A new Gabba, built right across the road from the old cricket ground, could break records as the world’s largest timber stadium.

Architecture firm Kirk Studio’s proposal appeals to the International Olympic Committee’s sustainability strategy by using renewable construction material.

The result would be a 60,000-seat “Gabba West” stadium across Main Street from the existing Gabba, above the new Cross River Rail station site.

In its submission to the Games Independent Infrastructure and Co-ordination Authority’s 100-day infrastructure review, Kirk Studio says Brisbane 2032’s stadium solution has been “hiding in plain sight” all along.

Speaking to this masthead, architect Richard Kirk said using timber would make Gabba West one of the most environmentally friendly stadiums in the world.

“The commitment made in the bid for the Olympics is that it would be six-star Green Star, and a core part of that is we should be replacing up to 40 per cent of the structure with renewable materials,” he said.

“And the only renewable building material is timber.”

Kirk said the timber structure could be prefabricated off-site to reduce construction time.

“Australia’s got an excellent timber industry and if they’re given enough lead time, they can invest in the scale that they need, they can invest in the technology they need, to do a project of this order,” he said.

“Everyone always looks at these projects as a just a city-building legacy, but there’s an industry-building legacy as well.”

Using timber would also reduce the stadium’s weight – allowing it to sit more easily, from an engineering perspective, above both the Cross River Rail and Clem7 tunnels.