner to prepare destination plans:

Last updated: 16 November 2023