The Tasmanian Government has produced new renders of the Macquarie Point Stadium—the world’s largest oval-shaped timber stadium—along with draft legislation, which it will introduce to parliament in weeks.
It comes as the Jeremy Rockliff government today updated the cost estimate for the timber-domed stadium, saying it is now estimated to be $945 million, up from its previous figure of $775 million, all thanks to additional improvements to the acoustics of the surrounding buildings.
“The Government has reviewed and acknowledged the concerns and challenges raised within the draft Integrated Assessment Report by the Tasmanian Planning Commission,” according to Eric Abetz, Minister for Business, Industry and Resources, who could have responsibility for issuing the permit for the new stadium: “This draft bill and subsequent planning conditions address these points and demonstrate the government’s efforts to ensure the legislation is comprehensive.”
It comes after Wood Central earlier this month revealed that the Tasmanian government “wanted to go its own way” and fast-track the Macquarie Point Stadium using a ‘design and construct’ rather than the private-public partnership model favoured for the Brisbane Olympics.
A key condition for the Tassie Devils AFL license, Abetz said the fully-roofed venue is the ideal location for the stadium: “It is time to draw a line in the sand and provide certainty for our own AFL Team and the enabling infrastructure that is critical to making our team a success.”
“The impact the multipurpose stadium will have on our economy, jobs, and investment is simply an opportunity we can’t miss. Now, it’s time we got on with building it,” Abetz said.
Last year, Wood Central revealed that Cox Architecture’s “once-in-a-lifetime” stadium design includes a 190m timber-domed roof with the 23,000-capacity indoor stadium features a compact seating bowl design, a “woven-style” timber facade, and a fixed dome translucent roof.
Designed by German firm Schlaich Bergermann Partners, the roof will feature ETFE (ethylene tetrafluoroethylene) “pillows” – a state-of-the-art fabric material popular in North America and Europe—combined with a mixed material of steel and timber in its supporting structure, which is supported by 800mm timber and steel beams. At its apex, the roof will stand 51 metres above the centre circle (but crucially will not obstruct the Hobart Cenotaph) before cascading into the seating.
Speaking about the legislation today, Abetz said: “The (new) enabling legislation and supporting materials are hundreds of pages long, carefully addressing concerns, permits, and conditions.” Before acknowledging that, as the Minister responsible, he would be issuing the permit for the stadium if the legislation passes: “Be absolutely assured I won’t be rubber stamping anything, but, as Minister, I will be provided with the capacity to issue the relevant permits, but the legislation will require me to consult with the relevant authorities prior to making a permit,” he said. “From the government’s point of view, transparency’s key; we want to ensure that people fully understand what we’re doing, why we’re doing it.”
“So they can be confident and proud that the stadium that’s delivered here will be something that they’ll be able to look back on, and scratch their heads and say, ‘why was there all this opposition 40 years ago’.”
- To learn more about Macquarie Point, click here for Wood Central’s special feature including the full plans for the stadium.
