2018 Gold Coast Commonwealth Games
Elite beach volleyball facility
Queensland

The proposed facility had to be a temporary installation which could be readily constructed and de-constructed to limit the short-term loss of the public space.

Additionally the Queen Elizabeth Park had a fall across the footprint of the proposed temporary beach volleyball facility. Therefore the facility would need to account for the grade change across the volleyball sand court and the surrounding spectator seating.

The sand court design needed to comply with FIVB requirements which dictated the minimum playing sand profile depth which in-turn would set the levels for the adjacent walkways and viewing areas.

SPORTENG investigated several temporary options for the grandstand and the structure for the sand court. This included timber frames, screw piles, scaffolding and combinations of each. In the end the use of a scaffolding system which had adjustable legs and a timber frame deck was the option selected.

The levels for the sand court was dictated by the need to achieve the minimum FIVB sand profile depth while ensuring there was adequate depth for the scaffolding system to account for the variability on the terrain levels.

MegaFlo panel drainage was used in the base of the sand court to help drain the profile and it was laid directly over the stripped surface to remove the need for trenching and potential clashing with the retained irrigation pipework.

The facility was a great success with a total of 12 men's and women's teams competing in the beach volleyball competition with both Australia (men’s gold and women’s gold) and Canada (women’s gold and men’s silver) winning medals in both division.