Inner-City Brisbane Land Earmarked for Olympics a New Target for Housing

An area initially planned to include an athletes village for the Brisbane 2032 Olympic and Paralympic Games could see up to 10,000 new homes built.   

The Queensland government has officially revised the Northshore Hamilton Priority Development Area (PDA) to unlock land supply for new housing.  

A PDA is a set of land within Queensland that has been identified for land development to deliver benefits for the surrounding community as well as economic purposes.

An athletes village planned for Northshore Hamilton has moved to the RNA Showgrounds. Picture: Getty

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In 2022, the area in Brisbane’s north, which was first declared as a PDA in 2008, was originally announced as one of four sites to build athlete villages for the Brisbane 2032 Olympic and Paralympic Games.  

But following the Crisafulli government’s election win promise of a 100-day review to investigate a delivery plan for the games, the future village was moved to the RNA Showgrounds to consolidate with the rest of the precinct.  

The government noted this will turn into permanent housing once the games are over.  

Queensland deputy premier Jarrod Bleijie said the proposed athletes village in Northshore Hamilton was “not only unfunded but also not supported in the 100 Day Independent Games review”.  

Now, the state government has proposed changes to the Northshore Hamilton development scheme to support the construction of 10,000 new homes across the PDA. It has also proposed changes for the Woolloongabba development scheme, which could support the delivery of 16,000 new homes within the inner-city area.  

Combined, this could deliver 26,000 new homes across both PDAs.  

The Northshore Hamilton PDA covers approximately 304 hectares and is surrounded by the Brisbane River, Kingsford Smith Drive, the Gateway and Southern Cross Motorways.  

The Northshore Hamilton PDA could see 10,000 new homes built. Picture: Economic Development Queensland

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Under the development scheme, the government has proposed amendments to “improve clarity, remove outdated requirements, and better reflect community, industry and government priorities”.  

As well as removing references to an athlete’s village, some of the proposed amendments include:  

• Removing the requirement for 10% of units to have three or more bedrooms. 

• Removing the requirement for 5% social, public or affordable housing.  

• Removing building form controls, including the 30-metre wall length and 10-metre articulation requirements.  

Under the Woolloongabba development scheme, a new entertainment precinct is proposed to be incorporated, as well as the Gabba stadium’s transformation into a lifestyle precinct following the Olympic Games.  

The Property Council Queensland executive director Jess Caire said both PDAs will enable the industry to provide versatile housing solutions for the state.  

“The genuine, in-depth engagement between EDQ and industry during the consultation process meant that the original concerns the industry had with the PDA’s were not only heard but directly addressed,” Ms Caire said.  

“The new revised Development Scheme and Development Charges and Offset Plan will position both Woolloongabba and Northshore to take the next step as entertainment and lifestyle precinct and will catalyse desperately needed housing supply for Brisbane.”  

Both the Woolloongabba and Northshore Hamilton development schemes are currently open for community consultation, with the former closing on the 29 August 2025 and the latter on 19 September 2025.  

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