Home and business owners in West End are advised to have their properties checked and treated for termite infestations before the situation gets worse this summer.
After the dampness brought about by La Niña, termite infestation has gradually worsened in the last two years, based on observations by exterminators such as Gavin Shill from All Year Pest Solutions.
Mr Shill revealed that his team has been doing more active treatments than ever before and the demand for treatments has “gone through the roof” from seven to eight in a month compared to just a couple of services a month in the previous years.
He said that termites are attracted to moisture or damp spots in wooden structures, and was recently shocked to find a rubber doormat filled with termites because it was too damped.
Biosecurity Queensland confirmed an increased detection of harmful West Indian drywall termites (WIDT) in many homes and businesses, especially wooden buildings and timber structures.
The agency said that it has sent out advice to 30,000 residents in West End and Coorparoo, Woolloongabba and Manly to help these owners know what to look for and what they must do next. They advised calling an expert to exterminate and eliminate these pests.
“WIDT is difficult to detect, and it can establish colonies in concealed areas of houses and buildings that are not easily accessed, Tenting is a very effective treatment method for WIDT.”
Meanwhile, Mr Shill also warned that the upcoming summer heat might trigger an increase in other pests like cockroaches, rats, spiders, and mosquitoes. Thus, a preventative pesticide treatment, alongside general cleanliness, will come in handy for home and business owners.
A group of West End locals is spearheading the Montague Road Project, with several project ideas being discussed that reflect the community’s shared vision, in line with a citywide improvement plan ahead of the 2032 Brisbane Olympics.
Following the release of the 2019 South Brisbane Transport and Mobility Study, $1 million has been earmarked for the upgrade of Montague Road. In line with this, groups like Kurilpa Futures and the Queensland Ballet formed the Montague Road Project, an initiative to ensure that there will be a community consensus on the best ways to make use of the funding.
In September 2022, the Montague Road Project conducted a community survey and received more than 750 responses, which was followed by a community forum attended by more than 60 residents and business owners in West End.
The group is initially proposing to improve Montague Road into the Kurilpa Boulevard “green road” with green side streets and “food forests” connecting to the riverside parklands. The group also wants visible recognition of First Nations culture, and potentially opening a new First Nations Cultural Centre.
Montague Road must be made into a “climate resilient destination” that will allow Brisbane to achieve 43 per cent emissions reduction by 2030.
“The 2032 Olympics would enable us to showcase to the world Australian expertise and our three levels of governments’ commitment to climate change adaption,” the group stated.
The Montague Road Project continues to conduct meetings with different communities to document more data that will help bring the vision to the next stage.
“We invite all people who live, work or visit the Montague Road area including local businesses, community and sport organisations and special interest groups in the broader community to participate,” the group said.
“We hope everyone will get involved and especially people living in apartments along the river as well as those living on the other side along the length of Montague Road up to Hardgrave Road and northwards from there.”
A 15-storey residential building with a childcare centre would be built on the former site of ABSOE along Boundary Road in West End, if a developer’s plans are granted approval.
To be called ‘Callista on Park,’ the mixed-use tower designed by fjmtstudio, would be the final stage of West Village’s redevelopment, which includes a previously approved and constructed basement parking and podium level.
Photo credit: fjmtstudio/BCC
“The proposed final West Village development ‘celebrates the existing garden character of the precinct’ and will be ‘the most sculptural and refined offering in the Village,” planners at RPS Group said.
“Callista on Park will celebrate its garden character by wrapping Mollison Park up its façade plateauing on a true sky garden with watering holes, conservatories and intimate hidden gardens,” the planning documents read.
Residential Tower
Photo credit: fjmtstudio/BCC
The residential building would be a mix of one two-bedroom, 34 x 3 bedroom, 35 x 4 bedroom, and two penthouse apartments.
Each unit will have a highly functional private open space, ranging in size from 15sqm to 91sqm. It will also feature balcony areas which will be directly accessible from main internal living areas.
