Industry leaders say decision time is looming on major venues

Industry leaders say the clock is ticking for the Queensland government to begin making major infrastructure decisions in preparation for the 2032 Olympic Games.

A concept image of the Hamilton Northshore stadium proposal.

The Queensland government has been urged to start making decisions about the major stadium location and other projects for the 2032 Olympic and Paralympic Games, an infrastructure summit heard on Monday.

New Queensland Premier David Crisafulli has started a 100-day review of planning for the Games, which has been hit by cost blowouts and uncertainty over locations of the main stadium and other major infrastructure.

Acting managing director of construction company Laing O’Rourke Mark Dimmock said time was still on the government’s side, citing the example of Sydney having won the Olympics only seven years before the 2000 Games’ opening ceremony.

“There’s nothing like an Olympics deadline to get things done,” he said. “There is certainly time here and we know that if we put our minds to it, we can achieve great things as a country.

“But we’re on the clock and we need to make some decision and get on with it.”

There remains conjecture over the location of the Games’ major stadium – the Gabba, Victoria Park on the fringe of the CBD or QEII in the southern suburbs, as a private bid for a new 60,000-seat stadium at Hamilton Northshore.

Mr Crisafulli has already announced three minor Games venues, Chandler Indoor Sports Centre, Sunshine Coast Indoor Sports Centre and Sunshine Coast Stadium, and costs have blown out by $181m before a builder has been appointed.

Laing O’Rourke was part of the CLM consortium that worked with the Olympic Delivery Authority for the 2012 London Olympics and Mr Dimmock said productivity continued to be an issue in the Australian building sector.

He said so-called modern methods of construction (MMC) were well behind those in Europe, with construction done mostly off site not having been accepted in Australia as it was overseas.

However, he said with the Olympics looming, there was an opportunity for the adoption of MMC to be accelerated.

Artist impression of what the RNA Main Arena might look like during the Gabba redevelopment.

“In the UK, 70 per cent of products are usually built in the factory and taken to the site,” he said at an panel discussion at the Australian Financial Review’s annual Infrastructure Summit in Sydney. “We would see a 30 per cent reduction in time to build that infrastructure if we adopt that construction philosophy.

“There’s a real opportunity with the Olympics to embed that philosophy and bring in MMC and get productivity up and that starts to unlock the workforce.

“Its feasible but again it comes back to decisions being made and the longer we wait, the less time we have. With the right decision, we can certainly mobilise quickly enough to get the job done.”

Australian Olympic Committee chief executive Matt Carroll said work had already been approved and started on a number of smaller Games venues across southeast Queensland but it was important not to build Games infrastructure – especially the main stadium – without understanding its long-term role.

“Don’t build it just for the Games. The Games can be described as accelerator for getting things done but you don’t build infrastructure for the sake of it – its crazy stuff,” he said. “The one thing we have to do is make a decision. That is the most important thing. We’ll put on a great Games, there’s no doubt about that.”

Originally published as Industry leaders say decision time is looming on major venues