$900m Perth Stadium to be Australia’s largest sporting precinct

The Government of Western Australia (WA) has recently announced its plan to build the country’s biggest stadium in Perth. The Perth Stadium project is worth $900 million and is set to be open in time for the start of the 2018 AFL season.

It was announced that the multi-purpose stadium will be developed, built and maintained by the WESTADIUM consortium led by Brookfield Financial and John Laing, with design teams HASSELL, Cox Architecture and HKS.

WA Premier Colin Barnett, while making the announcement, said, “The State’s evaluation team rigorously evaluated each bid and ultimately determined that WESTADIUM represented the best overall value for money for the design and construction phase plus the contract’s 25 year maintenance period.”

Set to hold 60,000 people, the stadium will see Perth’s Burswood Peninsula transformed into a world-class sporting precinct. The stadium will be a multi-purpose facility able to hold not only sporting events such as Australian rules football and major international rugby, cricket and soccer games, but major cultural events such as major rock concerts and entertainment events.

The master plan of the project also includes a public tennis facility, significant transport infrastructure upgrades, such as a new train and bus station, and large public parklands.

The dimensions of the stadium will be 165 metres long and 130 metres wide, which is five metres longer than both the Melbourne Cricket Ground and Etihad Stadium in Melbourne, but 10 metres shorter than Subiaco Oval. It is envisaged that the stadium will be similar to Etihad Stadium, with comparable views, amenities and comfort.

Physical pre-construction site works have already been completed ahead of schedule. Detailed plans are expected to be released soon while construction is scheduled to begin by the end of this year.

“The quality and breadth of the bid responses reflects the stature of this project and the appetite from the international stadia industry to be part of delivering a world-class venue. The announcement demonstrates how beneficial the past two years of planning have been, but there is still a long way to go to successfully deliver this project,” said Sport and Recreation Minister Terry Waldron.

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