Port Hedland village in $79m expansion

A development assessment panel has approved a $79 million proposal to double the capacity of a Port Hedland accommodation that houses BHP workers.

The Regional Joint Development Assessment Panel today unanimously approved facility operator Compass Group’s plan to add 301 rooms to Waypoint Village workforce accommodation on Great Eastern Highway.

Estimated to cost $79 million, the proposed expansion would bring the total number of rooms at Waypoint Village to 553 to cater for BHP staff working on the port's debottlenecking project.

Warren Puvanendran of Compass Group said there had been some feedback from the community, raising concerns about the access to the airport and pub being disrupted by ongoing roadworks.

“But I don’t see them as big issues going forward. It’s a short-term issue but nothing major in terms of clear negative feedback from residents in the village,” he said at the meeting.

The Town of Port Hedland has supported the expansion and recommended the JDAP approve the proposal to help tackle the shortage of affordable housing in the Pilbara.

Compass Group’s development application, prepared by CLE Town Planning + Design with designs by AECOM, said BHP expected the debottlenecking project to start in the second half of 2024 and be completed by March 2028.

BHP Iron Ore plans to develop infrastructure to expand and debottleneck its port to a production capacity of about 330 megatonnes a year.

“During the operational peak of the project, BHP has forecast the need for 400 to 450 rooms at Waypoint Village to accommodate employees and contractors from the project,” the development application said.

“The existing supply of workforce accommodation within Port Hedland has been assessed and determined insufficient to accommodate the additional demand generated by the project.

“With housing supply in Port Hedland having grown by less than 0.2 per cent per annum since June 2017, the current shortage is expected to be further exacerbated by an increasing number of non-permanent workers coming to and from Port Hedland.

"Presently, BHP and other parties are unable to secure consistent accommodation for its workforce, resulting in workers having to demobilise and fly back to Perth.”

The village accommodation was known as Mia Mia Port Hedland.