Background

The $267.5 million Melbourne Rectangular Stadium (MRS) will have capacity for over 30,000 patrons and feature a cutting edge 'bio-frame' roof design providing extensive seat coverage and excellent spectator sight lines.

When complete, the MRS will be the new home of the elite Melbourne Victory and Storm soccer and rugby teams, and will provide an outstanding training, sports medicine and administration complex.

Currently under construction on Edwin Flack Field in the Olympic Park precinct, the MRS will provide Melbourne with a purpose-built, medium-sized rectangular pitch stadium with a world class playing surface.

The MRS will include elite training facilities and office accommodation for Melbourne Storm, Melbourne Victory, the Melbourne Football Club, the Victorian Rugby Union, the Victorian Olympic Council, the Olympic Park Sport Medicine Centre, and Tennis Victoria.

The MRS has been designed by Cox Architects with engineering assistance from Arup and Norman Disney and Young. Grocon Constructors was awarded the contract to build the stadium.

Features

• Capacity for over 30,000 patrons
• Unique bio-frame roof featuring a spectacular LED lighting feature
• 136m x 82m rectangular pitch – accommodating rugby league, rugby union and soccer
• Sports campus including around 800sqm of elite training facilities including a gymnasium and internal athletics areas
• Four-lane 25m lap pool with additional player recovery facilities
• Office space for elite sporting teams, sporting organisations and medical
facilities including radiology and sports medicine
• 24 corporate suites with exclusive internal and external seating
• Dining room with capacity for 1,000
• Merchandising facilities, 14 food and beverage outlets and 14 bars
• Public café/bar and merchandise outlet on Olympic Boulevard

Environmental features

• Rainwater collection from roof
• Program to incorporate recycled water from the entire precinct to displace the majority of potable water usage
• Low water use fittings
• Low energy light fittings where possible
• Maximum natural ventilation and light
• Recycled building material where appropriate
• Use of low embodied energy ‘hollow core’ concrete slabs
• Plantation or recycled timber
• Efficient, low embodied energy bio-frame design, which uses 50 per cent less
steel than a typical cantilever structure
• Use of low Volatile Organic Compound carpet and paints
• Fully integrated waste management and recycling system
• Building automation system to minimise power use
• Bike storage facilities and good access to public transport

Construction

• 2,500 tonnes of steel used in the roof shell frames
• More than 26,000 sqm of cladding in the roof
• Nearly 40km of custom built aluminium framework in the roof
• Around 16km of roof guttering
• 35,000 cubic metres of concrete
• 4,000 tonnes of concrete reinforcing steel
• 1,200 workers employed on and off the site

Locally sourced materials and labour/skills

• Turf system grown in Victoria and to be supplied and installed by a

Victorian-based company

• Roof steel frames and cladding panels fabricated in Victoria and Tasmania
• Grocon Constructors is a Melbourne-based company

Timeline

Work began in late 2007 and the MRS is expected to be operational by 2010.

Awards

Winner of the Bentley Award, an international award for excellence in parametric modelling for structures

http://www.majorprojects.vic.gov.au/our-projects/our-current-projects/melbourne-rectangular-stadium