FEATURE PROJECTS: Memorial Drive redevelopment good news for fans and players

MEMORIAL Drive Tennis Centre now has the first covered tennis courts in Adelaide.

Kennett Pty Ltd completed the $11 million renovation on time ensuring the first event for 2020, the Adelaide International from January 12-18, is played under a weatherproof canopy.

The makeover of the historic stadium – opened in October 1921 by South Australian Governor Sir Archibald Weigall – is seen as crucial in South Australia again securing a spot on the international tennis calendar. The last time Adelaide hosted an Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) tour level event was in 2007.

The most obvious change is the new woven fibreglass membrane roof. Measuring 66 metres by 78.5 metres, it gives the venue’s 4 courts 5,200 square metres of weatherproof coverage.

Supplied and installed by MakMax, the canopy has a height of 21 metres to the top and 14.1 metres to the underside which is the international standard for a roof structure above a court. Lighting is fixed to the underside of the trusses and directed toward centre court and is to television and telecast standard.

The fixed seating for 4,400 can be expanded to 6,000 for centre court tournaments with temporary seating on the other 3 courts.

The centre court has been moved north by 2 metres to centre the court between the stands and accommodate international standards for run-off zones.

The centre court has been re-coated with GreenSet, the new acrylic hardcourt surface of the Australian Open, coloured blue and approved by Tennis Australia.

THE CONSTRUCTION STORY

Kennett Project Manager, Phillip Barona, said the project had started in May 2019 with December 21 2019 the deadline for completion. McMahon Services demolished the existing roof structures to the north and south stands overlooking centre court.

Following this, 17-metre-deep reinforcedconcrete piles were installed to 4 different locations for the support columns. “There are 16 piles 450 millimetres in diameter with 4 to each corner,” Phillip said. “They are called a continuous flight auger pile, which means that while they are drilling and pulling the drill bit out, they are pumping concrete in straightaway.”

The delivery to site of 600 tonnes of structural steel from SA Structural at Edinburgh began in the first week of September and involved 24 deliveries. The 2 main trusses for the north and south stands weighed 62 tonnes apiece. Each truss had to leave Edinburgh at 1 am for the 40-kilometre run to Memorial Drive. “The first delivery took us 4½ hours but we got it down to 1½ hours,” Phillip said.

Site Manager Kym Collins said Kennett had had recent experience involving steelworks when it was head contractor for the Fleurieu Regional Aquatic Centre in Victor Harbor that opened in March 2017.

Kennett was brought onboard in early contractor involvement in the design stage for Memorial Drive. SA Structural provided input on truss connection details and transport restrictions. “There were transport limitations because of the size of the structure,” Phillip said. “We have gone to the maximum possible size and height permissible.

“There were 4 police escorts for each load delivery and SA Power also gave support. The maximum size of transport we could get into the CBD was 9 metres wide which restricted the height of the structure itself down to 5.5 metres. With the truss on board, it made the height nearly 7 metres in total.”

The trailers have 7 axles each with 4 wheels – 4 axles at the rear and 3 at the front that can all be steered to get around tight corners. The deck also can be lifted 2 metres to get over parked cars.

The 2 large trusses were lifted using a dual lift while infill/canoe trusses (so-called due to their shape) were lifted with individual cranes and bolted together using knuckle booms, basically oversized cherry pickers. Fleurieu Cranes supplied cranes of 400, 350, 200, 130 and 95 tonne capacities for this work.

At the time of writing, Kennett was planning its final task, a stormwater connection to

the River Torrens using directional boring for a 450-millimetre pipe 90 metres from the site. “That’s a challenge in itself because the parklands are used on a regular basis for community events,” said Phillip. “It is a historically established site; there are inground services and infrastructure that are not documented.”

He summed up: “The Memorial Drive Tennis Centre is a high-profile project that will bring international tennis back to SA. It’s a project we are very proud to be part of.”

THE MAIN PLAYERS Client: Tennis SA Head contractor: Kennett Pty Ltd

Architect: Cox Architects

Engineers: Wallbridge Gilbert Aztec

Services engineers: Lucid Consulting

Cost consultant: Chris Consulting

Demolition: McMahon Services

Piling contractor: Belpile Pty Ltd

Concrete works: Outside Concreting

Structural steel: SA Structural

Cranage: Fleurieu Cranes

Fabric membrane: MakMax

Electrical: Programmed Electrical Technologies

Heavy haulage: Rex Andrews

Stormwater: SADB Directional Drilling

“It is a historically established site; there are in-ground services and infrastructure that are not documented.”

Written by John Satterley Images courtesy Kennett Pty Ltd.