BESIX Watpac named preferred builder for Hobart's $1.13b stadium

BESIX Watpac was named preferred builder for Hobart’s $1.13b Macquarie Point stadium on 16 October, beating the Constructure joint venture of Webuild, China Construction Oceania and McConnell Dowell after a two stage tender. The Macquarie Point Development Corporation, the statutory body running the project, is now working toward a fixed price construction contract it wants signed before Christmas.

Why it matters

Naming a builder removes the biggest piece of construction risk that has sat over the stadium since the state locked in its funding deal with the AFL. The 23,000 seat roofed venue is a condition of the Tasmania Devils joining the AFL and AFLW competitions in 2028, so a builder able to hold the December 2030 completion date matters as much as price.

For Tasmanian subcontractors, the appointment names the head contractor they will price labour and materials to. The sequence is now clear: site works begun in July continue, the head contract is negotiated with BESIX Watpac through November and December, and trade packages follow once a fixed price is signed. Firms that lined up with the Constructure joint venture will need to re-engage with BESIX Watpac’s procurement team instead, ideally before the fixed-price contract locks the budget. The decision lands in the same week the Planning Commission approved Chambroad Australia’s $65m Bellerive hotel on 20 October, though that project still faces a Supreme Court dispute over the site.

The numbers

The Tasmanian government’s contribution to the stadium is capped at $875m under its funding agreement, with the federal government committing $240m and the AFL a further $15m on top. Any cost beyond that combined envelope would need scope cuts or extra money from another party, because the $1.13b budget figure has not been revised publicly since late 2025 and the final contract price between the development corporation and BESIX Watpac is still being negotiated. Site works, including bulk earthworks and preparation at Macquarie Point, began in July, well ahead of the builder decision being made public.

What’s next

The development corporation is targeting a signed fixed price contract before Christmas, the step that converts BESIX Watpac’s preferred status into an enforceable build commitment rather than a tender outcome. Until that contract is signed, the $1.13b figure and the December 2030 completion date remain the corporation’s own targets, not locked contractual terms, and the final construction price is still under negotiation between the two parties. Any slip in signing past the new year would tighten the build schedule against the AFL’s 2028 deadline for the Tasmania Devils, leaving less room to absorb delays on a project already running on a compressed timeline from the bulk earthworks under way since July to a fixed completion date.

For BESIX Watpac, the contract would become the company’s highest profile Tasmanian job, and for the development corporation it removes one of the last open variables in a project that still has to convert state, federal and AFL funding commitments into a fixed-price build before Christmas without triggering the scope cuts a budget overrun would force. Preferred-builder status is not itself a contract, so BESIX Watpac carries no construction obligation and the corporation no payment obligation until that fixed-price document is signed and dated.