Ballymore redevelopment: State Government’s $15 million injection
It’s the biggest coup for Queensland rugby since the Reds won the 2011 Super Rugby title, with Ballymore to be transformed from ageing eyesore to eye-catching high-performance hub.
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Ballymore is to be transformed from ageing eyesore to eye-catching high-performance hub with the button finally pressed on the $15 million injection from the State Government.
The biggest coup for rugby in Queensland since the Reds won the 2011 Super Rugby title has been confirmed by well-placed government sources.
Activating the promise made 13 months ago has been approved so Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk can announce it in July’s raft of construction projects to stimulate a State economy crash-tackled by coronavirus.
It is a long-awaited and historic moment for rugby because the redeveloped Ballymore will also be built in time to be a training venue for the recently-won 2023 women’s football World Cup.
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That exciting, new multi-purpose life will also be a springboard into Brisbane’s 2032 Olympics bid with Ballymore seen as in ideal size for hockey and an inner city training venue in the formative venue plan.
Long-suffering rugby union fans have grown dull to Ballymore “plans” since they were first floated in the 1980s, with private members’ club Bears, and then-Prime Minister Kevin Rudd infamously cancelled $25 million of funding in 2008.
This is the real thing. News Corp can also exclusively reveal that leading Brisbane firm Blight Rayner agreed on Friday to be architects on the project after standing out in a field of around 10.
Architects Michael Rayner and Jayson Blight are part of the design team for the new QPAC Theatre at South Bank.
They will bring the same cutting edge view to what a fresh training centre-grandstand can look like because the decaying McLean Stand will be bulldozed.
All the years of angst and waiting have perversely been a benefit because Ballymore will shed its “male, pale and stale” previous life as a purely rugby enclave and become a far more inclusive, multi-sport feature of Brisbane with a community gym and cafe.
The State Government money matches the $15 million already channelled to the project by the Federal Government so that the new Ballymore will become a world-class high-performance facility with a reduced capacity to host games for 10,000-12,000 fans.
The Queensland Reds will utilise the new National Rugby Training Centre and it will be an upgraded home for community rugby.
Sydney-centric Rugby Australia heavies must finally pull their heads out of the sand and realise the asset that Ballymore is and turn it into the new national headquarters for women’s rugby, a sevens hub and a winter training base for the Wallabies.
With predictions of a second Brisbane side in the NRL, Ballymore could even become a training home for a side like the Brisbane Bombers.
Forecasts suggest more than 200 new construction jobs will be created by the shovel-ready Ballymore redevelopment over 18 months.
It’s hard to overstate how much of a game-changer this is for Queensland rugby and should be for Australian rugby if head office is smart enough.
The Queensland Rugby Union will finally have a profit-making precinct not an annual $1 million black hole on the balance sheet because of depreciation.