Opinion: Brisbane still stuck on starting line with 2032 preparation

Brisbane has seven years to prepare, four weeks to perform, and no second chances. So how are we going, asks Alan Patching.

An early vision of Brisbane during the 2032 Olympic and Paralympic Games. Picture: Urbis

World champion swimming sprinter and triple Olympic gold medallist Bronte Campbell describes competing in the Olympics as training for two million minutes to compete for less than one minute, and if you get it wrong, you come back in four years.

For Brisbane that translates to seven years to prepare, four weeks to perform, and no second chances.

So how are we going? In a follow up to a similar study in 2023, I recently posed that question to more than 100 experienced and senior South East Queensland construction professionals.

The bottom line: They continue to hold concerns regarding resourcing Brisbane Games infrastructure.

Let’s review the nitty-gritty. Over 85 per cent agreed Games infrastructure projects needed to commence within a year, and over 87 per cent favoured all Games projects commencing ASAP.

That is difficult to comprehend when Sydney’s Olympic Stadium – the largest ever constructed, with almost double the seating planned for Brisbane, was documented and built in just 30 months, commencing just four years prior to the Sydney opening Ceremony. It was finished within its original budget and on the original completion date, allowing two full footy seasons to test venue operations as well as security and transport systems before the 2000 Games.

So, why the Brisbane concern – there’s six and a half years still to go.

Well, the times they are a changin’. The CFMEU was but a pup back then, and caused no concern in Sydney. Indeed, workers were supportive of management and vice-versa. One form-worker told me there’d be no strikes on the stadium because they were not building bricks and mortar, they were building Sydney history – and an opportunity to sit with their grandkids and say, “your granddad helped build that place!” Then he teared up.

I’d love Brisbane-ites to experience that kind of engagement on Brisbane’s Games projects. If we did, perhaps the projected 40-48 months to construct Brisbane’s Stadium (I am unaware of the Games Independent Infrastructure and Co-ordination Authority’s formal timeframe) might reduce to something more reflective of genuine productivity.

Perhaps there is a light at the end of the tunnel that’s not an oncoming train.

Bond University professor Dr Alan Patching

Directors of a subcontracting firm recently attended a CFMEU function and heard they’d soon see changes, with workers no longer walking off sites because of a few drops of light rain, for example. These experienced people believed the CFMEU comments were indicative of commencement of much-overdue change. Others from whom I sought opinion were less charitable.

Let’s keep fingers crossed. We really do need to improve productivity – generally reported to be around three days out of every five-day week – which explains a 40-48 month stadium construction period.

The CFMEU might well not be Brisbane’s biggest challenge. Consider some of the following research responses:

• Sixty-eight per cent of participants believed there would be a shortage of professional consultants to successfully deliver Games venues, over 78 per cent agreed there’d be a shortage of experienced contractors, and over 85 per cent agreed there would be a shortage of subcontractors.

• Ninety-four per cent agreed the shortages would cause price increases, an attitude supported by the November Building Cost Index report, which showed Brisbane “enjoys” both the highest rating and the steepest curve of all Australian capital cities for projected increase in BCI.

• Seventy-seven per cent of participants said it is still difficult to find accommodation for construction workers. Interestingly, there was consensus that typical contractors, modelled on a local builder successful in delivering complex projects of small to medium size, could competently deliver less complex Games projects of larger size/higher cost. This approach could open access to resources much-needed to deliver Games projects.

• There was strong pessimism regarding time and resource availability to complete Games projects.

• There is probable need to import building tradespeople from overseas, but the Government has not mentioned concerns regarding resourcing;

• Strong encouragement for GIICA and/or the Government to communicate its intentions regarding projected labour shortages and subsequent cost increases for Games projects;

• Very strong support for establishing a Games projects EBA with the CFMEU to cover all Games projects;

• Strong condemnation of using traditional lump sum tendering for Games projects, especially if Rise and Fall clauses (to address project cost inflation) were not included in contracts.

The gun’s been fired and Brisbane is off and racing. But the question remains, are we going fast enough, and in the right direction?

Dr Alan Patching was the owners’ project director for the design and construction of the Sydney Olympic Stadium and for the redevelopment of Suncorp Stadium. He is a professor of construction management at Bond University