A communal rooftop garden, with an area of 1,370sqm featuring hard and soft landscaping and open space, has also been proposed.
As for parking, the development proposes to supply a total of 178 residential component car parks including 161 residential spaces in dedicated areas across Basement Levels 2, 3 and 4.
Childcare Centre
Plans for childcare centre (Photo credit: fjmtstudio/BCC)
The previously constructed podium level (Level 1) will house the childcare centre, spanning 1,192sqm and will have an outdoor play area on the Mollison Street side which is located across the road from the residential apartments.
The rooftop area will feature outdoor seating, kitchen, dining, sauna, spaces, wellness studio, swimming pool, and landscaping to provide communal areas for residents.
For the childcare centre alone, provision has been made for six car spaces within Basement Level 2 which are to cater for the childcare centre staff parking.
To learn more about the proposed development, see Brisbane City Council’s website and use the reference A006116369.
Following a cold and wet QLD winter, Harris Farm Markets West End is celebrating the advent of spring with five of its best produce, highlighting locally grown products and helping to ease those winter lurgies.
Strawberries from Stothart Family Farm in Moreton Bay. Broccoli from Windolf Farms at Upper Tenthill in the Lockyer Valley. Carrots from Kalfresh in the Scenic Rim. Corn from Mulgowie in the Lockyer Valley. Avocados from Balmoral Orchards in Toowoomba.
These are the Top Guns of Spring 2022 – locally grown stars at Harris Farm Markets.
1. Stothart Family Farm in Moreton Bay: Strawberries
Bryan and Jane Stothart started growing strawberries five decades ago on the family’s 20-acre farmland in Bellmere. David Fairweather, a son-in-law, now runs the farm and has introduced new ideas to improve what his parents-in-law started. He developed The Hanging Gardens of Bellmere, an innovative system of growing strawberries without any soil. Instead, the plant is cultivated in a hydroponic system using coil, a coconut fibre mix.
Stothart Family Farm’s quality strawberries are tabletop grown, easily picked from the hydroponic system with its nutrients and deliciousness well-contained. The strawberries are protected from pests and diseases.
2. Windolf Farms at Upper Tenthill, Lockyer Valley: Broccoli
Henry Windolf founded Windolf Farms in the 1930s in Lockyer Valley and is now managed by third-generation family members Paul and his wife Sharron, alongside Paul’s cousins Jayson and Jillian. The farmland primarily produces broccoli, lettuce, parsnips, washed potatoes, watermelon and pumpkin.
Photo Credit: WindolfFarms.com.au
Photo Credit: WindolfFarms.com.au
Their broccoli production is for export quality. The family has been exporting to Singapore for more than a decade, aside from supplying local supermarkets.
3. Kalfresh in the Scenic Rim: Carrots
Kalfresh Vegetables, based in Kalbar in the Scenic Rim, has operated for three decades. The farm was established by father and son Barry and Robert Hinrichsen.
The company has built a solid reputation as one of the leading producers of juicy and nutritious carrots in Australia, picking, washing, packing and shipping the produce in minimal time so its quality is maintained. Kalfresh also provides premium prepared vegetables to the food service industry as well as ready-to-eat products for retail.
4. Mulgowie in the Lockyer Valley: Corn
The farming company developed by the husband and wife team of John and Dell Emerick started more than 70 years ago. Today, Mulgowie Farming Company spans five locations across Queensland, New South Wales and Victoria, as it has become the largest sweet corn grower in the country.
Mulgowie started growing super sweet corn varieties in the 1980s and then launched baby corn varieties around 2004. The farming company has received awards for its streamlined operations, allowing the supply of sweet corn for 12 months a year.
5. Balmoral Orchards in Toowoomba: Avocado
Established in 1988, Balmoral Orchards in Toowoomba South grow avocado trees, with fruits that have a distinct buttery-nutty flavour, in free-draining, volcanic red soil so the environment remains disease-free. The harvest is done by hand with the help of a Nifty Lifty and the fruits are then decanted into bins and moved to cold storage before it’s carefully inspected, graded, and classified for distribution.
