Queensland is moving to privatise infrastructure development for the 2032 Brisbane Olympics, including the $3.7 billion main stadium, the Athletes’ Village (once slated to be built out of mass timber), the $2.5 billion Brisbane Live site and the $650 million Aquatic Centre—the cornerstone projects covered under the $7.1 billion games envelope.
It comes after David Janetzki, Queensland’s State Treasurer, yesterday announced the creation of a “dedicated unit” within his department to secure infrastructure investment from the private sector – a move that opens the door for more public-private partnership deals, such as the Lendlease deal, which will see thousands of Athletes now housed at the RNA Showgrounds instead of Hamilton Northshore.
“I’ve tasked Queensland Treasury to establish a dedicated unit to attract private capital to help deliver infrastructure projects needed for a growing state,” Janetzki told a Committee for Economic Development lunch yesterday. “Treasury’s transaction team will be up and running by August 1 to explore different models to deliver commercially for investors while delivering for taxpayers.”
“Well-directed and efficient capital investment ultimately reduces operating costs over time, and it is important that it is directed where it needs to go,” he said. “We know capital goes where it’s welcome and stays where it is needed.”
And while the new model has been lauded for saving taxpayers billions of dollars, Wood Central can reveal that there are growing fears amongst consultants that organisers are backing away from commitments to deliver a Green Games.
Last week, Wood Central spoke to several sources that are concerned that many of the infrastructure projects planned for the Games, including the Athletes Village and Barlow Park, could have mass timber “value engineered” out for traditional steel-and-concrete systems with questions also hanging over the Moreton Bay Indoor Sports Centre – slated to be the only venue built out of local timbers.
In effect, this would mean that the Brisbane 2032 Games, slated to be the first delivered under the IOC’s new norms, would have far fewer green building materials than the 2021 Tokyo Summer Olympic Games, the 2024 Paris Summer Olympic Games, and next year’s Milan and Cortina d’Ampezzo Winter Games.
- To learn more about the (previous) government’s commitment to using more timber in Olympic infrastructure, click here to read Bart Mellish, then-Assistant Minister to the Premier Anastasia Palaszczuk. And to learn more about former Premier Steven Miles’ commitment to using green materials – including timber and green steel in venues – click here for Wood Central’s coverage from COP28.
