ARENAS ARENAS
Opened in 2011, Carrara Stadium on the Gold Coast was specially designed so that it could accommodate an international standard athletics track for events such as the Commonwealth Games
Fast-track transformation O
n 11 November 2011, the Commonwealth Games Federation announced that the XXI Commonwealth Games would be hosted by the Gold Coast after it beat Hambantota in Sri Lanka 43 votes to 27. It is the fifth time that the Games have been hosted in Australia, the last time being Melbourne in 2006. The planning for international sporting events requires the use of a range of ‘field of play’ facilities. Often these facilities are required to be temporary overlay installations due to the cost of constructing new standalone structures. The planning for the 2018 Commonwealth Games included the construction of several permanent ‘new build’ facilities that would be retained as part of the legacy programme for the Gold Coast and Brisbane regions. The Games also included several temporary overlay field of play facilities including the competition and warm-up athletics track and field facilities, both of which were located at the Carrara Sports Precinct. The competition track and field facility was constructed within Carrara Stadium (known as Metricon Stadium during the AFL season), while the warm-up track and field facility was constructed on the Carrara Elite Training Field adjacent to the main stadium.
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AUSTRALIAN TURFGRASS MANAGEMENT 20.2
CARRARA REDEVELOPMENT In 2009 the Queensland Government announced that the existing Carrara Stadium would be demolished and a new $126 million stadium constructed in its place. As part of the redevelopment project a new natural turf playing arena was included. SPORTENG staff were responsible for the design of the playing arena which was planned to accommodate AFL games, ICC-sanctioned cricket matches and also to enable the construction of a temporary athletics track and field facility. During the design for the stadium structure, allowance was made for an athletics track to be constructed within the main arena, should it be required in the future. This was accommodated by designing the lower bowl of the northern grandstand to be removable, therefore increasing the length of the arena to fit an International Association of Athletics Federation (IAAF) compliant track. The design for the stadium’s natural turf playing surface consisted of a perched water table profile with a domed surface shape. The subsurface drainage layout consisted of herringbone subsoil pipe layout in a spider-web configuration. The redevelopment started in late 2009 and the stadium hosted its first AFL game in May 2011.