As advised on 1 March, the Brisbane Markets site was inundated by flood waters between 27 February and 1 March 2022. After the immediate post flood clean-up activities, the Market commenced trading from the Central Trading Area on 2 March 2022 in a limited capacity.
Other areas of the site were more significantly impacted by the flood and were progressively cleaned, and tenants recommenced operating from their premises as power and services were reinstated and became available. For most tenants, this process took a matter of days to up to three weeks, with ongoing work required in relation to commercial offices and the retail precinct.
The flood recovery process has now been ongoing for the past four weeks, and we are pleased to report to shareholders that we have made excellent progress with our clean-up and site reinstatement processes. Much of the Brisbane Markets site is fully functioning again, including:
- electricity reconnected to all buildings;
- all dock levellers are functioning;
- access controls and gatehouses have been reinstated;
- all telecommunications and data networks are now operational;
- toilets and sewerage facilities are fully operational;
- all lifts are in working order;
- car parking management systems have been replaced; and
- essential priority replacement assets have been secured.
The Board is very pleased with the progress that has been made to date, and we thank our staff and key service providers who have made a significant contribution through the period of our reinstatement efforts.
BML continues to work through reinstatement of premises for which we are responsible within the commercial, office and retail precincts which require replacement of walls, floor coverings and kitchenettes. This process will continue through April and May, and we anticipate that most tenants in our Retail precinct will be operational by the end of May, with a number commencing trade earlier.
As previously advised, BML does have insurance coverage for this flood event and we have appointed a claims manager, and our insurers have appointed a loss assessor. We are currently working through the details of our claim, including rent abatement that is required to be provided under our leases, property and infrastructure damage costs, and business interruption coverage. Our claim will be subject to the payment of our deductible. The flood event is expected to impact on BML’s financial performance and the Board will continue to monitor the impact and will keep shareholders updated as further information becomes available.
Andrew Young
Managing Director and CEO
For more information regarding this notice, please contact BML on (07) 3915 4200.