OLYMPICS Brisbane Olympic Disaster

[Foordy]

I'm on the demolish and rebuild the Gabba train personally.

I'd like to see what they were proposing for Vic park tbh, The close proximity to the hospital would surely have been an issue?

I don't really care if they demolish the Gabba or go with Vic park ... but they need to do it properly and build a world class stadium.

Initially their plan was to demolish the Gabba and rebuild for $2.7 billion (although you can guarantee it will cost much more), to only get an extra 8k seats meaning the ground would still be smaller than Lang Park. any new stadium build needs to be 60k capacity minimum, but maybe even closer to 70k or 80k

The stadium I really object to is the $2.5 billion dollar Brisbane arena. A 17k capacity stadium that they planned to build over Roma Street train station. apparently this arena is still going ahead, they've just decided to move it 500m and build it behind the station. it was decided it wasn't feasible to build a stadium over a major train station (especially as Roma street station would need to shut down for two years)

 

[Mister Wright]

We screwed up when we decided to renovate Lang Park instead of creating a sporting precinct at the EKKA Showground site. We could have had a rectangular and oval stadium within the same precinct, but QLDers (particularly politicians) don't like to have foresight and vision, rather rely on tradition and sentiment. We are now screwing it up again, but this time on a world scale!

Of the 3 options, Gabba rebuild, QSAC and Victoria Park, Victoria Park is clearly the best option.

 

[Wolfie]

I think these idiots forgot that hosting an Olympics and all that goes with it costs money.

 

[Fozz]

QE2 has no busway, no train station and is on the intersection of the 2 worst roads on the entire southside.

From what I understand the proposed refurbishments to the Gabba are a short term fix at best, and it will require another, bigger refurbishment soon after anyway.

They should either be building a new Gabba or going with a whole new stadium. This plan is half-arsing it.

QE2 really only needs the extra connections during the Olympics, it'll get downgraded to a high end athletic stadium. It doesn't need a train station or busway. Shuttle buses can run off the busway to the park n ride at Nissan Arena.

I'd rather the Gabba be rebuilt. Does the cost of the new stadium at VP include the cost of demolishing the Gabba? I mean that was going to happen if the Gabba was being rebuilt so what is the point then?

 

[LittleDavey]

What's also been missed is all the OTHER upgrades to sporting facilities across the entire southeast corner. There's a list of 15-20 IIRC, some of which are small but others are quite substantial in their own right. Plus the accommodation facilities for the athletes at Hamilton which is no small feat in itself either, plus transport upgrades etc etc etc...

Where are the construction workers going to come from to build all this shit? Where are the materials going to come from with all that huge construction going on at once? At the end of last year most of these projects hadn't even had the business case completed yet, let alone detailed design - they are still years away from construction even starting and yet we're just 8 short years away from the Olympics. One or two facilities in isolation are perhaps achievable, but when you're talking about essentially reconstructing most of Brisbane's major sports facilities all at once...you see the problem. There's only so much market capacity.

I was at an engineering forum on the Gold Coast at the back end of last year and one of the heads of state development or some such did a keynote on the Olympics and all that's going with it. The list just went on and on and on. Even without this stadium debacle, everyone in the room was looking at each other, scratching our heads wondering how the **** they expect all of this to be done in time. The consensus is, it won't be - not in its initially proposed form.

It was a great opportunity for the city initially, but time is really running thin. My best guess is the costs were simply too high in the first place and repeated attempts to make business cases more appealing is leading to the planning of the damn things taking far too long and barely (or not) leaving enough time for design & construction - and that's assuming they can even scrounge up the $$ to pay for it all!!

I fully expect the scope of facility upgrades to be wound back significantly over the coming years, this stadium bullshit is just the start of the walk-backs. I don't believe it is possible for this government to deliver what's being promised.

 

[Dash]

What's also been missed is all the OTHER upgrades to sporting facilities across the entire southeast corner. There's a list of 15-20 IIRC, some of which are small but others are quite substantial in their own right. Plus the accommodation facilities for the athletes at Hamilton which is no small feat in itself either, plus transport upgrades etc etc etc...

Where are the construction workers going to come from to build all this shit? Where are the materials going to come from with all that huge construction going on at once? At the end of last year most of these projects hadn't even had the business case completed yet, let alone detailed design - they are still years away from construction even starting and yet we're just 8 short years away from the Olympics. One or two facilities in isolation are perhaps achievable, but when you're talking about essentially reconstructing most of Brisbane's major sports facilities all at once...you see the problem. There's only so much market capacity.

