Brisbane 2032 master plan contract awarded, despite stadium uncertainty

7 hours ago 1

The firm awarded the contract to deliver the Brisbane 2032 master plan for Victoria Park will start work without knowing where the Olympic stadium will be built.

Less than two months after expressions of interest were called, Arup were announced as the successful tender at a Victoria Park media conference on Wednesday morning.

But just how much work Arup could do while the location of the centrepoint of the plan – the Brisbane Stadium in Victoria Park – remained undecided was a hot topic at the announcement.

Arup’s Penny Hall at Victoria Park with Deputy Premier Jarrod Bleijie.

Deputy Premier Jarrod Bleijie said he was confident the lack of that vital detail would not be an impediment to Arup’s master planning, which would take in Victoria Park and the nearby RNA Showgrounds.

“GIICA [the Games Independent Infrastructure and Coordination Authority] is out to procurement on the architect to design the stadium – that all will happen whilst Arup are doing the master plan for the whole community,” he said.

“You can have many things happening at the same time, but they’ll all be talking to each other. They’ll be feeding it into Arup doing the master plan.”

Bleijie said he could not provide a timeframe for the decision on the stadium location, only that it would occur “once the studies are in and the experts determine that”.

“Arup will be now doing the master plan for the precinct with all the connectivity, transportation infrastructure, but that does not stop work happening in terms of the geotechnological studies of Victoria Park and GIICA are getting on with the job,” he said.

“I suspect that work will commence within the next month.”

Ultimately, Bleijie said, the government could make one guarantee – the stadium would be built in Victoria Park, even if Arup’s community consultation determined widespread opposition to the plan.

“I don’t think Queenslanders are going to mind whether it’s in that corner or that corner or this corner, as long as there is a stadium before 2032 and there will be,” he said.

Deputy Premier Jarrod Bleijie says only one thing could be guaranteed – the Olympic stadium would be built in Victoria Park.

Arup Australia and New Zealand business and markets director Penny Hall said the master plan would be a “live document” that would adjust to GIICA’s decision on the stadium location.

“The success of it will have the flexibility and the agility and the ability to move and adapt as different infrastructure elements come into play,” she said.

“We’ll be working hugely with GIICA, so the success is around the agility and the flexibility of how it will work, both in Games mode, transformation and in legacy.”

Another thing the master planning would consider was the economic activity around the stadium precinct – where Suncorp Stadium has Caxton Street and Paddington, and the Gabba has entertainment options in all directions, Victoria Park did not have the same level of commercial activity in its surrounds.

When asked if zoning changes around the periphery of the site would be considered to allow more entertainment activity, Lord Mayor Adrian Schrinner said that would be considered in the master planning process.

“You can see King Street already is zoned that way and that’s a thriving little community that will get a boost from this precinct plan,” he said.

“That’s exactly the work that Arup will do – to actually work out how we can turn it into not just a precinct for major events, but a precinct that’s activated every single day.

“That’s one of the requirements here to look at – how do we activate this all the time, so that is used and so that these wonderful parklands are enjoyed by people all of the time?

“And you know, precincts like King Street, they’re the kind of opportunity that we see.”

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