Inside the fight for a slice of Geelong’s waterfront
These jaw-dropping global design sensations could be an insight into the type of architecture we could expect from bidders battling for the lucrative Geelong convention centre contract.
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A global construction group which oversaw work on Malaysia’s Petronas twin towers, an Australian architect that designed the K11 Art Mall in Wuhan, China and builder of software company Atlassian’s futuristic Sydney headquarters are among consortia vying for the contract to deliver the Geelong Convention and Exhibition Centre.
Conversations about developing a Federation Square type public space, a 200-room high-end hotel and a residential development across the 1.6ha Western Beach Rd, Geelong site where the GCEC will be built, are being had.
Top tier builders Lendlease, which project managed Malaysia’s twin towers, Kane Constructions and Built headline the three consortia short-listed for the $294m project.
Architects Hassell, Woods Bagot, Warren & Mahoney and Six Degrees which have significant international, interstate and Melbourne experience are also involved in the consortia interested in the city-shaping project.
Advisor, investor and infrastructure project manager Tetris Capital, which refinanced $400m of debt to pave the way for the 60,000-seat Optus Stadium in Perth under a
public-private partnership including the West Australian government; and Geelong and Melbourne property developer, CostaFox, have shown interest in the GECE.
The successful consortium is expected to be announced in mid-2023 and construction is earmarked for late 2023.
The centre will be built on land potentially worth $40m, and is expected to open in late 2025 or early 2026.
The state government which is the major financier of the project, to be delivered under a public-private partnership, wants the GECE to feature a 1,000-seat event venue, 3,700 sqm of multi-purpose space, a 200-room hotel and commercial spaces.
Under the partnership, the private sector will be responsible for master-planning the precinct; design, construction and operating the hotel; and the build and design of the exhibition and convention spaces.
A source with knowledge of the project said it was crucial to include a high-end hotel.
“We’ve got to have a five-star hotel. The fact that we can sit back and say we need more accommodation in Geelong is a great sign but now we’ve got to deliver,” the source said.
“If we have a convention centre with a hotel it makes it a destination point where people can come down and stay for the weekend, or two or three days, and bring the dollars.”
Committee for Geelong chief executive Jennifer Cromarty said a public square for the convention centre precinct would boost its use.
“Having a gathering place, for me, creates a sense of safety as well as community,” Ms Cromarty said.
“We want the centre functioning for the Commonwealth Games. During the games why not make the centre about telling Geelong’s story and have exhibitions around Wadawurrung or anything a visitor might want to know about Geelong?”
A Geelong development source said interest of architects Hassell, Woods Bagot and Six Degrees was a coup of the city.
“We can’t have the centre be a dead zone when conventions or events aren’t being held,” the source said.
The GCEC is funded by the state government ($261m), federal government ($30m), and the City of Greater Geelong ($3m).
It will be operated by the Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Trust. It is anticipated the project will require about 600 construction workers and will need 270 workers when functional.
GEELONG CONVENTION AND EXHIBITION CENTRE CONSORTIA
Kinetik consortium
(Tetris Capital, Amber Australia, Kane Constructions, ISS Facility Services, CostaFox Developments, Warren & Mahoney and Six Degrees.)
Headed by advisor, investor and infrastructure project manager Tetris Capital, which refinanced $400m of debt to pave the way for the 60,000-seat Optus Stadium in Perth under a
public-private partnership including the West Australian government.
The consortium’s builder is Kane Constructions which has delivered the $135m RACV Cape Schanck Resort, the $60m Prahran Square redevelopment and the $10m restoration at Brisbane’s Old Government House.
In the Geelong region Kane has built the $25m stage 2 redevelopment of the Geelong Performing Arts Centre; the $48m GMHBA headquarters on Moorabool St and the $45m Geelong Library and Heritage Centre.
It is working on the $61.6m Northern Aquatic and Community Hub at Norlane.
The Addy understands CostaFox Developments, which is currently planning the Stella Maris project at Rippleside, has interest in the residential component of the GECC development.
Architects Warren & Mahoney, headquartered in New Zealand, and Six Degrees are also part of the consortium.
Six Degrees has worked on the Capitol Theatre Refurishment at RMIT University in Melbourne, the expansion of the heritage listed Hotel Sorrento, the $11m Brae restaurant and accommodation at Birregurra, and the all-electric, carbon-neutral Merri residential development at Northcote.
Geelong Live consortium
(Capella Capital, Aware Super, Lendlease Building, Honeywell, MAB Corporation, Populous, Hassell, Freadman White and Oculus)
Lendlease which specialises in property development for urban expansion and regeneration currently manages 13 shopping centres across Australia and has experience with projects including the Sydney and London Olympic villages, the Petronas Twin towers in Malaysia and the September 11 memorial and museum in New York.
Hassell is an international design firm with studios in Australia, China, South East Asia, America and the United Kingdom. It was founded in South Australia in 1938.
Its projects span business, hospitality, education, urban planning, and the arts, and includes the
11,500 sqm life sciences precinct at the University of Melbourne and Optus Stadium in Perth.
MAB Corporation has proposed to build a $3.3bn Greater Avalon employment precinct on a 780ha site adjacent to Avalon Airport.
The site at 255-275 Avalon Road, formerly owned by the Ridley Corporation, will need to be rezoned but an existing interchange with the Princes Freeway gives it easy access to major road and freight networks.
Aware Super holds about $100m of high-security water rights, and in August it sold its farming portfolio in northern Victoria’s Goulburn Murray irrigation district to agricultural investment firm goFarm which is a joint venture between managing director Liam Lenaghan and Costa Asset Management led by Geelong’s Robert Costa.
Plenary Conventions consortium
(Plenary Group, Built, BGIS, Woods Bagot, WSP and 4D Workshop.
Plenary Group is an investor, developer and manager of public infrastructure across Australia, Canada, the US and the UAE.
Plenary developed the $333m, 23-story Miami-Dade courthouse in Florida, project managed and invested in the $120m Casey Hospital in Melbourne’s southeast and invested in the $1.5bn Footscray Hospital.
Built has been appointed to the construct the Sydney headquarters of software company Atlassian in a 39-level office tower.
Built also delivered the $80m refurbishment of the State Library of Victoria to boost public space, and the headquarters of recruitment firm Seek in Cremorne which is a seven-storey, 20,000sq m building which features winter gardens, a top-level terrace and a vast atrium.
Engineering consultant WSP is also part of the consortium and was part of the alliance which removed nine level crossings in Melbourne’s southeast by building nine kilometres of elevated rail.
Global architecture studio Woods Bagot has designed the 600ha convention exhibition centre and sports precinct in Xiamen, China to act as a new cultural and civic heart in the city’s Guiyuan district.
The precinct includes 13 exhibition halls, a ballroom and banquet hall, a 2,500-seat theatre, a museum and an Olympic-standard sports stadium.
Structural and civil engineering consultancy 4D Workshop and Property management company BGIS are also part of the consortium.
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