Featured image credit: Arcadis/Archipelago
Global design and consultancy organisation Arcadis has set out the case for a new 60,000-seat stadium to serve as the centrepiece of Brisbane’s 2032 Olympic and Paralympic Games, with its proposals for the Victoria Park area of the city gaining high-profile support.
Arcadis’ Brisbane BOLD 2032 report, put together in association with architectural, landscape and urban design company, Archipelago, is set to be discussed as part of the Queensland Government’s fresh 100-day review into infrastructure plans for the Games that was launched last week.
Victoria Park has already been proposed and dismissed as the site for a new stadium. However, an oval stadium with a seating capacity of 60,000-plus is the centrepiece of the 22-page report drawn up by Arcadis.
The new stadium, which it is claimed would unlock The Gabba for mixed-use redevelopment, is projected to have a total project cost of A$2.641bn (£1.33bn/€1.6bn/$1.69bn). Included within the Victoria Park Precinct masterplan is a new 12,000-seat arena at a cost of A$881m, and an initially 18,000-seat National Aquatics Centre at a cost of A$511m.
With other development included, the total cost for the Precinct has been estimated at A$5.998bn. A productive use of sports and recreation zoned land that was formerly Victoria Park Golf Course, the site put forward is said to be ideally positioned to leverage further benefits from existing mass transit investments in Brisbane Metro and Cross River Rail.
The Brisbane BOLD 2032 concept responds to the driver of the impending Brisbane 2032 Games as an opportunity to create legacy infrastructure for Queensland. However, Arcadis argues that irrespective of the Olympics, the region needs a new oval stadium, suitable for cricket, AFL and concerts, adding that this can be developed in a commercially sustainable way with strong private sector involvement.
In a foreword to the report, Paul Allan, Brisbane city executive for Arcadis’ Global Cities Program, wrote: “The Brisbane Olympic and Paralympic Games has been a political football. Awarded back in 2021, three main stadium locations have already been considered and dismissed.
“The conversation has primarily focused around a ‘cost’ only equation and not the long term ‘value’ to both the city and state, including the legacy that would endure for many generations to come. A stadium and/or multiple venues at Victoria Park would be the catalyst that allows AFL, cricket and major international events, including the 2032 Olympic and Paralympic Games, to further propel Brisbane onto the global stage, where this rapidly changing city belongs.
“Additionally, leveraging the existing investment in mass transit infrastructure provides a sustainable base to build upon.”
The road to another review
Queensland’s new Premier, David Crisafulli, officially launched the 100-day review, with a possible new main stadium still on the cards. Investment in venues has proven to be a hugely controversial subject ever since the International Olympic Committee (IOC) approved Brisbane as the home of the 2032 Games in July 2021.
The launch of what will be the second review into the plans was an election pledge as Crisafulli claimed a victory for the Liberal National Party in October’s state election, ending Steven Miles’ Labor Premiership.
Critical venue infrastructure will be funded by the Australian and Queensland Governments under the Brisbane 2032 Olympic and Paralympic Games Intergovernmental Agreement signed in February 2023. The A$7.1bn venue infrastructure program will reshape some of Queensland’s most significant venues and precincts, aiming to leave a legacy for the community well after 2032.
Back in March, the Miles government opted to scrap a planned revamp of The Gabba and also ruled out the possibility of building a new stadium at Victoria Park after an initial independent review of the venue infrastructure plan for the Olympics was released.
The planned A$2.7bn redevelopment of The Gabba was one of the projects under assessment during the review, and it was recommended it should be replaced with a new stadium at Victoria Park.
The review estimated that the cost of the Victoria Park stadium, which would seat 50,000 fans during the Olympics and have a legacy capacity of 55,000, would cost between A$3bn and A$3.4bn. The government rejected the proposal as it did not believe it would be possible to deliver any new stadium within the previously agreed funding plan.
As an alternative, Miles’ administration opted to pursue a more modest enhancement of The Gabba in consultation with the Australian Football League (AFL), Cricket Australia and other stakeholders. The government also pledged to investigate upgrades to the Queensland Sports and Athletics Centre (QSAC) and Suncorp Stadium.
Suncorp Stadium would host opening and closing ceremonies, while a redeveloped, 40,000-capacity QSAC would host athletics events. In July, the first image of the redeveloped QSAC emerged in the Australian media, and the somewhat low-key depiction led to the government stating that the image was “illustrative only”.
The image showed a single permanent covered grandstand, with the majority of spectators exposed to the elements in uncovered temporary seating. Brisbane 2032 is due to be held in the middle of the Australian winter. At the time, Crisafulli described the QSAC plans as an “embarrassment”.
In August, a privately-funded proposal emerged for a new 60,000-seat stadium in Brisbane that would be capable of hosting the Olympics. The Northshore Vision 2050 project is the brainchild of the Brisbane Design Alliance, a team of specialist designers in architecture, engineering and planning. It features experts from Buchan, HKS, NRA Collaborative, Aurecon and Nikken Sekkei.
The project was met with resistance from Miles, who said it was “highly unlikely” that the A$6bn project could be privately funded.
Victoria Park support
The release of Arcadis’ report has already drawn reaction. Andrew Liveris, president of the Brisbane Organising Committee for the Olympic Games, has come out to declare building a new stadium at Victoria Park “seems to make the most sense” due to its public transport connections and open space.
Liveris, speaking on The Courier-Mail and Nova 106.9’s Toward the Games podcast, said: “I would love it, to be perfectly frank.
“If a stadium like that appears at Victoria Park that fits the future of cricket and football perfectly and has private sector funding that gives it a return like Optus Stadium out in Perth of course Andrew Liveris would say wow, what a great answer for the Olympics. There’s been other sites proposed but Victoria Park seems to make the most sense.”
Australia has long been one of world swimming’s powerhouse nations, but the country currently does not have a single national elite aquatics facility. Brisbane 2032 swimming is currently planned to be staged via a drop-in pool at the proposed Brisbane Live arena.
Arcadis’ proposal is for a National Aquatics Centre that would be downsized from its 18,000-seat capacity post-Olympics and it has the backing of Swimming Australia. The organisation’s CEO, Rob Woodhouse, told The Australian: “The big selling point for having the swimming at the aquatic centre are the long-term health benefits for the community that would come for decades after the Games.
“Basically, you would format it so it could handle a similar crowd to the (Brisbane) Arena of 17,000 or 18,000 for the Games, and then bring that down afterwards to a smaller, permanent capacity of 7,000 or 8,000.
“I can see the argument for a new indoor arena in the centre of the city, and you could still do that, hold the swimming there during the Games, and go with an aquatic centre for the other sports – though that is not our preferred option.”
Share this