Developers of a WA wave pool that will be among the world’s biggest are moving the $100-million project ahead, inking a deal to bring a global surf brand onboard.
Perth Surf Park at Jandakot, about 20km south of the WA capital’s CBD, is slated to open in late 2026.
Australian-based brand Rip Curl has joined the line-up, adding a flagship store to the plans, which were approved mid-2023.
Aventuur, the group behind the park, said it was currently raising project finance— a combination of equity, including from high-net-worth individuals, family offices and institutional investors, and debt capital—ahead of a construction start this year.
The addition of Rip Curl, one of the planet’s biggest surf brands with a revenue of $540 million in 2023, adds more gravitas to the surf park plans, which comprise a 2.2ha open-water lagoon for up to 84 surfers at a time, short-term accommodation, bars and restaurants, shops, function centre, events lawn, pump track, surf-skate bowl, outdoor gym, a health and fitness centre, playground and carpark.
Rip Curl was acquired by Kathmandu in 2019 for $350 million.
Aventuur is a global creator of surf and well-being destinations and holds the exclusive rights to Wavegarden’s wave-generating technology in Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, Fiji and North America. The same tech is used in Urbnsurf’s Melbourne and Sydney parks.
The company said it was on track to have the first waves rolling by the middle of 2026 ahead of a public opening towards the end of that year.
Aventuur also has plans under way for a wave park in Auckland.
It said it expected about a million visitors a year to the WA pool, which is tipped to create more than 300 jobs during construction and contribute more than $250 million to the WA economy during its operating life.
Wave pools are on the rise in Australia with two now operational—Urbnsurf’s two pools—and plans for surf parks mooted for SA, the Gold Coast and near Yeppon in Queensland’s north.
And this month, a 3.8ha aquatic park, billed as the southern hemisphere’s biggest, was approved for Melbourne’s south-eastern suburbs.
The Dingley SurfnPlay Aquatic Park is to be built on a 5.7ha site 23km south-east from the Mebourne CBD. The plans include a wave pool.
