Information for businesses
We’re committed to working closely with local business to manage disruptions throughout construction.
On this page, your business can find information about support measures in place throughout construction. This includes information about construction, traffic changes, available support services, activities and promotions.
If you’re a local or visitor, click the button below to learn more about ways you can show your support for local business.
Keeping you informed
For current work notices and construction activities, please click here.
It is our priority to keep your business informed of any works commencing, and through advance notice, we will aim to minimise disruptions wherever possible.
We will regularly engage with businesses to provide the latest information through:
works notifications by mail and email (register here for email updates)
door knocks and face to face briefings
direct contact via phone and email
group presentations where appropriate
Contact us on 1800 312 600 or by email to request a briefing.
Love Your Local campaign
The Gold Coast Light Rail Stage 3 (GCLR3) project team is promoting the Love Your Local campaign, encouraging Gold Coast residents and visitors to shop local during construction of Stage 3. This campaign is now active with the intention of encouraging all Gold Coast residents and visitors to ‘love their local’ and shop local throughout the construction period and thereafter.
The campaign includes digital and print resources for your business, as well as pop-up events and shop local campaigns. Business materials have been designed to reflect the unique personalities of Mermaid Beach, Nobby Beach, Miami and Burleigh Heads.
Your business can play a key role in marketing and supporting the campaign and we encourage you to get on board early. Head to the Business information resources tab for more information.
Shop Local and Win competition
One of the first promotions under the Love Your Local campaign is the Shop Local and Win competition, which will inject dollars back into the local business economy through the pre-purchase of vouchers and store credits for people to win monthly. The competition commenced on Monday 10 October 2022.
The community can enter this competition by visiting the Support local businesses page.
Local trader directory
The digital trader directory (directory) is live on the interactive map.
The directory is a digital version of a traditional booklet style business directory. Utilising the GCLR3 interactive map, the directory features information about your business, including promotions and deals that you may have on offer. It provides a direct link to your website and social media, to encourage the community to shop local.
This directory is for businesses located along or within a 300-metre radius of the Gold Coast Highway, between Broadbeach South station and Burleigh Heads.
We want to promote your business and ensure that our community love their local. Please register for the directory by using the link below.
Events and local activities
A series of local business and community activities will bring life and vitality into local business precincts, promoting local businesses, events, and activities. The local community will soon be able to see some of these exciting plans unfold around the heart of GCLR3.
Keep up to date on upcoming events by continuing to visit this page over the coming months.
As events and activations are planned, you’ll also be able to find information on our interactive map. Click here and head to the Local events and activities tab to find out what’s on offer.
Business information resources
The GCLR3 project team has developed resources to help your business encourage customers to continue supporting local.
The promotional resources include:
- A business information brochure with top tips, outlining what’s available to help your business
- A business handbook to guide you on how you can use the Love Your Local campaign
- A suite of social media templates designed to reflect the unique personalities of Mermaid Beach, Nobby Beach, Miami and Burleigh Heads. You can personalise these with your own images!
- Love Your Local social media templates so you can play a key role in marketing and supporting the campaign
- Stickerswith a QR code linking to information about GCLR3, showing customers how they can support you. These stickers can be placed in shop windows, counters, and tables.
- Posters for display in your business. These include QR codes encouraging your customers to keep loving their local
- Project factsheets with more information about GCLR3 like the Five Phases of construction, traffic and parking changes and more.
Click on the sections below to find out more
The social media templates can be used on Facebook™ and Instagram™. The templates have been designed to reflect the unique area personalities of Mermaid Beach, Nobby Beach, Miami and Burleigh Heads.
Social media is a great way to reach your customers and get the Love Your Local message out there. Using these templates can help to:
- attract customers and strengthen customer loyalty during construction
- let your customers and followers know that you are open for business
- advertise Love Your Local with your customers and followers
- increase your business profile to new customers
Here is an example of a social media pack for Burleigh businesses.
Use the Canva links below to access and download the social media pack for your local area.
You can personalise the posts and stories by replacing the existing precinct image with your own business or logo.
You will need to create a free account in Canva and the Canva app can be used on your smartphone or via a web browser on your laptop/desktop computer.
