Chief Minister Andrew Barr says the government will need to do more work to reduce the cost of a new stadium in Canberra after it received new advice warning of prices to complete the project soaring over $1 billion.
Mr Barr on Tuesday tabled a consultants' report from May 2024 that outlined the cost ranges of stadium projects in the ACT, including a new stadium at Bruce and a stadium on the Civic pool site.
The cost of a new 30,000-seat stadium in Civic would be between $2.128 billion and $2.9 billion, figures released by Yvette Berry on Monday showed.
The 20-page report prepared by WTP Australia showed the cost of building the new stadium at the Civic pool site was between $364 million and $557 million.
However, precinct works, a multi-storey car park, changes to Parkes Way and other contingencies to deliver the project contributed to the more than $2 billion estimates for a city stadium.
The construction cost for an upgrade of Canberra Stadium was between $216.5 million and $227.5 million with a total project cost of between $1.162 billion and $1.193 billion.
The construction cost of a knockdown rebuild stadium on the existing site was between $303 million and $510.5 million, with another $6 million to knockdown the old stadium. The total project would cost between $1.5 billion and $2 billion.
A new stadium on a new site would cost between $303 million and $510.5 million, with another $2.5 million to demolish whatever was on the existing site. The total project would cost between $1.33 billion and $1.87 billion.
The consultants factored in a 30 per cent cost escalation, precinct works, a multi-storey car park, design fees and other costs.
Mr Barr told the Legislative Assembly the government had been advised of a range of possible costs.
"The government is not pursuing a $2.9 billion outcome. We are pursuing a much lower cost option," Mr Barr said.
The Chief Minister said the report was commissioned by the economic development stream of the Chief Minister, Treasury and Economic Development Directorate.
"It is the advice of consultants and it provides a range of different costings against a range of different options, with a significant contingency and a number of significant elements that clearly the government would not pursue, which is why a range of costs were provided in the report," he said.
A government spokeswoman said the new figures did not affect the timeline for stadium planning.
"A tender recently closed for technical due diligence and site analysis on the government's preferred site. This work is expected to be completed in early 2025. They do confirm that the strict management of design and scope creep is essential and that lower cost pathway outlined above is the only way forward," the spokeswoman said.
Mr Barr said the government faced a question of whether to build a roof or not over a future stadium and had never advocated for a retractable roof.
"A roof, as in a drip line covering spectator seating versus a retractable roof covering the entire area - a retractactable roof costs significantly more. There is also, then, the question in options around demolition costs for whatever might be on the preferred site," he said.
"Construction of the stadium itself would cost around $600 million to $860 million but all of the additional costs and the 30 per cent contingency give the project cost ranges."
The WTP Australia report said the cost plans were based on quantities from design documentation, application of benchmarked rates from other stadium projects and a review of cost increases since the original costings were completed in November 2023.
"Due to the high level nature of current available information / potential design creep and scope clarification, contingency has been allowed for at 30 [per cent]," the report said.
The report said options for a knockdown rebuild stadium, a new stadium at Bruce or a city stadium could be completed by 2030 with an annual cost escalation of 4.5 per cent.
"Economic volatility may impact these calculations and we would recommend that they are reviewed at each stage of the design," the report said.
A government spokeswoman said the the increased estimates for stadium projects did not mean other infrastructure projects would have equivalent price rises.
"These projects are all very different and are at different stages of planning and design. The government has been clear that there has been cost escalation in the construction sector in recent years as evidenced through public discourse around other projects," the spokeswoman said.
"It is too early to confirm a cost range for the Convention and Entertainment Centre. At this stage we would estimate upwards of $750 million. The functional design work currently underway will help refine facility sizing, inform detailed design and costing."