I was at an engineering forum on the Gold Coast at the back end of last year and one of the heads of state development or some such did a keynote on the Olympics and all that's going with it. The list just went on and on and on. Even without this stadium debacle, everyone in the room was looking at each other, scratching our heads wondering how the **** they expect all of this to be done in time. The consensus is, it won't be - not in its initially proposed form.

It was a great opportunity for the city initially, but time is really running thin. My best guess is the costs were simply too high in the first place and repeated attempts to make business cases more appealing is leading to the planning of the damn things taking far too long and barely (or not) leaving enough time for design & construction - and that's assuming they can even scrounge up the $$ to pay for it all!!

I fully expect the scope of facility upgrades to be wound back significantly over the coming years, this stadium bullshit is just the start of the walk-backs. I don't believe it is possible for this government to deliver what's being promised.

The Olympics are 8 years away, most other host cities weren't even announced by this point. If everyone else managed it, I think we can too.

It might be shit and/or extremely expensive, but we'll manage.

 

[Fitzy]

The Olympics are 8 years away, most other host cities weren't even announced by this point. If everyone else managed it, I think we can too.

It might be shit and/or extremely expensive, but we'll manage.

The reality probably lies right in the middle of both these takes. Sure other cities haven’t been announced by now but other cities also plan this shit before trying to get it/being approved of it.

 

[Browny]

It’s almost like there’s a reason no one else bid for the games.

 

[LittleDavey]

The Olympics are 8 years away, most other host cities weren't even announced by this point. If everyone else managed it, I think we can too.

It might be shit and/or extremely expensive, but we'll manage.

Oh look, almost anything is possible with enough money thrown at it. There's also the golden triangle of time - cost - quality to be considered. We're starting to get into the realm of both shit and extremely expensive outcomes IMO, neither of which we should tolerate as taxpayers experiencing a rapidly degrading quality of life. But to be fair I'm pretty firmly on the "this is a huge waste of money" train.

Last year we were told the Qld & Federal Govts were spending $7B on facility upgrades (11.5B all up). That's seven billion dollars...seven thousand million dollars...just in upgrades. What's the lost opportunity cost for that sort of money? How many houses can be built for that? How many emergency housing apartments? How many roads? Hospitals? School facilities? Electrical or water infrastructure? Literally anything else that is actually NECESSARY and not just nice to have?

An Oxford study in 2020 revealed that on average costs are 2.5x initial budgets, so now we're potentially looking at something like 28 BILLION DOLLARS spent on all of this. How can anyone seriously argue that's the best use of that money in the current environment?? I get city-building, and using the Games as a way to drive investment in the city, Expo88 was a huge boon.

But when our infrastructure of every type and at every level is groaning under the weight of the internal migration of the past couple of years and even middle-income families are struggling to keep a roof over their heads (let alone anyone towards the lower end of the socioeconomic scale), in my opinion, our governments should be spending that coin on things that are actually going to help ease cost of living pressures or otherwise improve the lot of those who are paying for it - and paying handsomely both now and well into the future. I don't think the benefits will outweigh the costs. Just my 2c, I'm sure many have a different opinion on it.

 

[Sproj]

Why doesn’t Qld go truly unique and build a giant jumping castle.

 

[Big Del]

just imminent domain the *****.

What is an imminent domain for the folks at home ?

 

[Culhwch]

What is an imminent domain for the folks at home ?

It might be eminent domain that's extremely imminent, but that's just a guess.

 

[Mustafur]

What is an imminent domain for the folks at home ?

A GTFO order for the greater good.

 

[The Boss]

One thing I'm failing to understand is the Gabba is old and run down where will Ashes tests be played in 2030s

 

[Allo]

One thing I'm failing to understand is the Gabba is old and run down where will Ashes tests be played in 2030s

They’ll probably just play in Tasmania instead.

They’ve already demoted Brisbane to the end of the summer, next stop is off the list completely

 

[Foordy]

One thing I'm failing to understand is the Gabba is old and run down where will Ashes tests be played in 2030s

Perth

 

[Culhwch]

It'll be too hot to play any sport outdoors in the 2030s anyway.

 

[mitch222]

I'm on the demolish and rebuild the Gabba train personally.

I'd like to see what they were proposing for Vic park tbh, The close proximity to the hospital would surely have been an issue?

I think the main issue with the Gabba is the train station is to far away from the stadium. It actually makes no sense to rebuild the Gabba if they cant adequately address the public transport issue in getting to the stadium. And buses or trams just simply aren't the fix either.