Urban Park And Stadium Act As City-Shaping Project

Optus Stadium and Chevron Park has revitalised a formerly isolated area of Perth.

- Hassell

Stadium Park on the Burswood Peninsula in Perth, Western Australia is home to the city’s new Optus Stadium. The 41-hectare precinct, designed by HASSELL, provides an engaging waterside environment for the world-class sports and entertainment venue, as well as an impressive array of casual recreational facilities for Perth’s community and visitors to enjoy year-round.

A major attraction within the precinct is Chevron Parkland, a 2.6-hectare nature-play space that’s designed to engage children and families with the natural environment and connect them with the indigenous cultural heritage of this land known to the Aboriginal community as ‘Whadjuk Noongar’ country.

Significantly, the Stadium Park development has rehabilitated this prominent site on the eastern foreshore of the Swan River – once a waste ground of the city – to provide a collection of scenic promenades, cycle paths, and flexible event, play and picnic spaces; filled with landmark public artworks.

“The transformation of the stadium precinct foreshore into a multigenerational, nature-play space was an exciting placemaking opportunity for HASSELL. Our design synthesises the ecological revitalisation of the landscape with a celebration of its significance to the Whadjuk community through habitat creation, play, art and storytelling,” said Anthony Brookfield, Principal.

Rehabilitating stadium Park – creating safe and healthy foundations for fun

The Stadium Park site had endured significant environmental degradation over many years, due to its past uses as a sewerage treatment facility, cement works and rubbish tip. The Chevron Parkland site presented its own challenges, with its location between the river and the lake making it prone to geological instability and flooding.