New Brookvale Oval Centre of Excellence approved

The long-awaited $33 million upgrade of Manly’s Brookvale Oval has been approved, with work on the new Centre of Excellence and grandstand to start within weeks.

Updated renders have been released for the new facility which will be a much-needed facelift for the home of the Manly Sea Eagles, often regarded as having the worst amenities of any NRL venue.

Representing the Sea Eagles, Chris Dare said last week that construction could start “almost immediately”, within “four to six weeks”.

A Northern Beaches Council commissioned report recommended the development application be rejected but the Sydney North Planning Panel over-ruled the arguments made by Council’s assessor and approved the development.

Council’s report said that the proposed development did not meet the plan of management for Brookvale Park, and would result in the removal of heritage listed trees at the northern end of the park to accommodate the new building.

The new facility will be located at the northern end of the stadium and the grandstand will feature undercover seating for 3,000 spectators.

The building will also include high performance, training and administration facilities for the club, elite level gym, aquatic recovery and rehab pools, food and beverage outlets, disability access and seating, new toilets, female changing rooms and multipurpose community education facilities and community meeting rooms.

Mr Dare said the project would be the “catalyst for the redevelopment of Brookvale Oval in the longer term” and that they had carefully planned where the new facilities would be located to allow the potential possibility of future development.

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Redevelopment of the Northern Beaches stadium have been discussed over the past 20 years, none of which had come to fruition as a result of not being viable due to lack of funding, until now.

The funding has been secured from the NSW Government ($20 million), the Federal Government ($12.5 million), while the Sea Eagles have committed $600K to the project, which is expected to take 12-18 months to complete.

The Brookvale Oval playing surface will also be upgraded following the conclusion of the 2020 NRL season.