News Gabba Upgrade & Olympics News

[Section 5]

When it’s a full house or even when you have 50k+, I’ll be interested to see how the crowd is dispersed. The train station will need to be relatively large as will the bus stops as those renderings have most people coming out on to main access corridors.

Yes I know they’re not final.

Super Saturday at the Olympics will have 63k inside and another 63k going to the night session. Hopefully the Swimming two daily sessions are over by then, but maybe it won't be.

This is a good reason to have a new rail station at VP. Also, for the expanded CBD the next 50+ years.

That gives the people another choice to arrive and more importantly when leaving the stadium. I agree it will have to be a decent size unlike Exhibition Station.
Depending on where your home is located you can leave via a few rail stations.
A possible new VP Station, Roma Street, Exhibition, Fortitude Valley. Central is too far and hilly for a casual walk but doable.

A walk to Roma Street station gives people the best option of getting home and not having to change trains.
People will work out what the best option is for them.

For arguments sake you may choose to walk to Exhibition station and catch the train headed back via a new VP station. That may get you on an earlier train and maybe a seat. Or the reverse, Roma Street back to VP. Those two a possibility for people living on the CRR line and don't need to change trains.

Will they run the free direct buses close to the stadium like they do with The Gabba and Lang Park. Those being to Chermside, Carindale, Garden City etc. Most likely yes in some format.

This would be one reason for that "precinct plan". Work out what's best to disperse crowds and possibly a few eating precincts along the way connecting the Village, Valley and Roma Street then possibly extend Roma Street to the CBD

Exciting times ahead for Brisbane.

EDIT: Looks like they won't be considering a new train station going on post 8123. Bad decision in my opinion.
Best of luck trying to get a train from Exhibition Station

 

[Jivlain]

Not doing too much to counter the usual arguments about ignoring the existence of Queensland outside of Brisbane with comments like that, but I'm fully on board if it means we're getting a stadium up on stilts.

Ideally we can stick a laundry room and a pool table underneath

 

[Perrip]

EDIT: Looks like they won't be considering a new train station going on post 8123. Bad decision in my opinion.
Best of luck trying to get a train from Exhibition Station

Especially with the IOC security stuff for the athletes village. I'm hoping he doesn't want to preempt anything Arup wants to do in their master plan.

 

[weevil]

EDIT: Looks like they won't be considering a new train station going on post 8123. Bad decision in my opinion.
Best of luck trying to get a train from Exhibition Station

Yes, no new train station is disappointing. I can imagine it was just too cost-prohibitive; there are so many issues they have to walk a tightrope on, sometimes, there are just going to have to be compromises. I think everything else looks great so far.

 

[Section 5]

Especially with the IOC security stuff for the athletes village. I'm hoping he doesn't want to preempt anything Arup wants to do in their master plan.

Be interesting where that security boundary finishes. Could it include Exhibition station, probably not.
I really hope Arup suggest a new train station at VP.
However, the LNP could have advised Arup to work with no new train station being added.

The brand-new Exhibition Station only has 2 platforms and will be a nightmare to use during big events if no new VP station.
Each platform has a maximum six carriages at present. Allowances to extend station to go to nine in the future
Six is standard for Brisbane even though the other new CRR stations have been built for 9.

Who knows what the LNP Government have planned for the EKKA arena upgrade to 20k permanent seating.
If its capacity is used for something the public can attend free or paid than that's more people using a small rail station.

 

[SizeMatters]

Gabba arena bids to close as state backs existing rail for Victoria Park - Cameron Atfield

Dumb. The exhibition station is probably a tad too far. Accessibility needs will probably not be met…

Needs a proper train, bus and ride share zone. Those two proposed over the highway walkways are a sure way to funnel 40k+ people and choke up entry and exit points What can go wrong?

Also where the hell will the new food and bevvy locales be? It will be a 30 minute walk to fortitude valley. Shit.

 

[Whatamark]

Familiar as I unfortunately am with the Green crap deriving from the proposed stadium in Hobart, which is to be built on a disused industrial site, mostly landfill, formerly occupied by a sewerage treatment plant, please be alert for the usual: it is a sacred site the home of the [insert name] tribe; there are many aboriginal middens scattered through the site; or it is the only location of the lesser spotted left-footed toad; or "I usually walk my dog there"; why can't we just leave it as green space?; what about using it as social housing space? ETC ETC.

Assisted of course pro bono by many well-heeled eminent legal persons and others soon to be identified by their ABC as unelected local spokespersons.

Additional points to the poster who can nominate the toad which was the reason the expensive underpass by the Coolangatta airport was built. Not kidding.

Puts hand up !
Wallum Sedge Frog I believe ..... Do not ask me how I know this.

