Apprentices working on the Sydney Football Stadium have contributed to its history, taking part in the official topping out ceremony of the world-class venue.
Minister for Skills, Tertiary Education and Sport Geoff Lee said the NSW Government, along with delivery partner John Holland, is proud to have completed the highest point
of the stadium’s structure.
A long-held tradition in the construction sector, the milestone is marked by lowering a tree to the highest point of the stadium.
“Topping out is a major milestone for the Sydney Football Stadium and I am pleased this project is supporting around 800 employees and apprentices in its construction
and even more jobs when it is complete,” Mr Lee said.
The NSW Government is funding an Aboriginal pre-employment program at the construction site of the Sydney Football Stadium to encourage unemployed locals to
take up jobs in the construction industry.
“All students involved in the pre-employment program have progressed to a full-time job with three graduates from the group employed right here at the Sydney Football
Stadium.”
“There is no better training ground for an apprentice than to learn the tools of the trade on the site of a world-class stadium.”
“To further boost local jobs, local businesses have been awarded almost $300 million worth of contracts to NSW-based suppliers and contractors.”
John Holland General Manager Matthew Bourne said it was a highlight for graduates to be a part of one of the biggest milestones in the building of the stadium.
“Now we have topped out the stadium, we are well and truly on the home stretch, with the stadium on track to be completed by the NRL finals next year, Mr Bourne said.
“In partnership with the NSW Government, we’re providing unemployed Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people with entry level industry skills to open up career pathways they may not have considered in the construction industry.”
The next construction milestone is to build the stadium’s roof, which will involve 4,000 individual pieces of steel, most of which is manufactured in Western Sydney by the same company who built the roof of the original stadium in 1988.
For more information on pre-apprenticeship programs, visit
https://education.nsw.gov.au/skills-nsw
For more information on the construction of Sydney Football Stadium, visit:
https://www.infrastructure.nsw.gov.au/projects-nsw/sydney-football-stadium-redevelopment/