Olympic review to be given ‘golden triangle’ vision, with a hint of pineapple

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With the start of the review imminent, that chatter is pure speculation. For now, the new Crisafulli government is expected to announce its expert panel to lead its venue review, and the independent infrastructure delivery authority, as early as Thursday. That announcement will set the 100-day clock ticking. Premier David Crisafulli’s office confirmed there would be no grace for the Christmas period, during which many public servants supporting the review will be on mandated annual leave – further tightening the panel’s timeframe. That ticking clock adds to the urgency to get planning on track and to get shovels in the ground. Dykman Consulting transport planning manager David Hayward is keen to give them a head start, based around what he called the “golden triangle” inner-city Games transport area. And it’s a focus seemingly in line with the premier’s thinking.

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“The Games were bid on a focus of generational infrastructure – that was a contract that Queensland has signed on to,” Crisafulli said in a media conference earlier this month. “Road and rail – that’s what people were talking about. They were talking about a vision to fix planning across the broader region.” Hayward, the Queensland branch chairman of the Transport Australia Society (which falls under the umbrella of Engineers Australia), says the organisation is working on a submission to the review. Central to their submission will be the importance of leveraging existing transport infrastructure, which meant having venues where people could easily access them. “Sydney [2000] obviously comes up quite a bit, but the thing I love about Brisbane’s potential for legacy is that we’re actually putting the stadiums where the demand is there for people to be moved in high volumes after the Games,” Hayward says. David Hayward speaking at an Engineers Australia event earlier this year.

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Whereas Homebush in Sydney 2000 and Stratford in London 2012 were large-scale urban renewal projects, Hayward says Brisbane 2032 should be more about leveraging what the city already has. “There’s transformative travel-behaviour change potential, if we locate the stadiums adjacent to the high-capacity mass rapid transit network, which we potentially will do in the review,” he says. Like former Brisbane lord mayor Graham Quirk, who delivered the previous venue review in March, Hayward’s vision includes Victoria Park, though he acknowledges the topography on the site could be challenging for engineers (and expensive). Brisbane Olympic Games ‘transport triangle’ legacy plan for 2032, by David Hayward from Dykman Consulting. Credit: Dykman Consulting A 70,000-seat stadium at the site (or elsewhere within the triangle) could combine with other venues to provide 200,000 stadium seats within the inner-city area, well serviced by high-volume public transport. “I think for the review, it’s important to also consider RNA Showgrounds – Albion, the RNA and Victoria Park are probably the best inner-city locations,” he says. The submission’s main variation from the Quirk review recommendations, which saw Albion removed altogether, will be for the Brisbane Arena to be built on the existing Gabba site.

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Building Brisbane’s inner-city arena at Woolloongabba, Hayward says, is a matter of putting a “square peg into a square hole”. AFL and cricket would be given a new home elsewhere, rather than attempt to rebuild the Gabba. “It falls in my category of ideas that make too much sense,” he says. “I was ready and waiting for it to be in the Quirk review, but it wasn’t. We’re short on construction work resources, so the way you can sequence it [building it after the main stadium] makes so much sense – and you can keep the school there.” Hayward has a novel idea for the arena – a “big pineapple” to dwarf Nambour’s landmark – though that design flourish is no dealbreaker. David Hayward’s ‘Big Pineapple Arena’ vision proposed for the Gabba stadium site at Woolloongabba. Credit: David Hayward

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