Van Dieren Road Archives - Forest Lake News

Early works have begun on the Pallara District Sports Park, with the project entering a new phase ahead of main construction scheduled to start in late 2026, subject to weather conditions and approvals.

The park has been in planning since 2023, shaped by community engagement, a detailed sports needs analysis and technical investigations that together informed a final concept plan released in late 2025. For Pallara residents who have watched the suburb’s population grow rapidly while its sporting infrastructure remained limited, the early works signal that delivery is finally underway.

Construction continues until 2028, delivering a major $15 million to $20 million boost to sporting infrastructure in Brisbane’s south-west.

A park designed around what the community asked for

Community engagement conducted through October 2023 invited Pallara residents to share how they wanted to use the future park. That feedback, combined with a detailed sports needs study, shaped a concept plan that reflects the suburb’s growing and active population.

The concept plan shows two sports fields surrounded by shared pathways, spectator areas and team shelters, a future playground zone, water tanks for irrigation, car parking and a clubhouse. Sports field lighting is also included, along with bus pick-up and drop-off zones, making the park accessible for sporting clubs and community groups travelling to and from the site.

The two-field layout gives the park capacity to host multiple sports simultaneously, and the clubhouse will provide facilities for the local clubs and sporting groups that will eventually call the park home. Those clubs will be identified through future tenders as the project progresses toward construction.

Sporting groups are already taking notice

The scale of the planned facility has already drawn attention from local sporting organisations assessing whether it suits their needs.

Algester Little Athletics centre manager Scott Mackay noted the Pallara District Sports Park would need to include a 400-metre running track for his club to consider relocating there, signalling genuine community interest in what the site could ultimately accommodate.

A detailed sports needs analysis has helped shape the plans, with local clubs to be identified through future tenders. The final mix of sports and user groups will be determined through that process, giving the community an ongoing stake in how the park takes shape.

What comes next on the timeline

The project’s current phase is early works, with main construction planned to begin in late 2026, subject to weather conditions and planning approvals. The full project timeline runs through to 2028, with further stages of the broader Pallara Open Space Network Corridor subject to future funding allocations and development agreements in the area.

Project budgets will be confirmed once planning, design and tender stages are complete.

For more information or to follow the project’s progress, contact the project team on 07 3178 5413 during business hours, email cityprojects@brisbane.qld.gov.au, or click here.

Published 18-May-2026

Early works on the Pallara District Sports Park at 65 Van Dieren Road are set to get underway from late March 2026, with main construction now scheduled to begin in late 2026, subject to weather conditions and approvals.

The February 2026 concept plan update confirms a revised timeline for the project, following the release of the final concept plan in November 2025. At that time, planners expected construction to begin in early 2026. The updated schedule sets out a two-stage delivery approach, with preparatory civil works on Van Dieren Road starting first before main construction of the park begins later in the year. Pallara and Forest Lake families who have followed the project since community engagement began in October 2023 continue to wait, although works are now set to commence on site.

Early Works

From late March 2026, early works will include building new kerb and channel and footpath on Van Dieren Road, planting new street trees, and installing a new stormwater outlet pipe in J.M. Sullivan Park. These civil works prepare the site’s surrounds and drainage infrastructure ahead of the larger construction effort later in the year. Residents near Van Dieren Road can expect some temporary changes in the area during this period, with a further update promised before works begin.

The early works phase reflects the complexity of delivering a district-level sporting facility from the ground up in a rapidly developing suburb. Eight properties along Van Dieren Road have already been purchased for the sports park and bushland conservation, a process that has been underway for several years as the site was assembled from multiple private landholdings. That land acquisition groundwork now gives the project a clear path to construction.

Final Concept Plan

The final concept plan, released in late 2025 and updated in February 2026, sets out a district-level sports and recreation facility designed to serve Pallara, Forest Lake and the broader southwest Brisbane community. The park will deliver two outdoor sports fields, a clubhouse with public amenities creating a central hub for players, families and visitors, on-site parking and a dedicated bus drop-off, sports lighting and irrigation to support evening use and quality playing surfaces, and a future playground area and picnic facilities site.

Pallara District Sports Park — *Photo Credit: BCC*

The concept plan also incorporates shared pathways, spectator areas, team shelters and water tanks for irrigation. The design responds directly to what Pallara residents told planners during the 2023 and 2024 community engagement rounds, with safe and clean facilities, good amenities, strong access and sufficient parking all identified as community priorities. Local clubs will be identified through future tender processes once construction is closer to completion.

Why This Matters to Pallara and Forest Lake

Pallara’s growth over the past decade has been extraordinary. According to the 2021 census, Pallara had 3,861 residents, a significant increase from the 511 recorded in 2016, and residential development has continued at pace since then, with multiple house and land estates delivered along Van Dieren Road itself. That growth has placed real pressure on the suburb’s recreational infrastructure, with families currently relying on parks and sporting facilities in neighbouring Forest Lake, Durack and Calamvale to meet their needs.

The Pallara District Sports Park directly addresses that gap. For local sporting clubs, the arrival of a district-level home ground with two lit playing fields, a clubhouse and proper amenities opens the door to formalising and growing their presence in the southwest Brisbane corridor. For families, it means a quality community space within the suburb rather than a drive across the city. And for Pallara as a whole, a well-designed district park anchors the suburb’s social infrastructure in a way that purely residential development cannot.

The Pallara District Sports Park also forms part of the broader Pallara Open Space Network Corridor, with further stages subject to future funding and planning processes as the suburb continues to grow.

Project Timeline and Contact

The current project schedule runs from early works in late March 2026 through to main construction commencing in late 2026, with the overall project timeframe extending through to 2028. Residents can expect further updates from the project team before each works phase begins.

For enquiries about the Pallara District Sports Park, the project team can be reached on 07 3178 5413 during business hours or on 07 3403 8888 at any time. Email enquiries can be sent to cityprojects@brisbane.qld.gov.au. Further information is available here.

Published 3-April-2026.

Tag: Van Dieren Road

Early Works Begin on Long-Planned Pallara District Sports Park