ARENA JOONDALUP REDEVELOPMENT PLANNING WELL UNDERWAY

PLANNING and progress on the Arena Joondalup redevelopment is well and truly underway with the Project Definition Plan to be signed off by May 13, the Project Scope and Project Delivery Method determined by June 30, building to commence by the end of 2014 and the entire project done before the end of 2016.

The entire $20 million project will eventually end up seeing new facilities being built for the West Perth Football Club overlooking the Arena Joondalup football field while a new basketball stadium will be built for the Joondalup Wolves and upgrades to the Joondalup Brothers Rugby Union facilities will also be undertaken.

All of that has been earmarked for completion before the next State election after the Colin Barnett Government committed to the entire $20 million project of which $8 million is for the West Perth Football Club, $11 million for the basketball stadium and $1 million for the Brothers rugby club.

The City or Joondalup has committed to provide $4 million of that $20 million for the project that will create one of the most state of the art, well-resourced sporting centres in Australia.

With current state league teams in football, rugby union, basketball and netball all calling Arena Joondalup home, it already boasts excellent facilities.  Further enhanced playing and spectator conditions plus additional function rooms and commercial lease space opportunities will set the benchmark for sporting precincts across the country. 

Work is well and truly underway on the whole project with West Perth, Joondalup Wolves , Venues West, Department of Sport and Recreation and the City of Joondalup all working closely together to ensure the best possible outcome is achieved for both the Falcons and the Wolves.

The project is of such scale and importance that every step is being given due care and West Perth Chief Executive David Crute is right at the forefront of it all.

"In January we had the first meeting of the “Project Committee” which is a working group comprising representatives from VenuesWest, the City of Joondalup, the Department of Sport and Recreation plus myself representing the West Perth Football Club, and Ryan Hunter from the Joondalup Basketball Association ," Crute said.

"Because of the amount of money provided by the State Government plus the $4 million from the City of Joondalup, there are set government procedures and protocols we must follow. There is no doubt that can be time consuming but our members and supporters can be very confident in that every I will be dotted and T crossed to ensure we get the right outcome for generations to come.

"Every possible facet has and will be looked at closely. If anyone has any doubts about the process, they shouldn’t.  It is an amazingly detailed process."

“The timeline for the project is clearly outlined and the completion date will be the end of the 2016 calendar year at the absolute latest. It could indeed be finished before the end of the 2016 WAFL season.”

"The Project Definition Plan has now been completed and the Project Managers and Architects have been appointed all ahead of time," he said.

From here on in we will be meeting regularly with the Architects who will produce the design plans by June 30. At that stage we will have a really good understanding of what the finished product will look like.

"We are years in front of other projects of this nature because of the work previously undertaken by both the West Perth Football Club and Joondalup Basketball Association.  Years of hard work has been spent putting together detailed concept drawings and that will save us a considerable amount of time as the current Architects are not starting from scratch.”

"Planning approvals will be lodged after June 30 and that process is likely to take six months because at this stage all we know is there will be a basketball stadium and a football club. We don’t know what sort of joint services like utilities, power and sewerage will be required. That's why these two projects are being done together. Some people might ask why that's the case when we were given $8 million i.e. Why can't we just get on and build our own facility? Unfortunately that’s not how the process works.” 

"Once we obtain planning approval by the end of the year we can expect building to start early 2015. We’ve been told it will be around a 60-week build. Hopefully they might start at the end of this year, but realistically it will probably start early in 2015. Building will continue throughout all of next year with the view of us being able to move in to the new building midway through 2016 or possibly the end of 2016."

One issue that Crute does believe needs to be addressed and that hasn’t been included in the $20 million project is parking. 

"Let's say that on any given Saturday we have a home game, Joondalup Wolves are playing basketball, rugby are hosting games and there is also netball , then there is going to have to be some compromise made along the way in terms of parking.”

 “Crute, however, believes all the sporting codes can work together closely to help come up with some alternatives. One thing he is 100% certain about is that West Perth Members won’t be paying for parking!  

One possible solution could be an upgrade to the lights on the oval at Arena Joondalup to allow for night football to be played which would be a sight to behold in front of the new facility.

BY CHRIS PIKE