Allianz Stadium demolished but still no approval for new facility
The $36 million demolition of Allianz Stadium will leave the government almost $700 million to finish off a project they don’t yet have a contractor or approval to complete.
Lendlease will earn about $36.3 million for its demolition job of Sydney Football Stadium — leaving the government with about $692.7 million to finish off the project.
It can also be revealed that the Department of Planning is yet to approve Infrastructure NSW’s development application to build the new 45,000 seat stadium at Moore Park, with planning consent for the stage two works not expected for a few months.
It comes after Premier Gladys Berejiklian said on Monday she was confident the new stadium would be built by 2022 despite sensationally dumping contractor Lendlease last week.
She also admitted that Lendlease was only ever awarded the contract to demolish the site — despite the government announcing in December that Lendlease was “the construction contractor”.
Ms Berejiklian said Lendlease’s bid for the construction phase of the project did not meet her government’s strict budget.
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“We gave them (Lendlease) the opportunity to revise their plan, and that didn’t occur, and that’s fine, and there is a lot of competition in that space, so we are looking forward to issuing the contract shortly,” she said.
“We won’t be taken for a ride. We don’t want anyone to take for granted the NSW taxpayer. We don’t want anyone to take the government for granted.”
“I’m absolutely confident we’ll stick to the timeline,” Ms Berejiklian said.
An Infrastructure NSW spokeswoman said the demolition contract, which has been managed by Lendlease, would cost the government upwards of $36 million.
“The estimated total cost of stage one works is $36.3 million. The total budget for the Sydney Football Stadium redevelopment project is $729 million,” she said.
According to the government’s tender website about $583.4 million of the remaining funds will be set aside for the contractor who will build stage two of the development.
Construction on the site cannot occur until Infrastructure NSW receives approval to build the stadium from the Department of Planning.
A letter sent on July 25 from the Department of Planning to Infrastructure NSW shows the proposal is currently in the “response to submissions” stage, and still needs to go through the assessment phase, recommendation phase, and determination.
The letter from David Gainsford, the executive director of infrastructure assessments for the Department of Planning, shows Infrastructure NSW has until September 26 to respond to these development application submissions.
Some issues include clarifying the sort of “other entertainment events” which will be hosted at the new stadium, explaining where the estimated 600 construction workers who will build the new stadium will park their vehicles, and updating the wind impact, visual impact and social impact assessments for the new stadium.
An Infrastructure NSW spokeswoman said all of these issues are expected to be completed before the end of the year.
“The stage two planning process is on track. Stage two planning consent was always expected in Q4, 2019,” she said.
Labor leader Jodi McKay said the stadium development was now likely to cost taxpayers more than expected.
“Allianz Stadium is now headed for a massive blowout — just like the Light Rail,” she said.
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