Peter Magnisalis doesn’t ski. He’s never done his own property developments before. But he’s about to start building a $700 million indoor ski field, Winter Sports World. Here’s why.
Winter Sports World managing directer Peter Magnisalis didn’t even know indoor snow-sports centres existed when he first came up with the idea of creating “a building with snow in it”, in 2015. But a quick Google revealed Ski Dubai and 30 other such frozen boxes scattered around the world [there are now more than 100].
He was suddenly off on a journey to put his beloved Penrith in Sydney’s outer west on the tourism map.
His Winter Sports World is scheduled to start construction in mid 2025 [with the digging of a 12m-deep, 350m-long basement] and to have people sliding down its slope, sleeping in its hotel and eating in its restaurants by 2028.
Magnisalis’s modellers have said to expect 1.38 million visitors a year.
Winter Sports World Key Features
- A 350-metre advanced ski run
- Lesson area
- Snow play area
- A 200-room hotel, some rooms with snow views
- Conference facilities
- Rooftop day spa, bars and cafes with river and mountain views
- No chemical additives in the snow
- Scenic World to operate the ski field
Isn’t this an environmental abomination?
Magnisalis claims the energy demands will be “less than the average shopping centre, per volume”. “It’s perfectly insulated,” Magnisalis tells Forbes Australia. “We’ve got PV solar panels across the roof and northern face which will provide over 60% of electricity needs. The rest will be bought in green power.
“For water, we will collect the condensation and defrost across the snowbox area and use that for snow making. That’ll look after most of our needs but there is a small deficit – about 60,000 litres a week – and we’ll use our 1.6-million-litre water tank connected to the roof for that. It’ll look after itself from a water point of view.
“Out in the snow box, we’re constantly capturing heat at about 65 degrees and we’re going to be using heat exchanges to heat the water for the rooms and restaurants with that free heat.
“We’ve flipped it on its head so it becomes really sustainable. We’re targeting a net-zero carbon operation.”
Gut feeling
It all began in 2009 when Magnisalis bought a 2.4ha block of land by the Nepean River, 100 metres from the bottom end of Cables Wake Park, and 1km from the Panthers leagues club.
“It was zoned rural. I’ve always lived in the area. There was a bit of a gut feeling that one day this thing will be rezoned.”
When Penrith Council did rezone it in 2015, the block was envisioned as part of the Riverlink Tourism Precinct. Magnisalis put his mind towards what he could do with it. He tossed up ideas in the wellness and rehab space, or perhaps some sort of immersive 3D games venue. But then came the building with snow in it.
“It’s never been done before in Australia, so for me, that’s challenge accepted,” he says. “I really wanted to create a legacy for western Sydney.”
Magnisalis began his career working for builders and big property developers, and cut his teeth on nursing homes. “I’ve always worked on point of differences. In aged care, I was instrumental in bringing in pet-friendly, solar, just thinking differently.
“This is just that on a much larger scale.”
He researched the ski park feverishly for months, but found it overwhelming. “I put the tools down for six months. I wanted to take time away to make sure it had legs. There’s no point having an idea if you can’t follow through. I let the dust settle in my mind and looked at it fresh, and I realised that, yes, this will be viable and I picked it up again.”
It took six years to get through the planning approvals process. The biggest hurdle was the 8.5-metre height restriction. He needed 54 metres. “My messaging to government was that it wasn’t because I wanted to build 2,000 units. It’s because we needed a 350-metre advanced ski run. And we needed height for that. That took three-and-a-half years.”
Once he had the height approved, he could work up a master plan. State and local government worked up a “site-specific development control plan” with limits on parking and traffic, setbacks, all the ratios. One of the conditions was that there be a design competition judged by the government architect.
his giant esky was going to dominate the district so the government wanted a say in what it would look like.
“It’s the biggest tourism development in Australia right now and it’s the biggest ever in western Sydney. It’s going to be an iconic landmark. I call it a groundscraper. It’s going to come to symbolise Penrith as an adventure capital.
“In 2018, the architect and I high-fived thinking we had it nailed. Then we went and visited the UK and Ski Dubai, and we scrapped everything. I’m not a snow enthusiast, so it’s hard for me to get excited. The ones I learned from the most were the ones that weren’t as good. Because it’s obvious. And I’ve been to Ski Dubai a couple of times now, and every time I go, I get excited and want to shout with joy.
“I’m the perfect snow-play customer. I love kicking the snow around. I jump on the chairlifts and get excited about being up high.
“That’s our inspirations. We want to get the non-snow enthusiasts shouting with joy.
“The biggest lesson we learned is that it has to be multi-activity, multifaceted. It can’t be just a snow run. You’ve got to have the lessons, the snow play, free play, shoe fitting, ceiling activities at height, then you’ve got the restaurants and cafes, because not everyone is going to want to go on the show.”
He says various Winter Olympics sporting bodies are keen to use Winter Sport World for training.
“Market research is predicting 1.38 million visitors, on a very conservative basis, without even factoring in Sydney’s new airport nearby. That’s on par with Taronga Zoo, which gets 1.5 million visitors, Scenic World in the Blue Mountains sits at 1 million.”
Scenic World – which also runs Bridge Climb – won the bid to operate the ski field and roof top activities.
The Winter Sports World development was originally budgeted at $500 million but that’s blown out by $200 million. “We could do it for much less,” says Magnisalis, “but there’s no point having a tin shed with snow in it.”
He is busy raising the money. “We’re engaged with funders domestically and internationally. We’re going through the process. And we’re on target to commence construction mid this year. I’m also in discussion with builders. We’re going to bring them on early. We need their smarts to help design and engineer this thing for buildability.”
For all his visits to indoor ski fields around the world, Peter Magnisalis still hasn’t got onto skis. “I’ve vowed that I’m going to learn at Winter Sports World. I’m not going to learn anywhere else.”
