Melbourne Park Redevelopment Stage 3

Stage 3 of the Victorian Government’s $271 million Melbourne Park Redevelopment project, being delivered by Development Victoria, was one of our largest jobs in 2020.

This brand-new show court arena will house 5,000 spectators at the AO in 2022.The Australian Open leads the world in grand slam facilities and the Victorian Government are making sure that Melbourne Park stays ahead of the game as a global sports and entertainment precinct.

Our in-house design team collaborated with Lendlease and the project consultants AECOM and NH Architecture from the concept and development stages, right through until completion. This included the design and certification of our precast components. The majority of the Show Court Arena is a precast structure, due to precast systems requiring minimal bracing and no back propping. This leads to accelerated build times and minimal onsite disruptions, as well as cost-effective and low maintenance solutions. Hollow core planks naturally lead to a 40% reduction in the use of concrete during manufacture due to voids within the plank, thus making precast an environmentally sustainable and a reduced carbon footprint solution, compared to conventional concrete slabs.

We designed, manufactured, delivered and installed various precast elements for the Show Court Arena including 584 seating plats, 60 raker beams, 127 columns, 66 beams, 458 hollow core planks, 293 wall panels, one lift shaft, 908 various sized staircases and 14 media box panels and roof slabs. In total we supplied almost 6,200 tonnes of concrete, an enormous job that had the added complications of the COVID-19 lockdown. Thankfully, we were able to continue our processes in a COVID compliant nature to keep up with demand and the construction timetable. Many of the internal panels were manufactured in off-white concrete and are left exposed as a key architectural component. Externally, we have manufactured and installed ribbed charcoal precast panels, which will also be left exposed and act as a prominent façade feature. The use of exposed precast concrete is becoming well known for sustainability as it requires minimal maintenance going forward.

We’ve been involved with all stages of the Victoria Government’s Melbourne Park redevelopment and it’s our pleasure to have a longstanding and continued relationship with Lendlease. We thank them for their cooperation during this project.