Photo Credit: Balmoral Orchards/Google Maps
Photo Credit: Balmoral Orchards/Google Maps
Balmoral avocados are packed with vitamins and minerals. Their products are highly sought after for their excellent value and supply.
In addition to the spectacular, Harris Farm Markets is shining the light on Imperfect Picks, Harris Farm Markets’ seasonal range of fruit and vegetables that might not look perfect from the outside but are as perfect and full of flavour as ever on the inside.
“Our Imperfect Picks program helps reduce the astonishing statistics that *25 per cent of Australian crops currently never leave the farm gate because they are a bit, well, unattractive, and do not meet the visual specifications of some supermarkets and consumers,” said co-CEO Tristan Harris.
“It means that every time you buy an Imperfect Pick, you are helping us take more from our farmers, you are helping reduce food wastage, and importantly, you are saving up to 50 per cent!”
So, if you see Pudgy Imperfect Pears, Lumpy Pink Lady Apples, Warped Eggplant, Twisted Sweet Potatoes, Unruly Imperfect Zucchini and Scruffy Mangoes in the aisles, remember they taste just as good as their “perfect” looking cousins!
Harris Farm Markets along Boundary St, West End is open daily from 7:00 a.m. to 10:00 p.m.
After nine years of serving locals with locally grown and healthy food, West End’s Plenty has closed for good as of the end of July 2022. The owner admits that the decision-making process “was tough.”
On 31 July 2022, Plenty served its final batch of meals. The business folded up after months of struggling with the impact of the pandemic coupled with staff shortage and the devastation of the recent severe weather event. Unable to bring the business back into the black, owner Karyn Hodges decided that it was time to close the cafe for good.
Photo Credit: Plenty / Facebook
“Running a small business takes courage,” her heartfelt farewell message on their social media read. She stated that “choosing to close took emotional fortitude.” She had to set aside sentimentality, acknowledge that an energy has run its course, and convince herself that “perseverance wasn’t the only honourable option.”
“We are not walking away from Plenty, so much as wrapping her in a loving embrace and telling her to rest in peace. We’re proud of what we achieved. We ran a gentle business. We nourished meaningful relationships with small scale farmers and producers.
“But most of all, we built a family of loyal hard working hospo workers who believed in our ethos and showed up for it every day. And we had fun doing it. So much fun.”
Plenty used to occupy a refurbished warehouse at 284 Montague Road in West End. The cafe’s kitchen served a small menu of brunch fare whilst its retail shelves were stacked with fresh produce, artisan bread, sauces, condiments, jams, marmalades, and organic pressed olive oil.
Plans to turn a glass manufacturing site on Montague Road in West End into “South Bank 2.0” have inched a step closer to fruition after the acquisition of the property for $165 million.
The precinct has been envisioned as an inner city multi-use parkland that will also house the International Broadcast Centre (IBC) in time for the 2023 Brisbane Olympics and Paralympic Games.
Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk said that the West End site “will be the global nerve centre of the 2032 Games.” The 9-hectare property will then be added as a permanent asset for Brisbane, thus creating the future for a world-class parkland similar to South Bank.
Initially, a temporary venue will be constructed for IBC. After the games, the building will then be removed and then converted into parklands. The state government will be closely working with Council in the site’s transformation.
Ms. Palaszczuk said South Bank 2.0 would be a mixed-use facility with heaps of green spaces and restaurants. The governments have more than a decade to develop the revitalisation and a masterplan is yet to be prepared.
Photo Credit: Google Maps
“The mayors of South East Queensland began the journey to pursue these Games because they realised the incredible legacy this would create for Brisbane and the rest of the region,” Lord Mayor Adrian Schrinner said.
“This new area on the banks of the Brisbane River is precisely the type of legacy they envisaged, great new assets that would benefit all residents and make our wonderful city even better.
“For a decade and more, people have talked about South Bank being extended along this part of our river and I am so pleased we’re now moving forward to make those dreams become a reality.”
