Mac1 versus Mac2 - which stadium is better?
Two teams are trying to kick goals in the stadium battle and waterfront transformation. Here’s how they stack up.
Tasmania
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They have been asked the hard questions by the state government and on Monday proponents of Macquarie Point Stadium 2.0 will deliver a comprehensive response along with an offer to introduce the Premier to the multi-billion dollar backers for their field of dreams.
Progress on Macquarie Point Stadium 1 seems as flat as the land it is proposed to spring from while comprehensive designs and plans for Macquarie Point 2 have been revealed for all to see with investment institutions clambering to get involved.
Mac1 stadium does not even have a design team _ the job ad for that closes on February 28 _ and that’s one of the reasons Stadia Precinct Consortia boss Dean Coleman says there is no comparison between his project and Mac1.
“We are totally different – it’s chalk and cheese,” Coleman said.
“Ours is a community-based precinct which has a multi-purpose venue incorporated into it.
“The other one is effectively a stand-alone football ground limited by its confines.
“We’ve got accommodation, social and affordable housing, retail, hospitality, two hotels, a private hospital, so it’s a totally immersive experience and there’s plenty of parking associated with that.
“Currently we’ve got 5240 car parks, of which 2000 set aside for hotel operations, private hospital and the accommodation, and we are working on a park-and-ride structure with the Hobart City Council.
“The other stadium will take up part of Evans St, it will have limited access, limited parking, and because its footprint has to be moved, it will be located even closer to the Cenotaph Memorial.”
The Macquarie Point Development Corporation is preparing a Precinct Plan for the Mac1 site.
It says Mac1 will attract “arts and cultural events, including major concerts, conferences, exhibitions and sporting fixtures, whose organisers currently don’t consider Tasmania as an option due to the lack of world class venue facilities and capacity constraints”.
The challenges are clear for both projects.
Mac2 needs 790,000 cubic metres of earth moved, most of it used to reclaim land as the stadium protrudes about 200m into the river, with the remainder to be sold commercially.
Mac1 has remediation work to contend with.
The development corporation says: “Since colonisation, Mac Point has been a place of industrial needs for a growing population, and each time the site built on what was there before, and then built on again and again, it created layer upon layer of coal and tar, grease and oil and concrete.
“Mac Point has been used as a farm, an abattoir, lumber yard, a gas works, cold store, goods storage, for heavy industry, rubbish disposal, the military, freight, and rail. As a result, the site’s soil and ground water has been heavily polluted over time with a combination of fuels, heavy metals, and other contaminants.”
Already 69,000 tonnes of contaminated soil (asbestos, spent fuel, coal tar, phosphorus, sulphur, arsenic, copper, lead and zinc) and 2.3m litres of contaminated water (ammonia, cyanide and E. Coli) has been removed from the site.
While Mac1 is a puzzle pieced together by State Growth and Macquarie Point Development Corporation, and when complete be “owned and operated” by Stadiums Tasmania, Coleman is proud of the package put together by his Stadia Precinct Consortia team.
“Unbelievably proud of our project, and proud of the team that I have assembled because they have got their various expertise in finance, government, infrastructure,” he said.
“We’ve put some players who have a truckload of experience on major infrastructure deals around Australia and around the world.
“With our sports and entertainment people, they have been involved in six Olympic Games and seven World Cups, and they have got access to all the best lighting and sound technicians in the world.
“These are the people who put together the Opening Ceremony at the Olympic Games, so they are unbelievably good and unbelievably professional
“The local crew that we’ve got, the consultants, planning team and architects, have been sensational as well.”
Coleman’s response to the government’s questions will come with a request to present the information in person.
“We are not just going to hand over a document for them to dissect and come back with more questions, we want to present it,” he said.
“We would like the Premier and his team to see in front of them our team, headed by the financiers, who will all come down to be presented to them so they can see the level of commitment is 100 per cent bona fide.
“From there we would like to see it [the project] moved to a preferred status as quickly as possible and that means we can meet the AFL’s time-line, and we’ve already submitted a program to show that we can do that.”
STADIUM v STADIUM
MAC POINT 1
Location – Macquarie Point, adjacent to Evans St
State of project – gradual
Visual impact – high (stand-alone structure)
Seating capacity – 23,000
Seating expansion ability – 40,000
Concert capacity – TBA
Playing surface length 159.5m
Playing surface width 128.5m
Delivery date – December 2028
Design - TBA
Cost to taxpayer - $715m
Social impact – TBA
Accessibility – walkable from CBD, car parking limited, bus access to adjacent terminal
MAC POINT 2
Location – Macquarie Point at regatta grounds and 200m reclaimed riverfront
State of project – advanced
Visual impact – low-profile (built into Cenotaph hill)
Seating capacity – 23,000
Seating expansion ability – 30,000
Concert capacity - 40,000-50,000
Playing surface length - 171m
Playing surface width - 146m
Delivery date – November 2028
Design – multi-function
Cost to taxpayer $715m
Social impact – high
Accessibility – high (underground bus terminal, internal access for freight vehicles, 5240 car spaces, ferry terminal at stadiumboardwalk), walkable from CBD
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