AUSTRALIA FOCUS
“Allianz was completed 30 years ago, in
an era before the professionalization and
commercialization of sport. Today, the social
aspect of gameday and consumer expectations
create very different demands”
Alastair Richardson, director of sport, Cox Architecture
ustralia has long been known for its
affinity with sport, and with a new
sporting strategy launched by the Federal
Government last year, called Sport 2030,
there is a national plan to invest in
infrastructure and facilities to catapult the country
to the forefront of sporting excellence.
The state of New South Wales (NSW) is looking
to lead the charge with Sydney Football Stadium
(commercially known as Allianz Stadium) being
demolished and rebuilt, while its Olympic venue –
ANZ Stadium – will be reconfigured and refurbished
in an AU$2.5bn (US$1.6bn) infrastructure overhaul.
Three of Australia’s four football codes – National
Rugby League (NRL), Rugby Australia and Football
Federation Australia (FFA) are played on rectangular
fields and have headquarters in Sydney.
As a result, the city needs new, world class
rectangular stadia – consistent with World Rugby
guidelines – with better seating configuration to offer
fans better views and bring them closer to the action to
draw premier events back to the state’s capital.
“Olympic Park was built for the Olympics but 80%
of the content of Sydney’s sporting events is in
rectangular stadia. We need to provide high-class
facilities for the future in order to compete on the
global stage,” explains John Quayle, chairman of
Venues in Western Sydney.
The reconfiguration of ANZ Stadium will bring
46,000 seats closer to the field while an extension to
the roofline will ensure that they are all undercover.
The upgrade is intended to extend the life of the former
Olympic Games venue by a further 40 years.
However, the move to demolish Allianz Stadium,
once home to the city’s A-League soccer team, Sydney
FC, as well as a number of the city’s other sports codes,
has stoked the ire of public opposition as many argue
that it is too young to replace.
“Allianz Stadium was completed 30 years ago, in an
era before the professionalization and
commercialization of sport. Today, the social aspect of
gameday and consumer expectations create very
different demands,” says Alastair Richardson, director
of sport at Cox Architecture.
34 www.stadia-magazine.com September 2019
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