 

[Perrip]

Reading the Hassell press release the full team doing the stadium is:

• Hassell, COX Architecture & Azusa Sekkei: Stadium design
• Arup & sbp: Stadium roof design
• Blaklash: First Nations engagement. They also did the First Nations engagement for the BCC Victoria Park master plan. Blaklash: Victoria Park

 

[Section 5]

A reasonably good you tube vid on the design announcement yesterday
Brisbane Lions visually prominent. I wonder what Cricket Australia thought.

He spoiled it though by wrongly mentioning the proposed site of the Brisbane Arena at Wooloongabba.
People quickly picked him up on the big error. He should take that bit out.

 

[Section 5]

Reading the Hassell press release the full team doing the stadium is:

• Hassell, COX Architecture & Azusa Sekkei: Stadium design
• Arup & sbp: Stadium roof design
• Blaklash: First Nations engagement. They also did the First Nations engagement for the BCC Victoria Park master plan. Blaklash: Victoria Park

Involving Backlash is a good move seeing they have previously done their homework on the site.
Does not mean other indigenous peoples will agree but it should be helpful to come to some understanding.
Most likely they set aside an area noting/highlighting indigenous people's history at Barrambin

It would be fantastic if a slightly revised BCC masterplan could be incorporated into a finish product by January 2032

 

[Perrip]

4BC interview with stadium architects Lucy O’Driscoll and Richard Coulson

 

[Grasshopper17]

4BC interview with stadium architects Lucy O’Driscoll and Richard Coulson

Thanks for that. I got super pumped listening to that actually. Can we play there this year!?

Also now I know what happened to Ben Davis and why his show on SEN got axed.

 

[Elixuh]

It’ll absolutely transform that space for the whole of Brisbane. There’ll be an incentive to actually invest to continually upgrade the surrounding park etc.

 

[Section 5]

I thought the most interesting thing on the 4BC interview was the roof coverage.
They mentioned it will cover 100% of seats which is not the usual. Maybe that was mentioned elsewhere and i missed it.
Optus i believe is 85%

Does not mean you won't get wet or sun in your eyes. On face value 100% sounds good. Time will tell i suppose.
The shadows cast over the ground during day games will be interesting

 

[Perrip]

Gold Coast eyes hotel tower and restaurants for new $450m arena site - Andrew Potts

Six consortiums, including several from overseas, have submitted bids to the council’s expression of interest campaign to build the 12,000-seat venue, with Invest Gold Coast to shortlist two finalists in coming weeks.
The finalists will be asked to deliver a detailed proposal for council consideration, with the winner named in late 2026.
Invest Gold Coast chief executive Mark Girard said in December that a shortlist of two proponents would be given to council for consideration in the first quarter of 2026.

 

[The Flying Belgian]

Dumb. The exhibition station is probably a tad too far. Accessibility needs will probably not be met…

Needs a proper train, bus and ride share zone. Those two proposed over the highway walkways are a sure way to funnel 40k+ people and choke up entry and exit points What can go wrong?

Also where the hell will the new food and bevvy locales be? It will be a 30 minute walk to fortitude valley. Shit.

Even if they wanted to, they wouldn't announce extra spending at the same time I wouldn't have thought.

The driving range will probably get the shaft in the next few years. Opens up the possibility of a few new venues there. There's the King St precinct already. Gregory Terrace could stand for some revitalisation too.

 

[Perrip]

The driving range will probably get the shaft in the next few years. Opens up the possibility of a few new venues there. There's the King St precinct already. Gregory Terrace could stand for some revitalisation too.

All the golf facilities there are closing midyear apparently because GIICA wants the BCC land it sits on for the stadium.

 

[Thomasno]

Dumb. The exhibition station is probably a tad too far. Accessibility needs will probably not be met…

Needs a proper train, bus and ride share zone. Those two proposed over the highway walkways are a sure way to funnel 40k+ people and choke up entry and exit points What can go wrong?

Also where the hell will the new food and bevvy locales be? It will be a 30 minute walk to fortitude valley. Shit.

Lol mate it’s a 20 minute walk to the valley station from the deepest part of Gilchrist Avenue, and that’s if they do literally nothing to improve accessibility/pedestrian flow compared to as it is now.

Which, side note, personally I’d be eating the extra 10 minute walk to head to the valley post game instead of trying to fight at exhibition station

 

[Thomasno]

Lol mate it’s a 20 minute walk to the valley station from the deepest part of Gilchrist Avenue, and that’s if they do literally nothing to improve accessibility/pedestrian flow compared to as it is now.

Which, side note, personally I’d be eating the extra 10 minute walk to head to the valley post game instead of trying to fight at exhibition station

On this note, I wonder if they could funnel people towards the huge valley station by briefly shutting small sections of BBRoad/Brunswick street?

Sounds catastrophic on paper, but they already shut Vulture st, Main st and part of
Stanley st after games at the Gabba, all of which are three of the busiest roads on the south side.

