Demolition crews have moved onto Machinery Hill at Brisbane’s RNA Showgrounds, kicking off a $287.5 million rebuild of the Bowen Hills precinct that is due to finish in 2028 and sits alongside the site of the Brisbane 2032 athlete village. Hutchinson Builders is delivering the works in partnership with the Royal National Agricultural and Industrial Association of Queensland (RNA), with the first machines in straight after the 150th Ekka.
The project was reported by Inside Construction, which says the money comes out of the Queensland Government’s $3.5 billion investment in athlete villages for the 2032 Games and beyond. That makes the showgrounds job one slice of a much bigger Olympic accommodation spend, and the village next door is set to be the largest of the Games before it converts to housing for Queenslanders afterwards.
What’s actually getting built
The centrepiece is an upgrade of the 20,000-seat Main Arena. That package includes a new Machinery Hill grandstand, a multi-storey horse pavilion and accessibility improvements across the precinct.
Machinery Hill has to come down before any of that starts, which is why the demolition contractors are the first trade through the gate. Strip-out, salvage, structure down, then the slab and services grid underneath it all get sorted before a single column goes back up.
A multi-storey horse pavilion is not a normal commercial build. Stacking livestock above ground level means ramps and circulation sized for animals rather than people, wash-down areas, drainage and ventilation that suit a working stable, and floor finishes that stay grippy when they’re wet. Concreters, drainers, mechanical trades and steel fixers all inherit a spec that looks nothing like a carpark or an office podium.
The accessibility component brings its own run of work: lifts, ramps, compliant seating platforms and the associated balustrade and handrail packages. On a 20,000-seat arena, that’s a lot of repetitive fixing and finishing work spread over the back half of the program.
The Ekka doesn’t stop for the builders
Here’s the part that shapes the whole job. The Ekka keeps running at the showgrounds while construction is underway, with 2032 the only year the event will not be held at the site.
That’s a builder’s constraint more than a builder’s inconvenience. It means the schedule is chopped around a show that fills the precinct every August, with sections of the site handed back clean and safe, then reclaimed once the gates close. Hoarding lines move, site access changes, and cranes and laydown areas have to be planned around a public event rather than a fenced-off block.
Anyone who has worked a live hospital, school or shopping centre upgrade knows the rhythm: you get a window, you hit it, and you don’t blow the handover date because the client can’t shift the opening.
RNA chief executive Brendan Christou framed the redevelopment as locking in the show’s long-term future at the site.
“As Queenslanders celebrate 150 years of Ekka this year, this announcement ensures that our iconic and beloved show remains here, at its birthplace, for another 150 years,” said Christou.
He said the arena work would broaden what the precinct can host. “The upgraded Main Arena will strengthen the showgrounds as a destination for major events, entertainment and community life, while allowing us to welcome the world during the Games, and ensure the Ekka remains at the heart of the site for generations to come.”
A century after the Ernest Baynes Stand
Hutchinson Builders built the Ernest Baynes Stand on the same site more than a century ago, which makes this a return to ground the company has history on. Few builders in the country can say that about a job they’re currently pulling apart and putting back together.
The current stage follows work finished last year, including restoration of two heritage-listed grandstands and the planning and design phase for the Main Arena upgrade. Heritage-listed structures don’t give you the easy option. Like-for-like timber repairs, matched profiles and methods that satisfy a heritage approval mean carpenters and restoration trades spend time on detail that a new build would knock over in a fraction of the hours.
The finished precinct is meant to lift the showgrounds’ events and entertainment capability. It already runs indoor and outdoor venues capable of hosting crowds of more than 30,000.
What it means for the order book
A 2028 completion date means trade packages on this job run through the back half of the decade, not next quarter. For a subbie weighing up a second crew or another first-year apprentice, that’s the useful bit: the work is staged, and the demolition and civil end of it is going first.
Bowen Hills is also about to get busy in general, with the athlete village planned to overlook the same showgrounds. Two major sites sharing a postcode means competition for cranes, laydown space and labour, and it means traffic management that anyone working nearby will feel.
Watch for the Main Arena grandstand and horse pavilion packages going to market. Those tender notices are where the real numbers show up: contract values, trade splits and the dates that tell you when to have people available.
Frequently asked questions
When will the RNA Showgrounds rebuild be finished?
The $287.5 million project is due to finish in 2028, according to Inside Construction.
Will the Ekka still be held during construction?
Yes, the Ekka will keep running at the showgrounds throughout the build, with 2032 the only year it won’t be held there because of the Olympic Games.
Who is building the RNA Showgrounds upgrade?
Hutchinson Builders is delivering the works in partnership with the Royal National Agricultural and Industrial Association of Queensland (RNA).
What’s included in the RNA Showgrounds upgrade?
The centrepiece is a 20,000-seat Main Arena upgrade, plus a new Machinery Hill grandstand, a multi-storey horse pavilion and accessibility improvements including lifts, ramps and seating platforms.
Sourced from Inside Construction. Original article.
