The place of yesterday’s pioneers and tomorrow’s legends

Challenge

Rivermakers is the largest business park within 10 kilometres of the Brisbane CBD. Its masterplan includes an industrial trade centre, commercial spaces, and heritage precinct. BMI Group approached Hoyne with the opportunity to transform this 30-hectare abandoned estate into a destination of choice in Brisbane for work, entertainment, and connection to surrounding green spaces.

Business parks are usually built for efficiency, not workers: lacking lunchtime and after-work offerings, with little consideration of nature. By 6pm, these sites are vacant and lifeless. Therefore, this project was approached through the lens of people-first – what would entice and engage the wider community?

Approach

The Place Visioning^™ process established a precinct zoning plan to determine the site’s various uses and identities, ensuring it would be activated by a range of different target audiences from 6am to 9pm. Characterful and contemporary F&B offerings were interspersed amidst activated indoor and outdoor spaces.

This strategy gave Rivermakers greater meaning and purpose. It presented a dynamic commercial opportunity with social and economic benefits for the wider suburb.

The site’s unique history built a foundation for the project’s pioneering spirit, positioning it as the breeding ground for Brisbane’s future legends. This sentiment was captured with the phrase ‘Make History’, leading to the highly ownable name Rivermakers. The brand communications invite entrepreneurialism, social/recreational activity and provide reason for the community to have renewed interest in the site.

The Rivermakers positioning plays out across the brand’s tone of voice, rich with true-blue Brisbanite character that encourages active audience participation. The custom-built logo letterforms symbolise the various precincts coming together to create one whole. Overall the Rivermakers look and feel elevates the traditional industrial aesthetic, with a colour palette that represents the site’s natural landscape.

Results

As a result of defining its precinct zones, Rivermakers has successfully attracted both a brewery and coffee roaster as tenants — immediate magnets for visitors and tenants. Rivermakers will fulfil an unmet need in the community and provide an experience that otherwise would never have existed. An industrial estate has been transformed into a destination that will contribute to the local and state economy through creating new jobs and on site events.