Sydney Football Stadium (2022)

In October 2018 plans for the new stadium to replace the original Sydney Football Stadium were released by the Government of New South Wales.[2] In December 2018 Lendlease were appointed to build the stadium. Construction was initially scheduled to commence in 2019 with an early 2022 completion date.[3] In July 2019 the construction part of the Lendlease contract was cancelled by the government with John Holland and Multiplex shortlisted to bid for the contract.[4][5][6] In December 2019 John Holland was awarded a $735 million construction contract, representing a $99 million increase in the original budget for demolition and construction. The stadium is expected to be complete by October 2022.[7]

Demolition of the previous stadium began in March 2019. Opposition from local interest groups saw them attempt to prevent or slow the demolition via legal action before the 2019 New South Wales state election. After a short court-ordered delay just prior to the election, the existing Government was returned and the destruction of the old stadium continued through to completion in late 2019 at a cost of $40 million.

Construction of the stadium commenced in April 2020, with major drilling beginning the following month.[8][9]

The demolition and rebuild of the stadium was a subject of controversy during the 2019 New South Wales state election.

In December 2018, Lendlease was unveiled as the successful bidder to carry out the demolition and construction work. At the time, then Sports Minister Stuart Ayres was quizzed over how the contract for construction could be awarded, because development consent had not been secured for stage two.

On 26 July 2019, Sports Minister, John Sidoti announced Lendlease would not be constructing the new stadium because it was unable to complete the $729 million project within budget. At this stage demolition was mostly complete and it appeared the original contract was a fixed price option for the construction phase.[4]