The hidden billion-dollar threat to Victoria Park’s Olympic dream

Buried beneath the surface of the lush Victoria Park precinct lies a potential billion-dollar problem for the site’s Olympic hopes.

Victoria Park is the favourite to be the home of the Olympic stadium. Image: ARCHIPELAGO

Victoria Park’s Olympic dream faces hurdles including bedrock five times tougher than concrete, old rubbish dumps, swamps and risks of unexploded World War II munitions which could add billions of dollars to the project.

Just days before the state government unveils its Olympic stadiums blueprint, it is understood Victoria Park has emerged as a clear favourite but serious concerns have been raised over a number of geotechnical issues likely to cause a budget blowout far beyond the estimated $3.4b cost.

Sources close to the 100-day review tasked with evaluating options for the 2032 venues have told The Courier-Mail a number of sites at Victoria Park have been considered, but the precinct presents complex challenges, including the presence of Brisbane Tuff bedrock, a material so tough it prevented tunnel projects in the city for generations.

It generally requires expensive blasting works and can be more than five times stronger than heavy-duty concrete in ratings of megapascal strength.

Other obstacles for an Olympic stadium on the sprawling 64-hectare park include areas where the slope of the ground would require budget-blowing clearing works, old rubbish dumps and a US military base from WWII where the departing Americans buried most of their supplies.

“It’s been really difficult,” a source close to the project told The Courier-Mail.

“Victoria Park is really the one they want to go with out of all the options, but it’s not without its problems.

Brisbane Tuff lies beneath the proposed Victoria Park site. Picture: Archipelago Architects

“Brisbane Tuff is very hard to excavate so there’s going to be a massive cost to do that.”

Tony Webster, a structural geologist and honorary senior research fellow at the University of Queensland, said Brisbane Tuff was “a very hard rock” which was visible at the Kangaroo Point Cliffs and had been used for the construction of the heritage-listed Commissariat Store near Queen’s Wharf.

“It’s very expensive to quarry, you have to drill and blast it rather than just bulldoze it,” he said.

“That’s going to massively increase the cost of any project.”

While he did not have any personal preference on where the city’s Olympic stadium should be located, he said Victoria Park faced other geological challenges.

“Previously part of Victoria Park was too swampy to put people in which is one of the reasons it wasn’t built on in the early days,” he said.

“And carving flat space for a stadium into what is very hilly terrain, if you can imagine building a house on the slopes of Mount Coot-Tha, you have to install drainage, do clearing, levelling, there’s water pressure issues, you have to cable bolt retaining walls – now imagine doing that with a stadium.

“It’s a lot more challenging than building on a flat block.

“You can find a solution to almost any problem, but it’s going to cost a lot of money.

“They need to take a very careful geotechnical investigation of the whole site.”

David Crisafulli will announce where the Olympic stadium will be on March 25 at The Courier-Mail’s Future Brisbane summit. Picture: Lyndon Mechielsen/Courier Mail

Officers involved in the Olympic task-force have also looked at a site which was once home to one of several old garbage dumps scattered across the park.

According to Brisbane City Council, landfill sites at Victoria Park were decommissioned from the early 1930s.

Perth’s Optus Stadium faced similar issues, with the 60,000-seat stadium built over a former sewage farm and industrial waste dump.

Despite reservations, that project was able to overcome those hurdles.

The push for Victoria Park has also faced protests from local residents including former Queensland premier Campbell Newman who fear the loss of public green space in the city.

A final decision on Brisbane’s Olympic venues will be announced on March 25 at The Courier-Mail’s Future Brisbane summit.

Originally published as The hidden billion-dollar threat to Victoria Park’s Olympic dream