Location :

Glen Iris, VIC

Client :

Boroondara City Council

Year :

2018-2020

Sector :

Natural Turf | Cricket | Rugby

SPORTENG offers a full range of services catering from elite to community level recreation facilities. We design bespoke irrigation and natural turf solutions to meet end user and stakeholder requirements whilst executing best practice/ state of the art design principles.

Lewin Reserve, also known as Bourke Road South Reserve, is an example of one of these bespoke projects.

THE CHALLENGE

As part of its community lifestyle upgrade, the Boroondara Council worked together with SPORTENG on its redevelopment project of an existing facility.

The main goal here was to offer a new, state-of-the-art sport facility to the Boroondara community. This amenity could cater to rugby union, cricket matches and training, as well as informal recreation use and linkage to the Gardiners Creek Trail.

However, as this facility is adjacent to Gardiners Creek and Glen Iris wetland, its redevelopment raised some challenges:

  • Inconsistent surface grades and level changes
  • A playing surface consisting of natural soils that retained water
  • Presence of spatial constraints
  • Within an inundation overlay (LSIO)
  • Proximity to biodiversity areas, Gardiners Creek and Glen Iris Wetland; and
  • Presence of Melbourne Water drainage assets

THE SOLUTION

To tackle these challenges, SPORTENG developed a tailored solution. Our first step was to establish a Site Environmental Management Plan to ensure the redevelopment works would not adversely impact the local biodiversity during the Construction Phase Consulting Services. In doing this, SPORTENG produced new Field of Play drainage and irrigation infrastructure, that ensures suitable clearance from the existing Melbourne Water drainage assets.

 

The irrigation system is also another key element on this design. SPORTENG upgraded the irrigation system to allow targeted watering of high wear areas. This optimised the system performance whilst minimising the incidence of overspray onto surrounding infrastructure, such as footpaths, synthetic cricket nets, and residential properties.

 

This optimisation went hand in hand with leveling the Field of Play surface to achieve a compliant surface. The latter consists of a sand slit drainage system with a sand carpet (you can learn more about this technique via our blog post).

 

Finally, the replacement of the existing turf wicket table with a central synthetic wicket, completed the project. 

 

THE RESULTS

With SPORTENG’s help, the Boroondara Council delivered a tailor-made, smart Field of Play that can be operated for both community and sporting use. The space available has been maximised to achieve this high performing sport hub's requirements. 

 

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