Click on the links below and download the posts and stories for your local business area. The images can be downloaded as individual files.
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Mermaid Beach |
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Nobby Beach |
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Miami |
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Burleigh |
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Love Your Local |
How to personalise the images:
- Follow the link to Canva and login (or create a free account if you don’t have one yet)
- Click the ‘Uploads’ tab on the left side of screen
- Drag and drop your photo into this panel, or click upload media to find your image
- Once uploaded, drag your image on top of the existing photo to update it
- Click share in the top right, then click download from the drop-down menu to save the updated social media tile to your own device
- Download file and upload to your social media account as usual
Stickers and Posters have been designed and printed and like the social media templates, these are tailored for your local business area.
To request a pack to be delivered to you, completing this webform.
Stickers have a QR code linking to useful information about GCLR3 and details on how the community can love their local business, which can be placed in shop windows, counters and tables. A sticker is also available which is dedicated to our our Shop Local and Win competition, SHOP SCAN WIN, this QR code will link customers straight to our competition entry form.
Posters for display in your business. These include QR codes and promoting Love Your Local to your customers.
A business handbook to help your business utilise the Love Your Local campaign and promotional resources
We’ve developed the fact sheets with information to help your business and community during the project. These include:
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Business Information Brochure |
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Parking |
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The Five Phases of Light Rail Construction |
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Managing construction impacts |
Business support services
The following business support services are available at low or no cost to Gold Coast businesses. More information on these services are available on each organisation’s website.
Digital Solutions
Digital Solutions is a Federal Government funded program delivering advice, training and mentoring to small business.
The program delivers three hours of personalised, one-to-one advice and four hours of online workshops. The resources and mentoring included in this offer is personalised to your business needs and are valued at over $1,000.
John Holland are covering the cost for the first 100 businesses.
The Digital Solutions advisors, Renae Frawley and Jackson Sands of Sands Media Pty Ltd have been dropping into businesses along the GCLR3 alignment to offer support for your business.
The digital Solutions mentors are passionate about supporting local business, being Mermaid Beach business operators themselves. With close to 40 years combined experience in digital marketing, consulting and retail operations, the team are here to support you.
Topics covered in the one-to-one advice and workshops include:
- Understanding Digital Marketing
- Producing engaging social media content
- How to build a website
- Selling online
- Online security and data privacy
- How to use business software (Canva, Excel, Outlook etc)
- Financial management
- Writing effective content
- Connecting with your ‘ideal customers’
- Applying for grant funding
To register via GCLR3 visit complete this webform.
The City of Gold Coast has a number of programs in place to support businesses on the Gold Coast.
Gold Coast Business Portal
The Gold Coast Business Portal (GCBP) is available to businesses on the Gold Coast who are looking to contract staff out to other businesses for short term periods or hire staff for labour commitments not planned for.
It is a way for businesses to create revenue by hiring out underutilised staff at a premium to buffer against fixed on going costs.
Similarly, if there are peak periods that were not planned for, businesses can hire staff from other businesses on the Gold Coast for short periods.
The GCBP is completely free to sign-up and you will receive a welcome call to assist with your first contract or navigating the portal.
Click here to access the portal.
Gold Coast Libraries
Gold Coast Libraries can help you access information, resources and support to help you develop your business skills and achieve your business goals:
- workshops and events delivered by industry experts.
- research support
- online business courses with LinkedIn Learning
- dedicated business eLibrary
Sign up to their business e-news to stay up to date with upcoming business events.
Workplace Travel Program
The Workplace Travel Program provides online tools and resources to support employers with developing a travel plan which encourages and promotes active and sustainable transport for staff such a walking, cycling, carpooling and utilising public transport for the commute to and from work.
The Queensland Government’s free Mentoring for Growth (M4G) program provides eligible businesses with access to business experts who can help them with their business’ challenges and opportunities. You can register for a mentoring session here
Business Queensland provides a range of tools and resources to help Queensland business’ start, grow and expand.
For more than 139 years TAFE Queensland has been delivering practical and industry-relevant training to provide students with the skills and experience they need to build lifelong careers.
