Light Rail 2A track slab 100% complete, lyric theatre tops out 2027

The track slab milestone follows 18 months of works in London Circuit East. The Government says the Light Rail construction compound in the Theatre Lane car park is now being dismantled so the area can return as public parking.

For the lyric theatre, the release says Multiplex will install structural steel and begin façade works at the start of 2027. The Government says the venue will have a larger capacity than the existing theatres at the Canberra Theatre Centre, which it says will allow Canberra to host major musicals, ballet, opera and touring acts that currently cannot come to the city.

The numbers

• Light Rail Stage 2A: 100 per cent of the track slab complete after 18 months of works in London Circuit East.
• Theatre Lane car park: 57 bays, including 8 accessible spaces, reopen from 31 October 2026, zoned for 2-hour use and free after 5.30pm from Wednesday to Sunday evenings.
• Light Rail stops: works on the three new stops are complete, with columns and canopies in place and platform fit-out under way.
• UNSW Canberra City: roughly 70,000 tonnes of material excavated and removed, and 744 piles installed to support the two new buildings at the corner of Constitution Avenue and Coranderrk Street.

The release also says London Circuit East is planned to partially reopen to traffic shortly after the car park reopens. Drivers and cyclists would be able to travel past Theatre Lane and turn left onto Northbourne Avenue, for the first time since the road closed in early 2025.

What’s next

On Light Rail, the release says scaffolding at the City South and Commonwealth Park stops will begin coming down in the coming weeks, and an artwork by local artist Hannah Quinlivan is due for the Edinburgh Avenue stop later this year. The project is described as on track to complete construction in the first half of 2027, with testing and commissioning leading to passenger services in 2028.

On the lyric theatre, the structure is on track to top out in early 2027. Construction then moves to fit-out through 2027, covering seating, stage infrastructure and specialist technical systems, with completion scheduled for mid-2028. For the venue’s wider visitor-economy projections, see the convention centre and lyric theatre pipeline story.

At UNSW Canberra City, a crane is due on site in November and the first basement concrete pour is planned before the end of 2026. The new facilities are on track for completion in 2028. UNSW is operating from the former Canberra Institute of Technology site in Reid in the meantime.

All dates and progress claims above are the ACT Government’s own, drawn from its release.