Tender documents reveal Ballarat's new athletics facility will be built on the corner of Creswick Road and Howitt Street, with the Midland Highway potentially blocked during the 2026 Commonwealth Games.
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The expression of interest documents, from the state government's tender website, include "indicative block plans" for the massive $150 million Mars Stadium upgrades.
Ballarat will host the athletics and para-athletics at the stadium in March 2026, as well as boxing at Selkirk Stadium and some cricket matches. Creswick will also host mountain biking.
According to the documents, tenders will go out by December 5, with construction to begin in October, 2023.
In Ballarat, the plans show another 5000 seats to be built on the stadium's eastern side, removing the existing roof, and adding 18,000 temporary seats to the eastern stand and on the hill to the south.
The current showgrounds site will become home to a new International Amateur Athletics Federation-standard facility, with a full running track with internal throwing areas for warm-ups, and temporary throwing warm-up facilities on the western side.
There would also be added amenities around a new plaza spilling onto Creswick Road - the indicative block plans echo the initial concept art for the stadium, with Creswick Road blocked just after the Howitt Street intersection, and a new bus parking facility for an "athlete load zone".
Much of the current North Ballarat Sports Club would be closed to the public for the Games, with a broadcast compound pictured in the current car park, and other facilities around the club's second oval.
It's not clear from the documents how the public would access the site.
The documents also show early plans for what will happen to the site after the Games, and while the surface of Mars Stadium would return to being a football oval, the new athletics facility would stay.
Two stands of 2000 seats would be retained, and the roof would be returned on the south-eastern stand.
The athletics track would include a new clubhouse and parking, though the throwing warm-up areas to the west are labelled "future development area".
The early plans are good news, according to Ballarat Regional Athletics Centre hub manager Ashley Anderson. He said the existing facilities at Llanberris on York Street needed a significant update and the new design showed a track oriented north-south.
"That's the best option for wind," he said. "The main thing to consider is the legacy for the facility is to meet the needs into the future - to create something fantastic not just for the athletics community but for the whole town."
Ballarat athletics clubs will be part of the consultation process, Mr Anderson added, with a list of priorities already submitted to Development Victoria, the agency in charge of delivering the facilities.
The wishlist includes a nine- or 10-lane running track with two sprint straights, four sandpits, and internal and external throwing areas.
"The main things that we learned, and we looked a lot of different facilities across Victoria, is there's always one or two things they realise afterwards they could have done better," he said.
"It's important to look beyond just the track and the amenities, it's the changerooms, equipment shed, stands, shaded area, lighting, these are things that can be left behind.
'We're ready, we're welcoming the changes, we're ready to open ourselves up to the opportunity that presents itself."
In a statement, a Development Victoria spokesperson said the agency "will be working closely with the construction industry over the next three years to get these venues and villages constructed and operating in time for the Games in March, 2026".
Development Victoria also opened a community engagement survey this week for Ballarat's athletes' village, to be built at the former saleyards site on La Trobe Street.
It's expected 1800 people will be housed at the 13-hectare site, which will convert to a mix of affordable and social housing after the Games.
The survey, available online through the state government's EngageVictoria platform, closes on December 4.