Queensland TAFE and the Department of Employment, Small Business and Training (DESBT) are providing a series of workforce development opportunities to assist small business operators and their staff during the construction phase of the stage 3 Gold Coast Light Rail extension.
Click the link below for current opportunities available via TAFE Queensland. As more services and programs come online, this information will be updated.
The Small Business Skills Hub offers short courses tailored for small business covering everything from IT skills through to sales and marketing and leadership skills.
You can create an account and access training, or sign up for the monthly Small Business Connect newsletter.
Queensland TAFE provides a range of options to support small business, visit the website to find out more.
CCIQ is the peak body and voice of business in Queensland. They are an independent advocacy group, unaligned with any interests or political parties.
CCIQ supports Queensland to be the best place in Australia for business, and seeks to use their special position to guide members with privileged insights and advice to help growth.
For more information about how CCIQ can support your business, visit the website below.
Owning and running a business can be challenging. Looking after your mental health and wellbeing is important to be able to work productively and achieve your business and personal goals.
Sometimes, reaching out can be hard when you’re feeling overwhelmed but it’s important to take the first step.
A number of resources are available online:
Queensland Government – Mental health and wellbeing resources
Beyond Blue’s NewAccess for Small Business Owners
The Small Business Financial Counselling Service (SBFCS) Southern Queensland also provides financial counselling resources for small businesses who are experiencing or at risk of financial hardship.
If you’re a small business in Southern Queensland we offer free, impartial and confidential financial counselling.
Our Financial Counsellors can help you work through your business’s money problems and get your finances back under control. To be eligible, your business needs to be experiencing or at risk of financial hardship. So get in touch if any of the following apply to your business:
- difficulty paying bills
- troubles meeting loan repayments
- behind on rent
- activity statement payment overdue
- suppliers chasing your business for money
- facing legal action for debts.
By talking with us early, such as when cash flow first starts to get tight, we can help you get the best results. However, we can also help you at later stages of your business journey. Our Financial Counsellors provide practical information and support. So you can make the best decisions to manage your business’s money problems and move forward with a plan for a better future.
As small businesses can take many forms, the services and support the Queensland Small Business Commissioner (QSBC) provide to you must be tailored to individual needs. QSBC’s vision is to enhance the operating environment for small businesses by providing practical information, support, and assistance to help them thrive. The QSBC can also assist tenants and landlords resolve commercial leasing disputes.
Find out more about the QSBC.
The ATO offers a range of free webinars on a range of topics such as record keeping and tax essentials, employer obligation, taxable payments reporting and more.
Register for their 60 minute “Digital options for your small business” webinar to learn about the many online services and digital systems that can help you perform your business activities such as marketing, sales, accounting and reporting.
The Gold Coast Central Chamber of Commerce Inc is the peak representative body for business people within Burleigh, Robina, Varsity Lakes, Surfers Paradise, Broadbeach, Nerang and their surrounding areas.
- Support Representation
- 25% discount off chamber events
- Business listing on their website
- Display of business promotional materials on Trade Table at appropriate events
- Complimentary attendance to member only educational workshops
Membership starts from $25 per month.
Destination Gold Coast (DGC) represents and provides leadership to more than 550 accommodation venues, theme parks, attractions, tour operators, restaurants, cafes, entertainment venues, transport providers and professional support services.
Become a member for as little as $210 per annum to connect yourself with the tourism industry and have your business listed on the DestinationGoldCoast.com member directory.
Traffic and parking
Below you will find useful links and information to help you stay up to date with parking and traffic changes in your area. This information can be provided to customers, suppliers, clients, and stakeholders to help ensure they can navigate around work areas.
Parking and traffic changes during construction
For the latest traffic and parking changes visit our construction map. The construction map provides up to date information about construction works in each of our designated construction zones.
Parking factsheet
View our parking factsheet for information about short-term, long-term, and permanent parking changes required to construct the GCLR3 project.
Wayfinding signage
Wayfinding signage will be installed in a number of locations along the project alignment to assist motorists and pedestrians with navigating around construction zones.
Signage will ensure that the community is aware that local businesses along and near to the Gold Coast Highway continue to operate as usual throughout GCLR3 works, as well as communicate important construction-related changes such as the relocation and removal of parking, pedestrian routes and vehicle detours.
