Cost and delays behind stadium build drop-out

A delay in the projected finish time, not just cost, is one of the reasons the Sydney Football Stadium contract has been torn up.

NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian ... “What the people of NSW can also appreciate is that we’re a government that makes sure we provide the best possible value for money for our taxpayers.” Picture: AAP

Three companies have been ­invited to step in and bid to build the new Sydney Football Stadium after Lendlease withdrew from the process, having failed to reach agreement on staying within the $729 million budget.

The three companies are Multi­plex, John Holland and AW Edwards.

The government is hoping to get a new builder for the stadium within a month, having been left with a hole in the ground after talks over construction fell through. This occurred despite the government announcing in ­December that Lendlease was demolishing the old stadium and building the new one.

The Australian understands it was not only cost — with Lendlease said to be demanding an extra $50-$100m to finish the stadium — but a likely delay to the projected finish time of early 2022 that saw Lendlease and the government fail to reach agreement.

There were concerns, with ANZ Stadium also set to be out of action because of Premier Gladys Berejik­lian’s simultaneous $810m rebuild, that NSW was risking losing State of Origin altogether in 2022 as Lendlease might not have completed the project by June 2022.

Ms Berejiklian, who returned from leave yesterday, insisted her Allianz Stadium redevelopment was on track despite the government having to admit on Friday that the government would have to go back to market, potentially delaying the project.

Ms Berejiklian also had to defend herself against accusations from reporters that the government had misled the public when it announced last December that Lendlease was the “construction contractor” for the project.

The remains of Allianz Stadium this week. Picture: Getty Images

The Australian understands that one offer from Lendlease to cut costs was to make the stadium roughly the same standard as the Bankwest stadium at Parramatta, but the government and the Sydney Cricket Ground Trust are after a higher-standard stadium.

“If any contractor doesn’t provide what the government’s asked for, we’ll look elsewhere and that’s what’s happened in this circumstance,” Ms Berejiklian said. “I’m absolutely confident; the timeline’s there for us to meet, the budget’s there for us to meet, there are other interested parties and I look forward to issuing a contract.

“We want to make sure it’s world-class … within the budget and we look forward to having a contractor on board to meet those requirements.”

Asked whether she could guarantee the stadium would be finished by 2022, Ms Berejiklian said: “Absolutely, that’s absolutely our objective. There’s nothing to suggest otherwise.

“What the people of NSW can also appreciate is that we’re a government that makes sure we provide the best possible value for money for our taxpayers and get the best possible product. There’ve been ongoing negotiations. We gave them an opportunity to come back to us to revise their plans and that didn’t occur and that’s fine.

“There’s a lot of competition in that space.”

Asked why the government had announced in December that Lendlease was the “construction contractor”, she said: “Well that was certainly our intention and when people come back with proposed plans and budget … the ­advice provided to government was that we could get a better deal.

“That was our intention at the time … but what we do before the final contract is issued is make sure the taxpayers of NSW are getting value for money.

“We won’t be taken for a ride.”

Any delay in the project could also risk the 2022 NRL grand final going to Queensland, with ANZ Stadium being rebuilt at the same time at a projected cost of $810m.

Opposition Leader Jodi McKay accused the Premier and her government of going to the election “based on a lie”. “They told the people of NSW they would build a new stadium, they announced that they had signed a contract and now they are saying that there wasn’t a single contract — so they lied to the public,” she said.

On December 7 last year, then sports minister Stuart Ayres announced he had signed a contract with Lendlease for the demolition and rebuild of the stadium in Moore Park in Sydney’s east.

Sports Minister John Sidoti said yesterday: “The NSW government is engaging with the market to identify appropriately experienced firms to participate in the upcoming tender process. We don’t reveal the firms we are in talks with. This will remain commercial in confidence.”