CONSTRUCTION
DOCKERS The Dockers’ state-of-the-art facilities in Cockburn are exactly what a high-performance AFL team needs to succeed
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n altitude training room, hot and cold whirlpools, function, meeting and press rooms, not to mention a new oval – the Fremantle Dockers are set to move into their state-of-theart training and administration facility within months. CCI was granted exclusive access to the Poletti Road construction site in Cockburn for a tour of what the future holds when a local council and a high-performance AFL team come up with a grand plan to meet both their needs. The almost completed
THE TOTAL FOOTPRINT OF THE FACILITY IS 24,000SQ M WHICH MAKES IT ALMOST DOUBLE THE SIZE OF THE EAGLES’ LATHLAIN PARK $110 million facility embeds exclusive Fremantle Football Club facilities into the City of Cockburn’s community aquatic
and recreation centre with indoor and outdoor pools, waterslides, six-court indoor stadium, oval, gym and café. It’s an ingenious deal between the Dockers, who were on the hunt for a new headquarters, and the City of Cockburn, who had grand plans for a public facility, and together they have created arguably one of the state’s most unique sporting venues. It’s where someone taking a fitness class can look out a window and be inspired by the elite team training below on their fresh new oval, where swimmers can find themselves doing laps next to their Freo favourites. The marketing potential is exponential. Major contractor Multiplex’s Regional Managing Director Chris Palandri says the facility, which includes 17,000sq m of fully-enclosed undercover area, will be completed on time and on budget – just 18 months since the first sod was turned. “We’re really excited to be involved in the project because it’s so multifaceted and we have a relationship with the Dockers through the Perth Stadium, which we’re also building, and I
thought it was quite symbiotic to be doing this project at the same time,” he says. “I just look at the massive variety of things we are doing on this project from office fit out, swimming pools, basketball courts, indoor pools, outdoor pools, slides, which is quite unusual. “The other thing we have had to work through was the collaboration with multiple parties, primarily Cockburn council, the Fremantle Dockers and LandCorp, who owned the land originally. “So Multiplex was thrown in the middle of that – of course coordinating everything adds to the challenge and the variety of what we are doing here. “I look at this project and think of it almost as the uberfication of buildings because what Cockburn and the Dockers are doing is shared use of facilities, and the arrangements they’ve put in place means Cockburn as an area is getting a much bigger, (and get) better facilities than what would otherwise be possible if they just worked by themselves.” The exclusive Dockers area also includes a private deck > p31 SUMMER 2016/17 WA WORKS 29