The Queensland Government has released the draft Legacy Plan for the Victoria Park Precinct, the master planning document that sets out how the inner city site will work after the Brisbane 2032 Olympic and Paralympic Games.
Prepared by the global firm Arup, it covers Victoria Park along with the new 63,000 seat Brisbane Stadium, the National Aquatic Centre and the Brisbane Showgrounds, and is open for public consultation from 3 August to 27 September 2026.
At the centre of the plan is a commitment that Victoria Park will remain a free public space, open year round, with about two thirds of the park kept as green and public space. The government frames the precinct as the long term legacy of the Games, drawing a comparison with the way South Bank became the enduring public gift of Expo 88.
Just as South Bank defined a city as the gift for Expo 88, Victoria Park will be the legacy of 2032, a place that belongs to Queenslanders once the Games have gone.
Premier David Crisafulli
The draft plan sets out a series of moves for the site. It proposes a public amphitheatre, a community sports hub with an athletics track, an expanded York’s Hollow wetland system, an urban forest and a park loop along the ridgelines, together with forest trails, walkways and new community gateways at the edges.
Two pedestrian bridges would span the Inner City Bypass and the rail corridor to stitch the park back to Spring Hill, Herston, Bowen Hills and beyond, alongside improved walking, cycling and public transport connections throughout.
The plan’s Legacy Master Plan drawing is the clearest guide to how the pieces fit together. It sets the Brisbane Stadium and the National Aquatic Centre within the park toward the southern, city facing end, with the Brisbane Showgrounds to the north.
Between and around them, the expanded York’s Hollow wetlands and an urban forest thread through the site, a loop along the western ridgelines frames views back to the city, and a network of paths, bridges and community gateways connects the park to the surrounding suburbs and to nearby stations. The plan is drawn in two horizons, labelled before and beyond 2032, showing the Games time layout and the longer term park it is meant to leave behind.
On the venues, the Brisbane Stadium is planned as a 63,000 seat arena that would host the opening and closing ceremonies and athletics, the National Aquatic Centre would stage the swimming, and the Brisbane Showgrounds would provide the Brisbane Athletes Village during the Games before being transformed into housing.
The government says the Legacy Plan has been prepared to sit alongside Brisbane City Council’s Victoria Park / Barrambin Master Plan and the Royal National Association’s own plans for the showgrounds.
High quality open space plays a vital role in creating healthy, inclusive and vibrant cities.
Penny Hall, Project Director, Arup
Public consultation on the draft plan runs from 3 August to 27 September 2026 and is seeking feedback on public spaces, recreation and activation, parklands and connectivity. As a draft, the plan is a statement of intent rather than a funded commitment, and the government says the feedback will shape the final version.
During the Games, competitors would be housed on the northern edge of the precinct at the Brisbane Showgrounds, where the Royal National Association’s Main Arena and its surrounds are earmarked to become the Brisbane Athletes Village. The draft plan treats the village as a temporary Games use with a permanent afterlife: once the athletes leave, the accommodation is intended to be transformed into housing, adding a new residential community beside the park and giving the showgrounds a year round role alongside its events calendar.
It is one of the more tangible legacy moves in the plan, turning a few weeks of Games use into lasting inner city homes, although the detail of how many dwellings, what tenure and what mix would come in later stages rather than in this draft.
Project Rundown
| Element | Detail |
|---|---|
| Project Name | Victoria Park Precinct Legacy Plan (draft) |
| Location | Victoria Park (Barrambin), Herston and Spring Hill, inner Brisbane |
| Proponent | Queensland Government (State Development, Infrastructure and Planning) |
| Master Planner | Arup |
| Precinct | Victoria Park with the Brisbane Stadium, National Aquatic Centre and Brisbane Showgrounds |
| Green Space | About two thirds of Victoria Park kept as free public green space, open year round |
| Key Venues | Brisbane Stadium (63,000 seats), National Aquatic Centre, Brisbane Showgrounds |
| Key Features | Public amphitheatre, community sports hub and athletics track, expanded York’s Hollow wetlands, urban forest, ridgelines park loop, forest trails, community gateways, and two pedestrian bridges over the Inner City Bypass and rail |
| Games Role | Ceremonies and athletics at the stadium, swimming at the aquatic centre, and the Brisbane Athletes Village at the Showgrounds (later transformed into housing) |
| Consultation | 3 August to 27 September 2026 |
| Status | Draft Legacy Plan, open for public consultation |
| Sustainability | Green Space and Urban Forest: About two thirds of Victoria Park kept green and public, with an urban forest, expanded canopy cover and extensive tree planting across the precinct. Wetlands and Water: An expanded York’s Hollow wetland system that revives the traditional waterway and supports habitat, stormwater management and water sensitive design. Biodiversity and Ecology: Wetland and forest systems intended to restore ecological processes and provide habitat and environmental education. Active Transport: A network prioritising walking and cycling, with two pedestrian bridges over the Inner City Bypass and rail corridor and improved links to public transport. Buildings and Energy: This feature is not detailed in the draft legacy plan. |
Renders and the master plan are drawn from the Victoria Park Precinct Draft Legacy Plan, prepared by Arup for the Queensland Government. Quotes are from the Government’s media statement of 2 August 2026. Images are artist’s impressions and subject to consultation and design development.
Overall I like what has been proposed, however the design of the stadium is fairly bland and lacks a wow factor and would love to have seen a new Victoria Park/ York’s Hollow train station between the stadium and aquatic centre near the Sports Hub/ warm-up track.
It’s nice, but a 700m to 1,000m walk to the Exhibition train station is a bit too long. Especially considering the 200m walk that the Gabba was going to produce. I have to agree with Andrew: there needs to be a train station between Aquatic Ctr and York’s Hollow for this to work. Otherwise the train and both Metro stations won’t do a good enough job, especially for servicing the Aquatic Centre.
Whatever the outcome, the athlete’s village is pretty much going to be an end to the Ekka at it’s current site. It’s already too crammed, and it’s looking like alot of space will be consumed to make those new highrises. If they try to ‘double up’ animal enclosures to compensate, the activists will have a field day.
Overall, I really like the direction of this plan and the focus on creating a genuine long term legacy for Brisbane. My preference would have been to locate the stadium closer to the ICB, around the proposed Community Sports Hub area. I agree that transport connectivity will be critical to the precinct’s success, and a stadium location nearer to the ICB would better leverage existing transport corridors while preserving a larger portion of Victoria Park as open green space. The stadium design itself feels a little underwhelming at this stage, but the broader vision for the precinct is impressive and has the potential to create a fantastic outcome for Brisbane
The stadium is already outdated. 63000 seats!? Really. At minimum it should be 70000, minimum. A very long walk to the train station in our heat and what a bland design. Put that aside great open and public spaces.
I believe it’ll be 70,000 seating capacity in total. With some seating capacity removed for various sporting events.
e.g. at the Gabba, some of the seats make way for the scoreboard.
It’ll probably lose 7,000 seats to make room for the olympic cauldron.
Overall it looks good, my concern is the plans don’t show a service road for event preparation, catering services show equipment etc. A plan of the public transport syst for the Olympic games period and for event there ever after. These plans are very broad stroke the is very hilly so I would have assumed to achieve such a flat area there would be opportunity to sink the stadium into the ground a bit to reduce the visual impact, making the stadium sit into the landscape rather than on it.
Can you make sure there is easy access and parking
As if there’s no station planned at the aquatic centre?! Need to add one there, it’ll also halve the walking distance to the stadium. You could do such a nice job integrating that station into the aquatic centre and pedestrian bridge