Des Houghton: Victoria Park is a perfect stadium option for Brisbane 2032
The anti-sport, anti-development whingers are threatening Brisbane’s Olympic dream, writes Des Houghton.
Des Houghton
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A conga line of the usual suspects is queuing up to knock the Olympics.
These moronic whingers, quite frankly, disgust me.
They are anti-sport, anti-development and anti-intellectual misfits who fail to see the extraordinary benefits to a city in hosting the Olympics. Take off your blinkers, you cranks. And stop wallowing in the socialist swill.
Do you not aspire to reach higher?
We keep kidding ourselves that Brisbane is a world city. We are on the way, but not there yet.
The Olympics may help us get there. A half-baked 2032 Brisbane Olympic and Paralympic Games will not.
Last year’s glorious Paris Games showed the Olympic spirit is alive and well and what can be accomplished. Did the knockers not see how Paris, capital of a nation riven with racial and political unrest, was able to embrace people of every origin, skin colour and creed?
In a year of geopolitical turbulence and conflicts over migration, virtue triumphed in Paris.
We must thank the legendary Australian John Coates for convincing his fellow IOC members that Brizzie was willing, if not ready, to host the 2032 Olympics.
And the main stadium has to be at Victoria Park, with the Gabba knocked down to build the athlete’s village with private capital.
I walked over Vic Park and there is enough space there for two Olympic stadiums.
One of the state’s most influential architects backs Victoria Park.
Mac Stirling looked dispassionately at all the potential sites and believes Victoria Park is “a very good solution”.
“It’s a much preferable location,” he said
Stirling speaks as a former elite athlete who competed in two gymnastics’ world championships for Australia and multiple international competitions in the 70s and 80s.
In his gymnastics career he became fascinated with the sports arenas he went to in Russia, Romania, Europe, the UK, the US and Mexico.
He is now an authority on stadiums.
“I did my (architecture) thesis on indoor sports facilities because I was living in the bloody places for so long.
“That led to my interest in sports architecture.’’
Stirling was the lead architect in a joint-venture partnership that won praise for redesigning Lang Park. It reopened to acclaim in 2003.
It is considered to be one of the top two or three rectangular football grounds on the planet. Those of us who have attended State of Origin finals there already know that.
Stirling says the most successful stadiums are built as close to city centres as possible.
“Best practice tells us these facilities should be located on the fringe of the CBD,” he said.
“This is where Victoria Park comes in.’’
It already has hard transport infrastructure like busways and
rail lines. And it was out of the flood zone, he said.
Victoria Park could, like Lang Park, have enough separation from railway stations or Brisbane Metro busways to allow the crowds a more orderly exit after events conclude.
Victoria Park would also complement entrepreneur Harvey Lister’s Brisbane Live, the 17,000-seat indoor entertainment and sports venue adjacent to Roma Street station that is set to replace Boondall.
In Stirling’s opinion, Brisbane Live is “an absolute no-brainer” not just for rock concerts but other events. It could bring “so much vibrance to the inner-city”.
Stirling’s ideal Olympic stadium would not have too many seats.
He said there was no point in building the stadium too big or with so many seats that it was unlikely to be filled again.
A 60-65,000 seat venue that would be used later for events such as a Taylor Swift concert would bring enjoyment and prosperity to Brisbane.
“And those extra rows of seats up the back are the most expensive to build,” he said.
Working out how much of the seating would be under cover will be part of the design process, he said.
Victoria Park may be the best choice because it links to the RNA with its cross-river rail station.
Stirling poses a vexing question:
“What happens to the Gabba? One would suggest that if you build one new stadium you are not going to have another one.”
The answer was to knock it down.
The Gabba precinct presented an “incredible opportunity” for a private enterprise urban renewal project with several high-rise residential towers set in parkland, boutique retail space and an education component.
“Not many cities are handed a site as good as that,” Stirling said.
“It would mean getting rid of the Gabba, and that’s a big one.
“Dare I say it is the ideal site to build the Olympic village.’’
He said the Gabba site was never ideal for the Olympics because it was so constrained.
“We know it has outlived its day, and I won’t go into any other details about the stadium itself,” he said.
He said the site could “transition into something exciting for future generations”. That would be a lasting Olympic legacy, he said.
“You would build a mixed palette of housing assets. Yes, it’s high-rise. “And it is not all expensive housing for rich people. It could provide housing for people with less economic opportunity, who should be living close to their workplace and close to public transport.’’
He said guidelines could be prepared by the government and industry could come back and say whether they liked them.
“The industry, if asked properly, will provide (housing) solutions and take the commercial risk to help provide those solutions.’’
After the 2032 Games, an Olympic village built at the Gabba would be turned over for inner-city homes close to the CBD and with great
rail links.
This model worked successfully in London after the 2012 Games thanks to the efforts of David Higgins, the son of a Darling Downs cattleman and chief executive of the 2012 Olympics delivery authority.
Stirling said the previous state government seemed to have a reticence to engage with private enterprise, but it was a logical way to avoid extra debt.
“It’s about building assets you need for the Olympics and then leaving a lasting legacy with private enterprise footing the bill,” he says.
“I’m sure that is what the new government is thinking.”
Stirling praised the Crisafulli government’s selection of Stephen Conry, a business and property veteran, to lead the Olympic Games Infrastructure and Coordination Authority.
He hasn’t met Conry, but as chief executive at Jones Lang LaSalle for 13 years, would have a deep understanding of the business and property sector.
“I was pleased and uplifted to see people of that quality and background in private enterprise on the authority.”
Stirling said it needed successful people who understood the workings of government – and an understanding of finance and banking and to be able to put some big deals together.
Could Victoria Park stadium be partly privatised also?
“It could, but you would have to be careful,” Stirling said.
“It definitely requires looking at. But it is public land, and if it is a PPP (public-private partnership) you need a fair bit of government control.”
He said the Queensland Government already had private operators successfully managing public assets.
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