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Further delay to rebuild of Sydney Football Stadium
Construction of the Sydney Football Stadium redevelopment has blown out by several months and will not begin until the middle of March at the earliest, with further delays likely to jeopardise the project’s deadline of hosting the 2022 NRL grand final.
While the NSW government on Sunday moved to quell any concern that the project would be delivered late, documents published by Infrastructure NSW reveal the work is running months behind and building isn’t set to begin until next month.
Building was supposed to have started last October and be finished by June 2021, with the stadium to open nine months later in March 2022, according to an indicative timeline released by the government.
But the updated tender documents list a revised construction timeline, with works expected to finish about July 30, 2022, about two months out from grand final, assuming no more delays.
Despite the evident stasis in the project’s construction, the government said on Sunday that the rebuilt stadium was on track for completion. It said Bankwest Stadium in Parramatta hosted its first match only a month after building ended last March.
“The new Sydney Football Stadium will be finished in time to host the 2022 NRL grand final,” said a spokesman for Infrastructure NSW, the agency leading the project.
“Works on the SFS have continued throughout 2019 and 2020 and there has been no ‘six-month’ delay.”
Notes from a community consultative committee meeting earlier this month at the stadium reveal the above-ground demolition of the site has been completed, but pile demolitions from the former site were not likely to be finished until the end of February.
“John Holland expects to start on site in mid-March if the site is handed over in February,” said Paul Cassel, project director for John Holland, the multinational construction company now in charge of the operation.
The two-stage project was originally contracted to Lendlease for $729m until the company revealed its costs would go well past what the government had set aside at the 2019 election. The project was subsequently put back out to tender and John Holland won the contract for $828m, a process that ultimately delayed the construction.
“Lendlease’s bid for Stage 2 was well above that from John Holland,” said Tom Gellibrand, head of NSW projects for Infrastructure NSW, at the meeting. “The original design was done a long time ago and roughly costed. A number was arrived at and $729m allocated. Since then things have moved, the design changed, planning approval received, a contract signed.”
A John Holland spokeswoman said the company was “committed to delivering the Sydney Football Stadium on time”.
Labor sport spokeswoman Lynda Voltz said she was not confident the stadium would be built in time for the grand final, given the delays already besetting the project.
“It’s hard to argue that this project can be fast-tracked, given the pressures on other infrastructure projects around Sydney,” Ms Voltz said. “The project is already so late.”
Greens MP David Shoebridge said to meet the deadline the government would have to deliver the project without any further delays, something it had found challenging to achieve in the recent past.
“Every project this government touches is over time and over budget,” he said. “There’s a reason we opposed this project in the lead-up to the election. It’s because it was already going to run over budget and almost certainly going to see taxpayers paying over the margin to replace a perfectly functioning stadium.”
https://www.theaustralian.com.au/na...m/news-story/d5c5468597c7b77f0dfe56e64ef62f40
Construction of the Sydney Football Stadium redevelopment has blown out by several months and will not begin until the middle of March at the earliest, with further delays likely to jeopardise the project’s deadline of hosting the 2022 NRL grand final.
While the NSW government on Sunday moved to quell any concern that the project would be delivered late, documents published by Infrastructure NSW reveal the work is running months behind and building isn’t set to begin until next month.
Building was supposed to have started last October and be finished by June 2021, with the stadium to open nine months later in March 2022, according to an indicative timeline released by the government.
But the updated tender documents list a revised construction timeline, with works expected to finish about July 30, 2022, about two months out from grand final, assuming no more delays.
Despite the evident stasis in the project’s construction, the government said on Sunday that the rebuilt stadium was on track for completion. It said Bankwest Stadium in Parramatta hosted its first match only a month after building ended last March.
“The new Sydney Football Stadium will be finished in time to host the 2022 NRL grand final,” said a spokesman for Infrastructure NSW, the agency leading the project.
“Works on the SFS have continued throughout 2019 and 2020 and there has been no ‘six-month’ delay.”
Notes from a community consultative committee meeting earlier this month at the stadium reveal the above-ground demolition of the site has been completed, but pile demolitions from the former site were not likely to be finished until the end of February.
“John Holland expects to start on site in mid-March if the site is handed over in February,” said Paul Cassel, project director for John Holland, the multinational construction company now in charge of the operation.
The two-stage project was originally contracted to Lendlease for $729m until the company revealed its costs would go well past what the government had set aside at the 2019 election. The project was subsequently put back out to tender and John Holland won the contract for $828m, a process that ultimately delayed the construction.
“Lendlease’s bid for Stage 2 was well above that from John Holland,” said Tom Gellibrand, head of NSW projects for Infrastructure NSW, at the meeting. “The original design was done a long time ago and roughly costed. A number was arrived at and $729m allocated. Since then things have moved, the design changed, planning approval received, a contract signed.”
A John Holland spokeswoman said the company was “committed to delivering the Sydney Football Stadium on time”.
Labor sport spokeswoman Lynda Voltz said she was not confident the stadium would be built in time for the grand final, given the delays already besetting the project.
“It’s hard to argue that this project can be fast-tracked, given the pressures on other infrastructure projects around Sydney,” Ms Voltz said. “The project is already so late.”
Greens MP David Shoebridge said to meet the deadline the government would have to deliver the project without any further delays, something it had found challenging to achieve in the recent past.
“Every project this government touches is over time and over budget,” he said. “There’s a reason we opposed this project in the lead-up to the election. It’s because it was already going to run over budget and almost certainly going to see taxpayers paying over the margin to replace a perfectly functioning stadium.”
https://www.theaustralian.com.au/na...m/news-story/d5c5468597c7b77f0dfe56e64ef62f40
