Excavators have cut into Macquarie Point for the first time, with 100,000 cubic metres of soil due to come off the Hobart waterfront before the world’s largest timber-supported stadium roof stands over the site. That is according to Geoffrey Hazell, Managing Director of Hazell Bros, whose crews began transporting excavated material to local waste facilities on Monday.
“There should be a truck leaving here every eight minutes,” Hazell said, with construction of the A$1.13 billion venue still a year away and major building works not due until the middle of 2027.
“Clearly the diggers have arrived, the builders are here,” Premier Jeremy Rockliff said on site, marking the commencement of a project that follows four decades of Tasmanian campaigning for a football team of its own.
Cox Architecture’s dome will span 190 metres by 215 metres and leave 49 metres of clearance over the turf, headroom set by ball-tracking data so the venue can stage Test cricket alongside football. Tasmanian-sourced glulam frames the structure wherever the design allows, working with translucent ETFE pillows, a 20-millimetre timber laminate, metal deck cladding, and steel rod bracing.
Confidence in that roof came from a full-scale rig built on this same ground by Tasmanian firm BlackCap Group, which put professional cricketers under a matte-treated ETFE lining to settle how shadow would move over the pitch block.
Both shortlisted builders lodge their bids next month, with Besix Watpac and the Constructure Joint Venture of Webuild and China Construction Oceania setting out their capability, delivery methodology, target price, and preferred contractor due in October.
“They are not a reason for us to not proceed with a qualified party,” Anne Beach said of the two criminal proceedings SafeWork NSW has brought against Webuild in the New South Wales Industrial Court, which the Italian firm is defending.
The charges allege Webuild exposed workers to a risk of death or serious injury, and the Tasmanian Greens and independent MP Kristie Johnston have argued the firm should have declared them during the expression of interest stage.
Salvage runs beside the digging, with Hunter Mason contracted to pack down, store, and rebuild the heritage Goods Shed inside the finished precinct, and recoverable material from the neighbouring Red Shed assessed for re-use across the site.
Beach has practical completion towards the end of 2030, leaving the Devils at Bellerive Oval from their 2028 entry until a $160 million Tasmanian glulam roof finally stands over 23,000 seats.
