Redlands & QCDF research facility
Site Details
| Research Facility Name | Redlands & QCDF Research facilities |
|---|---|
| Research Facility Address | 26-40 Delancey Street, Cleveland QLD 4163 |
| Telephone | 0439 755 647 |
| Coordinates/GPS at office | 27o31’29” S 153o15’02” E |
| Climate (Temperature max & min, Annual Rainfall) | Rainfall- 1290mm mostly falling between October and March. Sub-tropical climate (av. max temp 20-30o and av. Min temp 10-20o C). Afternoon sea breezes most days. |
| Topography (Brief description) | Gradual slopes with deep krasnozem basalt red soils. |
Overview of the Site
Redlands Research Station is located, is located at Cleveland near the shores of Moreton Bay and is approximately 22 km from Brisbane.
The facility evolved from a general horticulture (vegetable, fruit and ornamental) facility to focus on servicing the needs of the nursery, cut flower, parks and gardens, landscape and turf industries and housed the peak bodies for these industries. More recently commercial entities in these fields have moved onto the site.
Also there is more focus on servicing the needs of science groups from DAF, CSIRO, QUT, UQ and some private companies that are not based on the site.
Queensland Crop Development Facility, positioned on Redlands Research Facility, has a complex of five glasshouses with 1350 m2 of environmental controlled space. Three of the glasshouses have Plant Containment Level 2 certification for genetically modified plants.
There are also other facilities including cool rooms, preparations areas, potting shed and shade house. One preparation area is within the PC2 area and has an autoclave for waste material.
There are 24 separate growing compartments in the facility with the ability to control temperature lighting, shade and watering from a central DDC and software interface.
The facility is also home to the Redlands Heritage Garden set up to celebrate the Bicentenary in 2001 and has themes for recognizing the parts of horticulture that contributed to the Redlands area being the ‘salad bowl’ for Brisbane. The garden is maintain by a keen group of community gardeners, some who have farmed the area for 40 years before retiring.
Facilities
General Facilities
The site has built facilities include an administration and offices with accommodation for 70 staff, conference and meeting rooms. General storage and machinery sheds and purpose built mechanical work shop and chemical store.
The field sites is also well serviced with a wide range of plant and equipment including tractors, truck and cultivators required to support research and grow a broad range of crops.
Specialised
Controlled Environments
Queensland Crop Development Facility incorporating
- 600m2 of chilled water glasshouse (400m2 PC2)
- 750m2 of evaporative cooled glasshouse (350m2 PC2)
- Computer controlled irrigation, lighting and shade
- Shade houses and plant propagation areas
- Cold rooms
- Autoclaving
- Potting media preparation with steam sterilising
- Large sample processing facilities
Laboratories, processing facilities and conference room
- Lamina flow laboratories
- Several large laboratories and sample preparation/processing areas.
Irrigation
- Town water
- Deionised water
- Creek water with timed, pressure activated and popup (recycled water supplemented).
- 125000 L rain water storage
Machinery sheds and associated workshops.
5-6 hectares of red soil cultivation for field trials
Specialised Plant & Equipment
Pest and Pathogen Control
- Sprayers
Transportation
- Truck
- Forklifts
Sample Processing
- Dryers
- Autoclave
Research Focus
- Industry development to Queensland lifestyle horticulture industries
- Contract research with industry, CSIRO. QUT, UQ and commercial clients
- Management of turf grasses with industry groups
- Glasshouse, shade house and field site research for multiple client groups in horticulture agriculture, technology and forestry
- Ongoing support for DAF fisheries management and regulation
