NewsBite

Road to Brisbane 2032

March

New infrastructure planned for the Brisbane 2032 Olympic summer Games includes a main stadium, aquatic centre and a main athletes village on the site of the RNA showgrounds.

Builders line up for $7.1b Brisbane Olympic spree

The runway to develop infrastructure for the world’s biggest sporting tournament has shrunk to just seven years, so work has to begin soon.

Kirsty Coventry reacts after she was announced as the new International Olympic Committee president.

In a decisive victory, a woman has claimed the most powerful role in sport

The International Olympic Committee elected former champion swimmer Kirsty Coventry from Zimbabwe to the most powerful role in world sport.

AFR AFR Architect Michael Lavery says Brisbane 2032 stadium planning needs to avoid the mistakes of the 2003 Suncorp Stadium/Lang Park upgrade that failed to accommodate public and active transport (eg cycling/walking) connections to the venue. Photo: Peter Wallis

10 March 2025

How Brisbane Olympics can avoid Suncorp Stadium’s mistakes

The Olympic host city is about to announce new venues. They’ll saddle the city with long-term costs long after 2032 if not done right.

January

After 3½ years of bickering, it’s crunch time for Brisbane Olympics

Amid competing plans and multibillion-dollar price tags, the premier will now decide on the Olympic stadium – with implications for cricket, the AFL and beyond.

Room to move - and watch: The Australian Open has a large pool of flexible space to use for events and uses separate to the actual tennis matches.

What the Australian Open can teach Brisbane 2032

Like grand slam tennis, the biggest challenge the Olympics faces is to attract people who may not even care for the sports themselves. But that needs space.

Advertisement

December 2024

Sailing into uncharted territory? Queensland needs to abandon past procurement models and embrace public private partnerships to deliver the Olympics infrastructure it needs, consultancy Arcadis says.

Queensland may have to tap private funds for Olympic projects

With construction cost growth outstripping Sydney and Melbourne, Brisbane 2032 might need private consortia to deliver and operate Games infrastructure.

October 2024

Not here, but where? And how much? Premier David Crisafulli has rejected an upgrade for QE2 in Nathan, but hasn’t yet said where Brisbane’s Olympic Stadium for 2032 will be.

Brisbane’s nation-leading construction inflation an Olympic hurdle

Cost escalation has come off its extreme highs of two years ago. But Queensland leads the national league table and that’s a problem for the new government.

August 2024

Andrew Liveris with Aussie boxers Charlie Senior, Caitlin Parker, Callum Peters and Tiana Echegaray at Olympic Village

Andrew Liveris learns how not to run an Olympics

The president of the Brisbane 2032 Organising Committee has had a jam-packed schedule in Paris as part of a contingent learning what to do – and not do – for the Games.

July 2024

Aerial shot of the Paris 2024 Athletes Village.

A solution to the athletes village conundrum might be on the Gold Coast

Paris’ capital-light infrastructure plan for the 2024 Olympics has been a great success. But plans to turn the village into new housing faces a new hurdle.

The Queensland Sport and Athletics Centre at Nathan.

‘No time’ to get business case for Brisbane Games stadium

Hours after Brisbane 2032 Games boss Andrew Liveris pleaded with politicians not to make it a political football, they did.

Brisbane 2032 president Andrew Liveris has led a delegation of 13 observers to Paris.

Brisbane Olympics boss: Stop making 2032 Games a ‘political football’

Andrew Liveris claims plans for the Queensland event are running “ahead of schedule”, with cricket remaining a possibility to be added to the roster of sports.

June 2024

Olympic Games executive director Christophe Dubi.

Meet the man who runs the Olympics

IOC executive director Christophe Dubi loves the Games. He’s about to find out if he’s guaranteed their future.

Renovation fit for a QEII: $1.6 billion-worth of work will be needed to make Brisbane’s QSAC (Queensland Sports and Athletic Centre) fit for the 2032 Olympics.

How higher building costs will shape the Brisbane Olympics

High labour costs will put pressure on the construction sector, forcing changes in how new projects are procured.

Tight race: Paris 2024 organisers want to hold a first-ever opening ceremony outside an Olympic stadium – by floating athletes down the Seine River on boats –  but that increases concerns about security.

Security fears may force Paris Games to scrap Seine opening ceremony

France is at its highest terror alert as the Olympic Games near; Australian organisers say Brisbane 2032 will learn from the Paris experience.

March 2024

Defining legacy: Brisbane’s messy path to the Olympics

It will be a long haul to transform the QEII stadium to Olympic standard. That’s just one of the hurdles for Queensland.

Advertisement
Aerial view of The Gabba

Lang Park to host Brisbane 2032 ceremonies after review rejected

Lang Park will be the site of opening and closing ceremonies while the old venue for the 1982 Commonwealth Games will be upgraded to host athletics.

June 2023

Residential construction in southeast Queensland is slowing, but building inflation is still the country’s highest.

Gold Coast faces country-leading 10.5pc building cost inflation

New estimates show building capacity constraints in southeast Queensland will keep construction price growth at the nation’s highest for half a decade.

Stretching itself: Brisbane’s per-hour construction labour cost is already the country’s highest, posing a threat as the city builds itself into an Olympic host city.

Why builders in Brisbane are earning more than any other city

A decade before hosting the 2032 Olympic Games, the Queensland capital is struggling with labour costs that top those of Sydney.

May 2023

Concept art of the proposed Brisbane Arena above the new underground Roma Street station.

Free tickets to woo politicians in battle for $2.5b Brisbane arena

Here’s how businesses deepened political connections amid a battle for a proposed stadium that is home to the Brisbane 2032 swimming program.

September 2022

Flagging a different plan: Instead of demolishing the Gabba and building a larger stadium in its place, the Gabba could serve as a warm-up venue for the Brisbane 2032 Olympic Games and a temporary new Olympic stadium, pre-designed to be taken apart afterwards, on the old Go Print site.

Pulling down Brisbane’s Gabba for the Olympics is a bad idea

The Queensland government and Brisbane 2032 Olympics organisers are going down an expensive route to get a new flagship venue, architects warn.

Original URL: https://www.afr.com/topic/road-to-brisbane-2032-1nnz