A planned Sunshine Coast wave park is drawing on the experience of established facilities in Melbourne and Sydney as it moves closer to construction.
Surf Farm, a surf and lifestyle development earmarked for Glass House Mountains, has confirmed a strategic partnership with Australia’s leading wave park developer and operator Urbnsurf Partners.
Surf Farm director Chris Salmon said the relationship allows the project team to test and refine its commercial model against performance data from Urbnsurf’s parks.
“This is an important partnership to rigorously assess our commercial projections and operating assumptions against actual figures on how Australian and international tourists are using, booking and returning to wave park experiences in Melbourne and Sydney on a daily basis,” he said.
“Our team is working alongside Urbnsurf to test every material assumption in the project’s commercial model, including demand and pricing to membership, events, seasonality and catchment.
“Because we are testing it against Urbn’s real-world data, the largest wave pool operator in the world, we can give each assumption a confidence rating and a clear next step, so the project team, investors and the community alike can have confidence in the project’s feasibility.”
Urbnsurf’s Melbourne and Sydney parks have become two of the most in-demand leisure destinations in their respective cities, attracting surfers of all ages.
Mr Salmon said both parties continued to work together through its commercial process, reviewing investor materials, helping prepare for capital partner discussions, and joining stakeholder conversations both remotely and on the ground in order to bring the project closer to the finish line.
Mr Salmon said he expected preliminary earthworks to commence on-site early next year.
Surf Farm also announced in May that Global Shred Ventures will help oversee project delivery and long-term operational strategy, drawing on its international experience in surf and experience-based leisure assets.
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Surf Farm was approved in 2024 and is set to be built on a 10ha site on the Bruce Highway leading into the Sunshine Coast.
The attraction will feature a Wavegarden Cove lagoon configured with 62 modules which is capable of delivering one of the widest ranges of programmable wave settings in the southern hemisphere, and creating a facility suited to everyone from first-time beginners to elite surfers.
Beyond the wave pool attraction, Surf Farm is planned to include food and beverage offerings, retail, community gathering spaces, events programming and spectator areas.
Former world surfing champion Joel Parkinson is a Surf Farm team member.
“I was raised on the Sunshine Coast and I’m proud that the Glass House Mountains-based Surf Farm will become a major new leisure and tourism destination for the region,” he has previously said.
“Surf Farm is about creating something truly special for surfers and the wider community.”
