BHP Billiton Iron Ore has announced a further investment of $190 million to provide more high-quality employee housing in Newman and Port Hedland.
This second phase of accommodation development in the towns is in addition to $150 million worth of projects which are currently underway in phase one, and will take BHP Billiton Iron Ore’s construction and refurbishment program through to 2010.
In Newman, new works will include construction of 138 new homes, with a mix of two, three and four bedrooms. They will be based on the eco unit concept with a focus on energy and water efficiency, along with refurbishment of 50 existing Company homes.
Port and South Hedland works will include construction of 50 new homes in Pretty Pool and Cooke Point, and refurbishment of 126 existing Company homes, including the flats at Keesing Street in Port Hedland, and at Limpet Crescent, Acacia Way and Somerset Crescent in South Hedland.
All of the homes will be constructed or refurbished with a ‘clean and green’ focus with a range of features built in to keep temperatures down during the hot Pilbara summer.
BHP Billiton Iron Ore’s investment in Pilbara housing is unparalleled in Western Australia and will play an important role in attracting new employees and their families to the Pilbara, and in retaining existing families for longer periods.
At the completion of these first two phases of development, almost 700 homes across Newman and Hedland will have been newly constructed or refurbished; the accommodation development projects really are having a significant impact on housing in the Pilbara!
*By Lisa Baldock, Communications Advisor, Accommodation Development Projects, BHP Billiton.
This article was first published in Oresome (September 2007, Volume 017) — an internal company publication published by BHP Billiton Iron Ore.