Meanwhile, Visy, the current occupant, will move its operations to a new site in Stapylton. The company will also build its cardboard box factory in Hemmant. Both businesses will bring in 600 new jobs for Queenslanders.
The residential dwellings , consisting of 78 two-, three- and four-bedroom units, will take up eight levels, with each storey consisting of individual private balconies or courtyards facing the streets.
Site plan (Photo credit: Brisbane City Council)
The subject site is on a 2365sqm corner site spanning four lots at 4, 6 and 8 Bailey Street and 10 Kurilpa Street. It’s currently occupied by warehouse buildings which will be removed once the application is given the green light.
It would have a rooftop communal space, which would have a swimming pool, barbecue, recreational areas and pergola.
Designed by MODE Design, the plan incorporates Buildings that Breathe principles, with landscaping and deep planting zones proposed “to ensure the interface contributes to an attractive streetscape.”
Photo credit: Brisbane City Council
It would also feature two levels of basement car parking which will accommodate 138 car parking spaces including 12 visitor parking.
The DA highlighted that residents of the proposed building will benefit from the ferry services, given the proposed ferry terminal at Victoria St.
“The proposed development is an appropriate density and mix of dwelling types to achieve the dwelling targets to accommodate the future population for Brisbane City under the Regional Plan,” said planners at RPS.
Rooftop recreation space (Photo credit: Brisbane City Council)
Stockwell has a number of established properties in West End, such as Riverpoint, which was completed in 2016, Muse (completed 2018), and Virtuoso the River (completed 2019).
The company has many residential projects across Brisbane, including apartments along Fish Lane and Dutton Park. They are also behind the controversialBoggo Road Gaol development, which was granted approval in 2021.
The new West End development will be one of their projects for 2022 along with another one in Noosaville.
Fore more details about the proposed residential building, see Brisbane City Council’s website with the reference A005984925.
Here are some fresh and delicious ideas for the Easter weekend! Harris Farm Markets West End shares six new recipes for Easter, using seafood and some of the best produce in season.
Whilst the kids prepare for Easter hunts at home, keep an eye on Pink Lady Apples, avocados, pears, and red grapefruit, as well as raspberries, broccolini, white grapes, lemons, limes, chestnuts, carrots, red capsicum, plums, sweet potatoes, blackberries, zucchini, bananas, passionfruit, celery and truss cherry tomatoes at the fruits and vegetable section of Harris Farm Markets.
Swing by the seafood aisle as well and check out the ingredients and supplies you can use to prepare these meals below:
Easter Tom Yum Gravalax
A simple and quick dish to make, this cured salmon recipe incorporates tastes of Thai soup with coriander, lemongrass, galangal, and kaffir lime leaves. For that little bit of extra preparation time, place the gravalax on fried rice paper crisps with pickled radish, fresh truss cherry tomatoes, and crème fraiche.
The best thing about a platter is that it caters to every palette, even the pickiest of people. This recipe couples the most mouth-watering lamb cutlets and vegan sausages with eggplant, capsicum, broccolini, and truss cherry tomatoes, seasoned with rosemary and a touch of garlic.
For the love of all seafood, you can’t give this one a miss at Easter. A dish of art with octopus and marinade, black mussels, king prawns, and scallops. The platter is placed with final touches of freshly made saltbush butter, capers, and lemon wedges.
This recipe is one not spoiled by the overindulgence of Easter chocolate, with all ingredients carefully selected to harmonise perfectly with eggs in this Easter dish. A traditionally Turkish take with emphasis on spices, sided with Macadamia Flatbread to dip into the delights.
Hot Cross Bun Ice Cream Sandwiches with Chocolate Sauce
You can’t go wrong with a classic hot cross bun recipe, but maybe you can do a little better. This possibly controversial take on Hot Cross Buns provides an option for the warmer days of Autumn. We’ll leave you to decide if it’s worthy.
