'We have spent 34 years with an embarrassing steel shed. It's payback time'
by Bradley Perrett · Newcastle HeraldWe need to do this once, and we need to do it properly.
The replacement entertainment centre planned for Broadmeadow must be big enough for the rest of the century. It also must have spectacular looks. And it must have excellent public transport connections.
After making us put up with a steel shed for an entertainment centre for the past 34 years, the state government will be brave if it tries to serve up an undercooked replacement.
Labor Minister for the Hunter Yasmin Catley says the new entertainment centre should be the first project to go ahead in the enormous redevelopment zone planned for land around Broadmeadow Station. That sounds right, but saying it doesn't amount to much. What we need to see is money in the budget and, above all, construction work. Believe it when you see them pouring foundations.
Construction needs to be on a grander scale than is planned. Seating capacity is supposed to be 10,000, compared with the 6000 of the current building, completed in 1992. But that capacity increase would only match the Lower Hunter population rise from 1992 to the early 2030s, the earliest time we can expect to see the building open, if it ever opens.
In 2022, Venues NSW, the state agency that runs the current building, completed a business case for a replacement that assumed seating for 11,000. So it looks like the state has already begun paring back its plan for Newcastle. Well, of course it has.
If the new entertainment centre opens and no one says it's far too large, then in fact it will be far too small.
Even 11,000 was surely not ambitious enough, because the building should be designed to serve until the year 2100, meaning a life of 65 years or so. That may seem long, but remember that the current facility was supposed to be temporary and will probably be at least 40 years old when (if?) its permanent replacement opens.
We'll never have a better location than the chosen site, north of McDonald Jones Stadium and on the corner of Turton and Griffiths roads. It's a kilometre from Broadmeadow station and surrounded by our densest suburbs. It will indeed be part of our densest locality, the great Broadmeadow redevelopment, which is supposed to house 40,000. The site has great road connections and is near inner-city attractions, helping to draw out-of-town visitors. Hotels will be nearby.
So this is our big chance, and we must make the most of it. No work anywhere on the Broadmeadow project has begun, so the plan can easily be adjusted for a bigger entertainment centre.
How big? Careful calculations would be needed to guess how many seats Newcastle could frequently fill late in the century, but, allowing for a further doubling of our population, 20,000 doesn't sound excessive. Almost 30,000 people watched Paul McCartney in the open air at McDonald Jones Stadium in 2023 - and, luckily, didn't get rained on. Two shows at the stadium by Elton John in 2022 averaged almost as many.
If the new entertainment centre opens and no one says it's far too large, then in fact it will be far too small.
Officials with sharp pencils will quickly say that, considering interest on state debt, it would be cheaper to build enough capacity for the next few decades then knock down and rebuild when more space is needed. As if Newcastle would ever get the second project. So forget that idea. We need a one-and-done.
Next, this building must have spectacular looks. Not just good looks. I do mean it should be an eye-catching spectacle. That wouldn't be cheap, but we have already spent 34 years with an embarrassing steel shed. It's payback time.
The building will be the first thing seen by people on the A15, one of the busiest roads in Greater Newcastle, as they approach Hunter Park, the Broadmeadow zone's sports and entertainment area west of the station.
The new facility will strongly influence our image, featuring in national media coverage of events, whereas the current building (mercifully) doesn't. It also will be seen in coverage of sports at McDonald Jones Stadium next door. (Again, the current entertainment centre is thankfully out of shot.)
To get an idea of the level of look-at-me spectacle we need, consider the government's illustration of a concept design. You're probably thinking, "Well, that would be great". But a much more eye-catching structure could, and should, be built.
Have more ambition, Newcastle.
The state government should think of the matter this way: in terms of spectacle, our entertainment centre should be much closer to Sydney Opera House than the Qudos Bank Arena.
Lastly, serious public transport lines will be needed. State planners drawing up the new Broadmeadow configuration couldn't put everything next to the station, and they decided to reserve land there for residential towers. OK, but there must be a tramline from the station to the entertainment centre and stadium.
The Broadmeadow plan has a ridiculous notion of extending the current tramline along Tudor and Belford streets, as if Novocastrians would put up with ruination of one of their major roads. They've seen what's happened to Hunter Street.
And the plan proposes bus routes along Lambton and Griffiths roads that could ultimately become tramlines. So capacity on the A15 would be hobbled by light rail. Can you imagine it?
For Pete's sake, leave the main roads alone and put a tramline through the middle of Hunter Park. Run it from Newcastle West along Lindsay Street then under the heavy rail line and on to the entertainment centre and stadium. Ultimately, it could be extended through back streets to Lambton, Jesmond and Wallsend. This line could split at Hunter Park to go to John Hunter Hospital, with a stop south of the stadium, still close to the entertainment centre.
That still wouldn't be enough. The entertainment centre and stadium should also have a connection to Waratah Station. A north-south tramline from Mayfield to Kotara would provide it.
So, let's have another go at that Broadmeadow plan.