Stadium sites study

The outcome of three stadiums proposed for Perth is closer to being known, with the appointment of consultants and architects for the planned arenas and a local council proposal for an upgrade of Members Equity Stadium in East Perth.

The Department of Sport and Recreation’s major stadia taskforce has appointed international sports architecture consultant HOK Sport to study the potential sites for development and report its findings.

While not committing to a site for development, taskforce chairman John Langoulant said the board had committed to recommend to the government either a new stadium or a redevelopment in one form or another.

At present, the frontrunners for a new or redeveloped sports stadium are considered to be Subiaco Oval, the WACA Ground, Claremont Showgrounds, the area surrounding Belmont Racetrack, and Cockburn Central.

The taskforce and HOK will select three of these sites for detailed analysis.

Though it had only met “four to five times” to this point, the “activity level” of the taskforce would increase through December, Mr Langoulant said, and was expected to have “developed major options for moving forward by about the end of March next year”.

HOK principal Alastair Richardson said a key consideration in the study would be access to public transport, as the international trend in stadium construction was away from a “build it and they will come” mentality and more towards “city-stadium integration”.

Meanwhile, another stadium is a step closer to being built, with a consortium of architects including Melbourne-based Ashton Raggatt McDougall, US-based RTKL and local firm Cameron Chisholm and Nicol awarded the contract to design Perth’s new multi-purpose indoor entertainment and sports stadium.

Estimated to cost $160 million, the preferred site for the new 14,000-seat stadium is still the Northbridge Link location, according to Housing and Works Minister Francis Logan.

The government announced in September that it would fully fund the stadium at the Northbridge site after rejecting three public-private partnership proposals from Multiplex.

Meanwhile, the Town of Vincent has produced three proposals for the upgrade of Members Equity Stadium, the most ambitious of which would result in a 32,000 capacity ground at a cost of $79 million. This would meet the requirements of Rugby WA, Vincent Mayor Nick Catania said.