Adding in-season Pink Lady Apples, or any red and green apple of your choice – this recipe allows you to pick the apple from whichever tree you prefer. Still focusing on a classic cinnamon flavour with a dash of lemon juice, you can share this dish with all your guests – vegan or not.
Now on its fifth year, Brisbane Ice Cream Festival, the sweetest and coolest event of the summer, is all set to give everyone a scoop of the action with a three-weekend treat!
Kicking things off is the Chef’s Playground, a ticketed event featuring the culinary skill and style of Brisbane’s best chefs — Phillip Johnson (E’cco Bistro and Philip Johnson Catering), William Wallace (Executive Chef at William Wallace Group), and Matt Golinski (Ready Steady Cook and Peppers Noosa Resort). This talented group will indulge guests in a degustation of sensational sweet and savoury desserts.
The Chef’s Playground will be at The Common in West Village and will run at 6:00 p.m. on 18 and 19 March 2022.
On 26 and 27 March 2022, Brisbane Ice Cream Festival will launch the Sundae Funday event for the kids and kids at heart. Anita Gelato will provide delicious treats whilst the kids play, engage, enjoy the entertainment, and develop their crafty skills.
Sundae Funday will take place at Peters Ice Cream Factory on various time slots (1.5 hours per slot). Adults won’t have to pay for the entry and tickets for groups will be reserved for a maximum of four kids per schedule.
Whilst restaurants in the West Village will participate and offer a variety of special desserts in the Ice Cream All Day and All Night during the duration of the festival, the Ice Cream All Weekend event will cap off the celebrations on 2 to 3 April 2022.
Some of your favourite ice cream vendors, like Ungermann Brothers and Roll It Ice Cream Co, will be churning their specialities and delectable ice cream creations, including treats for specific dietary requirements.
Please note that slots for ticketed events at the Brisbane Ice Cream Festival will be strictly limited. Once tickets are sold out, no more will be released and no walk-ins will be entertained.
However, nothing ought to stop you from enjoying your favourite frosty treat with West Village’s all-day and all-night specials. Who knows, you might even be the one to win FREE ice cream for a year! Now that would really be cool.
STRONG Pilates has opened its latest studio on Montague Road in West End bringing its revolutionary hybrid workout machine that integrates cardio with strength and resistance training.
Whilst Pilates helps strengthen muscles and enhance flexibility, its low-impact nature doesn’t offer the kind of burn that a high-intensity workout gives. This is where STRONG Pilates comes in.
STRONG Pilates has been making waves in the fitness training landscape since opening its flagship studio in 2019 in Elsternwick, Melbourne. Already 15-studios strong, owners Michael Ramsey and Mark Armstrong are not stopping with their aggressive expansion plans with no less than 50 locations eyed this year.
Photo credit: Strong Pilates / Facebook
Michael and Mark used to run several F45 studios which were highly successful. But after discovering ‘Rowformer’ – a machine that is a half reformer and half rower – they started unloading their six F45 studios in 2019 to open a STRONG Pilates gym in Melbourne.
The studio is very stylish with charges in each locker, hair dryers/straighteners, mobility area, showers, and cold towels soaked in Eucalyptus oil delivered post-workout plus a distinct scent enveloping the entire gym and a specially curated playlist in the background to complete the overall STRONG experience.
At the heart of the STRONG Pilates class is the Rowformer which allows for a low-impact but high-intensity workout regardless of one’s level of fitness or mobility. A typical 45-minute class will involve what they call “strength blocks” covering the upper body, lower body and core. Each of the three strength blocks is followed by a 5-minute interval rowing.
Photo credit: Strong_Pilates / Facebook
STRONG’s West End studio is the sixth location following Hope Island, Burleigh, Ashmore, Southport and Maroochydore. Soon to come are at least seven Queensland locations spread across Gold Coast, Sunshine Coast and Brisbane, thanks to the strong reception that their fitness brand has been getting.
Ready to take your workout routine to the next level? Click here to book online.
STRONG Pilates | 196 – 204 Montague Road West End QLD 4101
