Plans for park scaled back
A GIANT fibreglass Uluru and a replica of the Captain Cook’s HMS Endeavour are gone from the latest plans, but Chinese theme park developer Songcheng still hopes to build the world’s biggest indoor ski centre on its 45ha site at Carrara.
The preliminary designs for Australian Legends World have also swapped a quirky man-made network of boatfilled waterways for an expansion and rejuvenation of existing wetland areas, which the company says say will mitigate the risk of exacerbated flood levels from the site.
Boardwalks and viewing areas will be created throughout the wetlands, which are hoped to attract an array of native wildlife.
The group says the revised project will cost more than $400 million to build and will include a 5200 sqm indoor ski slope, the first of its kind in Australia.
It will also feature an Eat Street-style casual dining precinct, a large enclosed entertainment centre for cultural shows, smaller performance areas and an outdoor adventure style playground.
There will also be a luxurious villa for the company’s chairman Huang Qiaoling Huang to stay in when he visits, a group of shops and three residential areas of varying density ranging from apartment towers to exclusive riverside homes.
The group’s Australian consultant, Roland Evans, said the site would be engineered to ensure the risk of flooding would not increase because of the project.
“The area of the site to be developed is an extension of existing higher land, formal- ised by a balance cut-fill engineering approach, that is an accepted and encouraged engineering approach,” he said.
“This approach means that there is the same flood storage before and after development, so flood waters aren’t pushed elsewhere.”
Mr Evans said the precinct was not a conventional theme park, as it lacked roller-coasters and thrill rides. It would be more of an “entertainment park”.
“It will be an entertainment park, a different and new entertainment offering for the city, that is more comparable to the (new cultural centre) HOTA than our existing theme parks,” he said.
The group submitted its preliminary plans just before Christmas, revealing the site would also include a mix of low, medium and high-density housing.
A group of about 15 Carrara residents rallied in protest against it last month, worried it would exacerbate flooding in the suburb.
The temperature-controlled indoor ski slope would be the first in Australia with real snow, as opposed to a synthetic surface, and would be suitable for beginners and intermediate skiers and adaptable to allow competitions to be held there.
The main entertainment theatre would host a theatrical show, of the scale and complexity of Cirque du Soleil, wholly enclosed within the theatre building, Mr Evans said.
Access would be from Nerang-Broadbeach Rd via Lakeview Dr, however the site is split by the State Government’s Intra Regional Transport Corridor, which could provide an alternative entry if that proceeds as the mooted alternative motorway.