Heffron Centre
Designing an Elite Rugby Training Pitch
New South Wales

Designing a natural turf pitch for elite contact sport is always a balance of athlete performance, playability, durability, and whole-of-life maintenance. For Heffron, there were three key challenges.

The pitch needed to meet NRL training standards, which set very specific expectations for surface profile drainage consistency and turf performance across all seasons.

The project involved multiple design consultants, so design coordination and information flow had to be seamless to keep the broader precinct program on track.

And because the pitch was a greenfield site with construction occurring on a live program, SPORTENG needed to provide ongoing checks to verify that turf supply installation and establishment met handover requirements before the facility opened.

We approached the Heffron Centre with a simple goal: deliver a coordinated, high-performing natural turf design that would stand up to elite rugby training while supporting the wider precinct vision. To do that, we worked side by side with ADCO and the consultant team from the earliest design workshops through to final handover.

Throughout construction, we provided the technical guidance needed to keep the pitch aligned with the design intent. We helped ADCO meet their quality assurance requirements, responded to RFIs, reviewed QA documents and shop drawings, and attended witness point inspections. This kept every element of the build consistent with the specifications for an elite natural turf surface.

As the pitch took shape, ADCO requested two additional inspections so we could independently verify the turf condition. These checks confirmed the surface was on track for handover and gave both the contractor and Council clear documentation of compliance.

When construction finished, we prepared the as-built drawings using survey data, capturing the final configuration of the drainage and surface profile so the facility team has a reliable reference for future maintenance.

Together, this end-to-end support ensured the elite training pitch was designed, built and documented to the standard expected for a flagship precinct like the Heffron Centre.

The Heffron Centre now has an elite-level natural turf training pitch that supports high-performance rugby while remaining resilient and consistent under community load. The final surface meets the project’s performance criteria for profile depth, drainage infiltration and turf quality and provides a reliable training environment all year round.

For ADCO and Randwick City Council, our coordinated documentation, QA guidance and on-site verification ensured the pitch was delivered with confidence, accuracy and a clear record of compliance.

The Heffron Centre is now a flagship example of how well-designed natural turf surfaces support both elite sport and community access in one integrated precinct. SPORTENG is proud to have contributed its specialist Field of Play expertise to this major investment in Sydney’s sporting landscape.