COX Architecture has won the $37.9m tender to design the Macquarie Point stadium

A leading Australian stadium architect will design the $715m Macquarie Point stadium. He has addressed concerns about the budget, the timeline and the size of the site. Here’s what he said.

macquarie point stadium artists impression

An architecture firm involved in building oval stadiums around Australia has been appointed to design the Macquarie Point multi-purpose stadium.

In the first major spend and the first major step towards construction of the $715m stadium, COX Architecture has won a $37.9m tender to act as lead design consultant.

COX will partner with local firms including architects Cumulus Studio, and specialist

engineers and technicians, including AECOM, Cova, Aldanmark, and Pitt &

Sherry.

International partner Schlaich Bergermann Partners (SBP) will bring also bring stadium design experience having worked on SoFI Stadium in California.

The team will waste no time in starting on the project, with the first design to be released within months.

COX Architecture principal director Alastair Richarson, who has 30 years‘ experience in sports architecture, said the company had been involved in Australia’s last four major oval stadiums.

Mr Richardson said he was “very confident” a stadium would fit at Macquarie Point and could be sensitive to the Cenotaph.

“This roof, which is the thing that will impact on the Cenotaph, needs to be incredibly light and needs to be transparent, because the grass is growing underneath. When you look at the renders done last year it was seen a lot as a solid mass. The aim is that it will not be a solid mass,” he said.

COX Architecture principal director Alastair richardson speaks to the media at Macquarie Point

Mr Richardson also addressed widespread concern the budget would blow out beyond $1bn.

“We are confident that the $715m budget is perfectly appropriate for the project so the aim is we will be within that budget,” he said.

Macquarie Point Development Corporation CEO Anne Beach said Macquarie Point could not be more ready for the stadium to be built, with extensive modelling and every inch of the land subject to geotechnical testing.

Ms Beach said the stadium could be built in time for the Tasmania Devils team to take the field for the 2029 AFL season.

“There is a lot of misinformation for this site. One that comes up is will it fit? We have done the work and we know that it will fit. We have done extensive work last year looking at benchmarking, field sizes, different stadia, considering whether or not it will fit on this site,” Ms Beach said.

“This area of Sullivans Cove is a reclaimed area. There are developments on reclaimed areas across the country and across the Cove including a 10 storey Marine Board building that is on a reclaimed site. Being a reclaimed site is not a constraint it’s just a consideration in the design.”