Engineering a legacy beyond the Games

The 2032 Brisbane Olympic and Paralympic Games present us with a once-in-a-generation chance to redefine what excellence looks like in the built environment.

This is our moment to set a new benchmark not just in athletic excellence, but in environmental and social leadership. With every venue, precinct, and pathway we create, we have the opportunity to leave behind something far more lasting than medals – a living, breathing model of a sustainable future.

Our specialist services

Specialist engineering plays a significant and crucial role in the design and construction of stadia and sporting facilities, as these structures have unique requirements due to their large scale, complexity, and multifunctionality.

Our specialist engineers work across different disciplines to ensure the quality, comfort and safety of spectators:

• Our Acoustics team strive for acoustic balance combining the excitement of a lively, active environment with the need for effective noise control and audibility of loud speakers. They ensure the audience experience the event without distortion or echo, design circulation systems that ensure smooth crowd movement, undertake accurate noise modelling, confident noise prediction and negotiate noise management plans.
• Our Lighting Designers play a pivotal role in creating high quality outcomes. They design lighting systems with highly specialised optics, placement, and installation orientations to ensure compatibility with high-definition television broadcasting, slow motion replays, and high frame rates. They work to restrict shadows, high uniformity, and mitigate glare while addressing light pollution and light spill to protect biodiversity.
• Our Information Technology team focus on the design and integration of smart technologies to stadia. From communication systems to data management, seamless connectivity, real time updates and personalised services for attendees improve the overall event experience and make the stadium more interactive. They ensure AV systems are considered and coordinated and allow for professional and high-quality media production, whether for live events or replays. Technology is one of the leading methods for improving the fan experience while also activating potential revenue streams.
• Our Fire Safety engineers take a tailored approach to ensure the safety of both attendees and staff during events, given the large crowds, rapid evacuation requirements, and the potential for complex emergency scenarios. They take a comprehensive approach that combines event-specific planning, the implementation of passive fire protection systems, and a strategic design of crowd movement.

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Environmentally Sustainable Design (ESD)

Olympic infrastructure is a balancing act. It must perform under pressure, deliver to schedule, and work within a defined budget. But it must also look beyond the event horizon to consider long-term value, adaptability, and cost of ownership.

Our engineering approach is built around this dual lens: purpose-built for Games mode, but future-proofed for legacy mode. Our ESD team apply:

• Lifecycle thinking: evaluating systems not just for upfront cost but for energy, maintenance, and upgrade trajectories over decades
• Low-carbon engineering strategies: from all-electric HVAC systems and high-efficiency central energy plants to smart grid integration and passive-first building envelopes
• Material-conscious design: specifying low-embodied carbon alternatives such as geopolymer concrete, mass timber, and recycled steel, while optimising for durability, flexibility, and disassembly where possible
• Water-smart systems: including precinct-wide non-potable networks, blackwater treatment loops, and landscape integrated WSUD systems that double as public amenity.

Above all, our goal is to create smart, adaptable infrastructure that performs under the spotlight of the Games, and continues to serve its community long after the flame is extinguished.

At the heart of our proposition is our ambition to lead the design approach with sustainability. We believe that sustainability is not a separate stream, but the connective tissue that links every building system, service, and space. That’s why we embed our ESD specialists directly within our multidisciplinary engineering teams.

Sustainability is not just about green ratings or carbon targets, it is about making smarter decisions across every discipline – mechanical, electrical, hydraulics, fire, vertical transportation, and beyond. From passive design strategies to net zero energy systems, from regenerative water loops to circular material pathways – every element of a building is tethered to sustainability outcomes.

By having ESD experts sit alongside our building services engineers from day one, we ensure:

• Deeper integration between systems, where ESD drives early design logic and performance pathways
• Faster feedback loops, allowing strategies to be tested in real-time, rather than after-the-fact
• Collaborative innovation, where engineers co-create solutions with sustainability in mind – not as a constraint, but as a catalyst
• Fewer silos, less duplication, and a clearer lines of accountability across all systems and sustainability objectives.

“This is not about designing for two weeks of celebration. It’s about designing for the next hundred years with infrastructure that adapts, endures, and inspires well beyond the closing ceremony. This is Australia’s Olympic legacy in the making, a legacy not built from concrete alone, but from conviction.”
– Director Tim Elgood, National Sustainability and Regeneration Lead

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Ayesa and ADP Consulting

In February 2025, ADP Consulting joined forces with global engineering and technology leader, Ayesa, significantly enhancing our team’s capabilities, network and resources.

With more than 14,000 employees in 23 countries across Europe, America, Africa, and Asia, and a diverse project portfolio exceeding €1.5 billion (AU$2.5 billion), Ayesa is a global engineering force, ranking among the top 50 engineering firms in the world.

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Ayesa stadium experience

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ADP Consulting sport experience

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Relevant project experience

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