Allianz Stadium: Wrecking balls to move in next January
THE knockdown of Allianz Stadium at Moore Park won’t begin until next January — amid the frenzy of a NSW election campaign.
NSW
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THE knockdown of Allianz Stadium at Moore Park won’t begin until next January — amid the frenzy of a NSW election campaign.
Last week Premier Gladys Berejiklian said work would begin late this year, with the $729 million new stadium to be finished by 2022.
But internal working papers released to the State Parliament after an order by the NSW Legislative Council show planning approval is not expected until late October, with the demolition of Allianz put off until the new year.
An election is locked in for next March.
Meanwhile, a letter written by SCG Trust chairman Anthony Shepherd dated February 7, 2018, said NSW Cricket’s administrative building will also have to be demolished.
“Infrastructure NSW has completed a ‘test-fit’ of the footprint and it is now clear there are certain, unavoidable impacts on Cricket NSW facilities that were not obvious during preliminary design work,” Mr Shepherd wrote.
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“Infrastructure NSW confirmed that while the outdoor cricket wickets will be unaffected, the Cricket NSW administrative building must be demolished and will need to be vacated by 1 January 2019 to enable the commencement of the stadium’s demolition.”
Mr Shepherd also told Cricket NSW chairman John Warn that while the Indoor Cricket Centre would not be impacted during the initial demolition phase, it will “need to be removed at some stage during construction”.
However, he said it was needed for the ICC World T20 in late 2020, and the Trust would “work with Infrastructure NSW to explore ways of keeping the Centre operating until November 2020”.
Other secret documents reveal the agency in charge of Centennial Park, the Botanic Gardens and Centennial Parklands, endorses controversial long term plans to fully close down Driver Avenue.
“The Trust also endorses the longer-term implementation of Option Two, the full closure of Driver Avenue, following appropriate design, consultation and analysis,” Anthony Dunsford, from the Trust, wrote.
Other briefing notes prepared for the government show controversial plans to remove 177 trees in the inner city — including 12 fig trees along South Dowling Street — to cope with a massive 40 per cent increase in traffic in three years when the new M5 interchange opens.
The multimillion-dollar project — to connect the end of the motorway at St Peters with Moore Park — will also affect 26 privately owned properties and include three full acquisitions, the State Government documents show.
Under a heading titled “following information is not public at this point”, the November 27, 2017 internal email from a Roads and Maritime Services official states:
“With the opening of the new M5 interchange at St Peters, and major population growth along the corridor including a future population of an additional 40,000 people at Green Square, travel times along the corridor are expected to go from 15 minutes to 25 minutes and in peak times and traffic volumes increase by 40 per cent or more by 2021.
“Key intersections at Botany Road, Bourke St and South Dowling St are becoming major blockages and bus services along the corridor are difficult to plan and expand because of the reliability issues.”