St Joseph's College
Designing elite sports facilities for a school environment
Victoria

The site's location in a flood zone posed a significant challenge for the natural AFL & Soccer fields, leading to inundation with floodwaters and rendering the fields unusable for weeks. Additionally, the heavy soil profile exacerbated this issue. Moreover, the high volume of student usage, with over 1,000 students using the fields daily, resulted in substantial wear and tear on the field surface.

To address these challenges, SPORTENG implemented various solutions.

For the flood-prone natural fields, we designed a perched water drainage gravel and rootzone profile. This design allowed surface water to pass through quickly into the subsurface drainage system during heavy rain events, keeping the surface free of water and enabling continued maintenance and play.

Furthermore, SPORTENG developed a tailored Turf Management Plan to mitigate the wear and tear caused by student usage, providing the turf and rootzone profile with the best chance of withstanding the daily foot traffic.

Additionally, for the Synthetic Multiuse Hockey/Tennis facility and Athletics track, which required tight level tolerance to meet international standards, SPORTENG engineered a pavement solution to stabilise the playing/running surfaces over the problematic subgrade composed of reactive clays.

Our expertise also proved invaluable during the construction phase, where we provided timely support and advice to remediate issues such as groundwater affecting the Multiuse Hockey/Tennis facility subgrade, ensuring the project met Quality requirements and progressed smoothly.

The sporting facilities at St Joseph’s are nothing short of world-class. The natural fields of play comply with AFL and FIFA requirements, the Hockey fields meet FIH standards, and the Athletic sprint track meets World Athletics Class 2 standards, which ensures their high quality and ongoing accountability as elite sporting facilities.

The Fields of Play at St Joseph’s are the centrepiece of the school and will set a new benchmark in sporting facilities for prestigious schools across Australia.