Location :

Freemantle, WA

Client :

Freemantle Dockers Football Club

Year :

2014-2016

Sector :

Natural Turf | AFL

The Fremantle Dockers Football Club (FFC) came to an agreement with the City of Cockburn to develop their elite training venue as a joint venture. The facility was to not only house the AFL side's elite training venue and administration offices, but also had an indoor stadium (basketball/netball/etc.), aquatic centre, childcare, and other community elements.

As part of the development, the FFC constructed an elite training oval which was designed by SPORTENG to be as long as the longest oval in the AFL - Kardinia Park Stadium, and as wide as the MCG. Multiple goal post locations with hinged bases enabled the team to set the oval dimensions to whatever field they wanted to train on.

THE CHALLENGE

The oval playing surface profile was constructed using site won sand that was harvested and screened to ensure compliance with the project's technical specification. The existing sand however was unstable due to the ‘rounded’ sand which meant it was more likely to divot easily.

THE SOLUTION

To stabilise the sand SPORTENG proposed the inclusion of a proprietary profile reinforcement system. The inclusion of this product helped increase the stability of the playing surface profile.

THE RESULTS

Due to the high infiltration rate of the underlying substrate, the oval was designed without any subsurface drainage. The flat playing surface consists of a perched water table profile. SPORTENG oversaw the Construction Phase Consulting Services activities including the harvesting and screening process along with the installation of the proprietary profile reinforcement system.

 

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