Macquarie Point stadium architects chosen, with COX Architecture saying it won't mimic early concept design

The early mock-up design that the new architects say they don’t want to follow. (Supplied: AFL)

The newly appointed architects for Hobart’s waterfront stadium say the earlier artist impression is an example of what the company doesn’t want to do.

Australian firm COX Architecture has been named as the lead design consultant for the Macquarie Point AFL stadium.

The firm has designed sports venues such as the Perth Stadium, the Sydney Football Stadium, Dunedin Stadium and the redesign of the Adelaide Oval.

Director Alastair Richardson said while it was incredibly early days, they had some ideas, but were “wary” of earlier artistic renders.

“They give some clues of what we don’t want to do,” Mr Richardson said.

“This building needs to be scaled, transparent, open, something that actually has an engagement with the city and not a concrete wall, sort of blocking off its access.”

Mr Richardson said he was confident the final design would be “respectful to the grain of Hobart as a whole”.

“One of the key things we want to do is to really make sure that this engages with the streetscape, that this engages with people walking around, and obviously is respectful to the Cenotaph in terms of how it sits just below the escarpment,” he said.

That includes considering the height issue and how the building might be able to “come down at a lower scale around the perimeter”.

“Can we sink it slightly? What does that look like? How do we maintain the envelope such that the height is there in relation to cricket and football for example? But is as low as possible in terms of the perimeter.”

$715 million ‘perfectly appropriate’ for budget

As for the billion-dollar question, the architects are confident they can design to budget.

“We are confident the $715 million budget is perfectly appropriate for the project,” Mr Richardson said.

“So the aim will be that we’ll be within their budget.”

The Macquarie Point Development Corporation, which manages the development of the precinct, also took the opportunity to answer some questions, including if the stadium would even fit.

“We have done the work and we know that it will fit,” chief executive Anne Beach said.

“We did extensive work last year looking at benchmarking field sizes, different stadia and considering whether or not it will fit on this site.

“We know it can fit with room and we know that the other projects we want to deliver on this site can also fit to deliver not only a multi-purpose stadium, but a mixed-use precinct, which is really important to get the activation we want on this site.”

Ms Beach said one of the other common concerns raised by others about the project was the suitability of the foundation land.

But she insisted testing had proved the site was suitable.

“We’ve just built a 3D model of all of the geotech and we currently have on site a sonic drill, which is helping us understand the properties of the bedrock of this site,” she said.

“We’re very confident we can build it here. We have the data and we don’t have any concerns about that.”

The Macquarie Point Development Corporation said in February that it expected a design for the stadium would be ready to show in June.

Sewerage plant move blows out

But the site is far from complication free.

Before any works can begin, the existing wastewater treatment plant will need to be relocated.

In 2016, well before the idea of a stadium was born, it was estimated it would cost TasWater $140 million to move its waterfront wastewater treatment plant to an expanded Selfs Point site further up the River Derwent.

That move never happened. The project has since blown out to $314 million.

TasWater cites market conditions, rising building costs and an expanded scope of the project as reasons for the blowout.

While it may not impact the stadium’s budget, as it was set to move regardless of the stadium, it will still cost Tasmanian taxpayers.

And that move is now on a tight timeline, with the Tasmanian government’s deal with the AFL setting the stadium’s completion for 2028-29.

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