Case study – Woolworths Mountview
At Woolworths Mountview, a neighbourhood shopping centre servicing Brisbane’s growing Redbank Plains catchment, Mainbrace delivered a high-quality new build that incorporates a local artist’s distinctive creative touch. Mainbrace delivered the new build project at a challenging time for our industry.
A rewarding project for our Brisbane retail builder
Woolworths Mountview is a vibrant new convenience-based neighbourhood shopping centre encompassing approximately 5,200 sqm of retail floor area. This incorporates a full-line 3,800 sqm supermarket, 11 specialty shops, and on-grade parking for more than 240 cars.
The new-build project was undertaken through a Design and Construct contract. Our Project Manager Luke Swift led the onsite team through the 49-week program which commenced in June 2021 and was opened in June 2022.
The project encountered very familiar challenges within the construction industry: the ramifications of significant wet weather, the constrained supply of materials, and skilled-trade shortages. The ongoing global consequences of the pandemic, climate issues and the war in Ukraine, are likely here to stay to a certain extent for the foreseeable future.
Despite these significant challenges, Mainbrace’s familiarity with the Woolworths Supermarkets business model and management/operational teams, as well as our established relationships vertically across the supply chain, enabled the project to run to schedule. This was a major achievement for Mainbrace in the context of the challenging issues we faced.
Aesthetic appeal
Woolworths Mountview is unique due to its eclectic architectural design which required a high level of detail within the build. The project also showcases stunning Indigenous artwork by First Nations artist Casey Coolwell-Fisher of Chaboo Designs, who was engaged to add her distinctive, creative flair to the centre’s design. Casey is a Quandamooka Nunukul woman and her piece, Flight in the Night, features two variations in the centre, on a wall and the dining area soffit.
Mainbrace engaged specialist contractors including muralist Rahner Art to bring this contemporary and striking vision to life in the built form to deliver a Woolworths shopping experience like no other.
Successful stakeholder collaboration
As well as our close collaboration with Woolworths, a valued repeat customer with whom expert retail builder Mainbrace works nationally, we also worked closely with Ipswich City Council to ensure the extensive road works required for this shopping centre project were completed to schedule and with minimal disruption to traffic flows and neighbouring residents.
The centre has been very well-received by the local community, with the Woolworths Mountview supermarket even going viral on social media soon after completion in July 2022. In this centre, the entire supermarket shopping experience is enhanced for customers visiting the store – with the quality and aesthetic of the build playing a major role in this outcome.
Mainbrace has been very happy to have strengthened our ties with Woolworths through this unique, high-quality project.