Moore Park stadium to be knocked down and rebuilt at a cost of about $730m of government’s $1.5bn stadiums plan

This article is more than 1 year old

This article is more than 1 year old

As workers begin to dismantle Sydney’s Allianz stadium, the New South Wales government has unveiled the design of its replacement, which architects admit will have to be replaced in as little as 30 years.

The Moore Park stadium is to be knocked down and rebuilt at a cost of about $730m as part of the government’s $1.5bn plan to also upgrade ANZ stadium at Olympic Park.

But Sydney firm Cox Architecture said the new stadium would last only 30 to 40 years before it too needed to be replaced.

NSW government accused of inflating figures to back stadium plan Read more

“We’re future-proofing it, there’s no doubt about that, the issue of the life of the buildings comes to what’s going on in 30 years time, we don’t know as best as anyone,” Alastair Richardson from Cox Architects said on Friday.

The NSW sports minister, Stuart Ayres, said he hoped the stadium, due to open in 2020, could have a refit before being torn down.

“We’ve got a design life that’ll be between 30 and 40 years,” Ayres said. “We know that stadium infrastructure needs to be renewed. One of the things that we want to be able to design into stadiums is the capacity to have mid-life refits.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Cox Architects said the design of the new Allianz stadium anticipated the changing shape of Australians over the next three decades. Photograph: Nsw Government/PR IMAGE

“But I think we should expect that around between 30 and 40 years will be the pressure point around having to replace future stadium infrastructure and I think you’ll see that in most of the capital cities and major cities across the world.”

Richardson said the design anticipated the changing shape of Australians over the next three decades.

Bold plan to build new Sydney stadium suspended above Central station Read more

“Seat centres are wider, rows depths are longer to accommodate the fact that we’re all getting a bit bigger,” he said.

Cox was one of only three firms invited to tender for the project.

Ayres defended the tender process when unveiling the winning design.

“As part of our development application process we agreed that we would conduct a design competition – it was done away from government,” he said.

The design had compelling features that set it apart, according to jury member David Richards, the head of Projects NSW.

“The creativity around the roof structure ... wrapping the skin of the roof around to contain the light and noise spill beyond the stadium was a noticeable feature, as was the terraces on the upper levels to allow for some landscaping,” Richards said.

The roof reaching all the way to the front line of seating – ensuring dry seats for all spectators – was also a valuable feature, he said.

No company has yet been commissioned to build the stadium.