Heat on Barnett over stadium flip-flop

Premier Colin Barnett has come under fire from the Australian Institute of Architects and the state opposition for scrapping a design competition for the $700 million, 60,000-seat sports stadium at Burswood.

Mr Barnett was quoted in media reports this morning admitting he had backtracked on the idea for an international design competition to determine the design of the stadium, on advice from the head of the British Museum.

Mr Barnett’s rationale was that a design competition would inevitably lead to cost blow-outs.

But the Australian Institute of Architects' Western Australian president, David Karotkin, said that was a “gross generalisation” which was “not supported by evidence”.

“The Premier says he has had a few discussions, including with the head of the British Museum,” Mr Karotkin said.

“Has the head of the British Museum undertaken a study that compares the occurrence of cost blowouts on projects which involve design competitions with similar projects not involving design competitions?”

Mr Karotkin said the government had a responsibility to champion excellence in design for civic projects, rather than propagating misconceptions that quality design resulted in cost overruns.

“The reality is that most cost blowouts result from poor project planning where the government’s initial budget does not match their project expectations,” he said.

The only additional cost associated with running a competition, Mr Karotkin said, were its direct organisational costs, and the payment of short-listed proponents to develop their design proposals.

“Regardless of the method of selecting an architect and a design, there remains a fundamental requirement to properly define the project objectives and to allocate appropriate funds to achieve those objectives,” he said.

Opposition spokesperson for Sport and Recreation, Roger Cook, was also on the front foot, claiming the scrapping of the competition was a sign the proposal was “starting to unravel”.

“We knew the stadium proposal was underdone when Premier Colin Barnett made the announcement in June,” he said.

“We are now starting to see exactly how undercooked the proposal actually was.

“The Premier will do and say anything to distract Western Australians from his decision to select the most expensive option for the State’s new major stadium.”

Mr Cook said the Burswood site would cost at least $300 million more than constructing a stadium at either Kitchener Park in Subiaco or East Perth, which were identified as the preferred options in 2007 by the John Langoulant-led Major Stadia Taskforce.

"As the project unravels and the Barnett government cuts costs to save face and money, Western Australians will be left with a cheap alternative that nobody is happy with," he said.

"Western Australians deserve a state-of-the-art facility, not a cheap imitation."