Alder exits $61m contract for sports precinct after two-year delay

A major construction company has exited a $61 million contract to build a bayside football precinct after a two-year delay in the supply of environmental data from the local council.

A gate at the front of the Heinemann Rd site and, inset, clubhouses and playing fields were originally announced in 2022. Pictures: Judith Kerr

A $200 million bayside sports precinct has stalled after the local council failed to provide key environmental data, more than two years after the federal government asked for it.

Redland City Council signed a massive $61 million contract for stage 1 of its flagship sports, rugby league and touch football precinct on Heinemann Rd at Mount Cotton with Gold Coast-based Alder Construction in December 2022.

The contract awarded to Alder for $61 million has since been exited.

However, without public fanfare, the council formally exited the contract just days before Christmas in December 2024.

This week, Redland City Council confirmed “no construction contract is currently in place” and said procurement would restart once federal environmental approvals were secured.

But the Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water said the timing of progress now “rests” with the council.

Before the project can continue, Redland must provide details about the environmental restraints of the 159ha Heinemann Rd site which it bought from the well-known Redland Goleby family in 2017 for $7,350,000.

The federal department first asked the council for environmental information in March 2023 after plans revealed that about 550 trees would have to be cut down for the project.

The department said its most recent feedback from the council was in May, six months after the council and Alder dissolved the contract citing the unresolved federal referral and a revised site master plan.

One of the 550 trees on the Heinemann Rd property where the federal government has asked Redland City Council for more environmental data. Picture: Contributed

This week, the council said it was “continuing to work with” the department on the project which has now spanned three financial years without construction, drawing renewed scrutiny over the contract following last month’s Redland council budget for 2025–26.

In the previous year’s 2024-2025 Redland budget, $7.62 million was allocated for preliminary works at the Heinemann Rd site, despite it being closed to construction.

The council said those works fell outside the EPBC-assessed area and were expected to proceed independently.

Further scrutiny was around the council committing to the $61 million deal before receiving confirmation of federal environmental approval, exposing the project to significant risk.

The original contract was signed in December 2022, more than two months before the federal government formally declared the project a “controlled action” in February 2023, triggering the need for a full environmental assessment.

The Heinemann Rd site in red and an accompanying real estate appraisal from agent Gordon Whicher about the property’s estimated value.

The proposed precinct includes 13 touch football fields, three rugby league fields, two clubhouses, approximately 800 car parks, and surrounding recreation areas such as picnic spaces and pump tracks.

It was intended to address growing demand for community sporting facilities in Redland’s south and possibly serve as a training venue for the 2026 international BMX championships.

Despite the delays, the council maintains its commitment to the project.

It has adopted a “Significant Contracting Plan” for staged delivery, including roadworks along Heinemann Rd funded in the 2024–25 capital works budget.

The council has already submitted revised environmental documents aligned with a new master plan adopted in November 2023 with those plans to be published once finalised.

Former council project manager Vladimir Steljic wrote in 2023 that the contract was awarded “in anticipation” of EPBC approval, driven by state funding deadlines and design time frames.

He noted that federal processes had become more risk-averse, further delaying the project.

This month’s nine-hour council meeting included a confidential item on strategic land acquisition and revealed deep political divisions.