 

[Perrip]

On this note, I wonder if they could funnel people towards the huge valley station by briefly shutting small sections of BBRoad/Brunswick street?

Sounds catastrophic on paper, but they already shut Vulture st, Main st and part of
Stanley st after games at the Gabba, all of which are three of the busiest roads on the south side.

I assume they'd want to avoid the option of shutting down roads during events at the stadium. Does that happen elsewhere in Aus like at the G, AO, and Optus?
It'll be really interesting to see how bold Arup is with their Master Plan. If they're not proposing to build a new train station in Vic Park, I would hope they propose making the route from the stadium to Exhibition station or other stations in the vicinity more accessible. Like the cluster of roads below.

That's one of the reasons i'm glad the BCC Victoria Park plan isn't proceeding because Arup at a state planning level has a better opportunity to fundamentally change Victoria Park for the better, moreso than BCC could.

 

[dlanod]

Accor and Moore Park (SCG/SFS) shuts down some streets but not major roads. MCG only shuts down the throughways in the surrounding park.

 

[Section 5]

All the golf facilities there are closing midyear apparently because GIICA wants the BCC land it sits on for the stadium.

Without seeing the full interview, he only mentioned the golf course. That lease expires in 2029.
They will obviously need the large parcel of land where the golfers hit the balls to when earthworks start middle of 2026.
But not necessarily all the structures high on the hill, not until around June 2026 anyhow.
If all structures in that section are planned to come down eventually, they would be best used initially for staff required on site. There are about 360 car spaces in that section to.

If the wedding function arears are to eventually go i think they will get reasonable notice.
Not great if you have booked a wedding but think they won't need that area till late 2026 or January 2027.

For PR reasons CIICA and the BCC now need to come clean with some definite or approximate dates on vacating for those businesses and make sure the media also know.

I feel for the large busy casual restaurant and wonder when their lease is up.
As long as everyone under lease get fair compensation all good. If your lease is up soon that's just bad luck. Maybe they will also get some compensation

 

[Section 5]

They won't be shutting down Bowen Bridge Road which is a super busy road.
It is the main road connecting the city to the northern suburbs.

The professionals will have money to spend so will come up with something good.

To Exhibition Station & King Street
For those that don't know much about the area where all those roads meet.
At present there is only 1 way to get under Bowen Bridge Road and that is via the bike and pedestrian path. Mostly used by bicycles. See Orange on below map

They may just build a pedestrian/bike way over the intersection like they have in Melbourne. One leading towards Exhibition Station the other towards Fortitude Valley Station.


Map Below.

Red dot: Cnr Bowen Bridge Road & Gregory Terrace Traffic Lights:
You could put police there for safety reasons but let the lights do their usual traffic changes.

Orange: From the stadium side this goes under Bowen bridge Road. It is not very wide and at one point (small, short tunnel) even narrower
Black/Orange under: New pedestrian path leading to Exhibition Station.
Pink: One of the existing tracks leading to traffic lights. May need widening

Green 1: Possible new track, using park & some rail land. More direct/alternate route going under Bowen Bridge Road
Green 2: Connects from lights to green 1 about 40 meters
Green dash: Leads to King Street eateries

 

[Thomasno]

They won't be shutting down Bowen Bridge Road which is a super busy road.
It is the main road connecting the city to the northern suburbs.

The professionals will have money to spend so will come up with something good.

To Exhibition Station & King Street
For those that don't know much about the area where all those roads meet.
At present there is only 1 way to get under Bowen Bridge Road and that is via the bike and pedestrian path. Mostly used by bicycles. See Orange on below map

They may just build a pedestrian/bike way over the intersection like they have in Melbourne. One leading towards Exhibition Station the other towards Fortitude Valley Station.


Map Below.

Red dot: Cnr Bowen Bridge Road & Gregory Terrace Traffic Lights:
You could put police there for safety reasons but let the lights do their usual traffic changes.

Orange: From the stadium side this goes under Bowen bridge Road. It is not very wide and at one point (small, short tunnel) even narrower
Black/Orange under: New pedestrian path leading to Exhibition Station.
Pink: One of the existing tracks leading to traffic lights. May need widening

Green 1: Possible new track, using park & some rail land. More direct/alternate route going under Bowen Bridge Road
Green 2: Connects from lights to green 1 about 40 meters
Green dash: Leads to King Street eateries
View attachment 2506251
View attachment 2506255

I guess my point was they DO shut down Main Street (briefly) immediately after Gabba games, and Main Street/IpswichRd is just as busy as BBRoad (it’s literally the same road anyway)

 

[weevil]

They will have to have something significant in mind because an 800-meter walk to a two-platform station would be a colossal, Godzilla-scale cluster****.

Having only two platforms is a major issue. 80k people in the middle of summer on a snakes and ladders trek to get to two platforms is crazytown. Would take you hours to get out.

Bridges, tunnels and travelators would all have to be on the table, wouldn’t they?