CLUB DEVELOPMENT
At night, 42 energy efficient up-lights provide bowlers with a shadow free nighttime bowling environment. When designing the Mooloolaba structure, Trevor noticed that existing green canopies all encountered the same problem…sun and rain don’t always fall vertically from the sky. The time of day and day of the year determines at what angle sunlight falls, while wind determines the angel of the rain. Existing fabric structures with open ends allow weather to penetrate onto the greens, disrupting play. Trussed steel, typically used to create strength within a roof frame over a 43 metre width, provides an inviting home for bugs, birds and dust, resulting in high cleaning costs for both the structure and greens. This ongoing cleaning maintenance is significant over the life-span of the structure. Furthermore, Trevor questioned why other suppliers built two small individual canopies, dividing the bowling greens facilities in half. “All these negative factors could be resolved through thoughtful design,” Trevor Scott realised. During the design development process for Mooloolaba, Trevor concluded there were v36/11
better ways to cover the full length of the two bowling greens. Rather than using trussed steel, large diameter high strength pipe sections in a wishbone configuration would create the required strength to span the 43-metre distance. Valley cables over the top of the fabric would deliver both strength and stability, while adding a full perimeter beam and creating curved closed ends would allow for the ultimate in sun, rain and wind protection. It was through this process of design iterations and consultation that in 2011 the Mooloolaba Wide Span Structure was borne. Proudly for Trevor Scott and Light Weight Structures, the company collected the 2012 ‘Outstanding Achievement Award’ for the design of the Mooloolaba Bowls Club structure at the American IFAI Expo held in Boston, Massachusetts. Following the success of Mooloolaba, in 2012 East Cessnock jumped at the opportunity to build the copyright Light Weight Structures design for their single green. The design at East Cessnock, spanning a 44.3 metres width and 41.1 metres length, at a maximum height of 9.8 metres, connects to
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the existing building offering a weatherproof transition from the clubhouse to the bowling green. At the 2013 Australian Specialised Textiles Association (STA) Expo the design received an ‘Award for Excellence’. The process in building a wide span fabric structure takes approximately five months, excluding any delays by council during the DA process. However, much of the required time is spent on design, engineering and manufacture of the structural steel and fabric canopy, these processes do not effect the day-to-day management of the club. The construction time on site, resulting in disruption to the clubs operation, is approximately five weeks for a single structure and seven weeks for a double structure. Every building site is different, but the above times were achieved on the Mooloolaba double green site and the East Cessnock single green site. Management at both the Mooloolaba Bowls Club and East Cessnock Bowling Club are thrilled with the Light Weight Structures service and are happy to speak with bowling clubs looking to construct an all weather bowling facility. queensland bowler | 23