Stockland breaks ground on 2,600-apartment Birtinya Central

Stockland turned the first sod at Birtinya, on Queensland’s Sunshine Coast, on 23 October 2026, starting civil works on Birtinya Central, a masterplan the developer says could deliver up to 2,600 apartments and house about 5,200 residents once built out, brisbanedevelopment.com.au reported.

BMD has been appointed to carry out earthworks, drainage, roads and services across the 28-hectare site, as the civil works contractor rather than the builder of any individual apartment tower, the outlet reported. Stockland has not yet named a builder or architect for the first apartment stage. The developer put total investment in the precinct at about $3.72 billion including GST over the full construction period, a modelled figure for the masterplan rather than a signed construction contract value.

Why it matters

Starting civil works before naming an apartment builder is a staged sequence: infrastructure first, superstructure contracts later. It limits Stockland’s upfront exposure to a single builder relationship, but it also means the construction timeline for actual apartments, and the final count within the “up to 2,600” ceiling, stays undefined until those contracts are signed. The $3.72 billion figure is a modelled estimate of total precinct investment over the construction period, not a confirmed Birtinya Central construction budget, a distinction worth holding onto given how often masterplan totals get quoted later as committed spend.

The site sits beside Lake Kawana and the Sunshine Coast Health Precinct, land Stockland has been masterplanning for Birtinya’s town centre under a refreshed scheme the outlet said was approved earlier this year. Birtinya Central’s scale sits well above other Sunshine Coast projects moving through the pipeline this month, such as Habitat Development Group’s 180-unit Maroochydore tower. Adopted planning settings allow buildings of 8 to 15 storeys across the town centre, though brisbanedevelopment.com.au reported individual building heights for Birtinya Central’s own towers have not yet been confirmed.

Matt Patullo, Stockland’s development director, said Birtinya Central “will help meet some of the Sunshine Coast’s biggest opportunities and challenges over the coming decade,” according to brisbanedevelopment.com.au.

The numbers

brisbanedevelopment.com.au cited an Urbis economic assessment prepared for Stockland in October 2026, forecasting 722 to 964 full-time-equivalent construction jobs a year during the build, rising to 4,205 ongoing FTE jobs once the precinct is operating. The same assessment put resident spending on retail, hospitality and lifestyle at about $149.8 million a year, and gross value added at $111.3 million to $148.4 million during construction and $630.7 million a year from ongoing operations.

Public open space across the precinct will increase by 60%, the outlet reported, without giving a baseline figure to calculate the resulting area from. A planned central green spine is intended to connect a future transport hub, Lake Kawana, the cable-stay bridge and the Kawana Sports Precinct.

What’s next

The sod turn starts BMD’s civil package, not vertical construction. No whole-of-precinct completion date or individual stage program has been released, and Stockland has yet to confirm who will build or design the first apartment stage.

A planned Birtinya interchange would connect Stage 2 rail from Caloundra with Stage 3 metro-style services under The Wave, the state’s broader Sunshine Coast transport program. brisbanedevelopment.com.au reported Stage 2 is in pre-construction, with design and pre-construction contracts expected in late 2026, and that construction remains subject to funding being secured. Until that funding and those apartment-stage contracts are locked in, the 2,600-apartment figure remains a masterplan ceiling rather than a confirmed delivery number.