Climate Change Adaptation Project
- Sustainability
Partnership
Eric Tweedale Stadium is a new sports facility overlooking Granville Park. While mass timber is not typically associated with large cantilevers, Northrop, in close partnership with dwp, Belmadar, and Rubner, helped turn this innovative vision into reality. Engaged across all engineering disciplines, Northrop played a key role in delivering this state-of-the-art sports pavilion, home to the first-grade Two Blues Rugby Union team and offering seating for 750 spectators. Notably, it is the first mass-timber framed grandstand structure in Australia.
By leveraging our extensive experience with timber structures and our deep understanding of suppliers, Northrop worked alongside the builders to select the most suitable suppliers, ensuring the project remained financially viable as a timber structure. This collaborative effort exemplifies how partnerships can bring complex, forward-thinking projects to life.
Project
Sustainable design principles were a key focus throughout this project, and it’s no surprise that the finished building has established a new standard in sustainable design. As a community-focused project, managing costs within budget was crucial – a challenge made even more complex by the architecturally ambitious use of mass timber.
Delivery
The roof structure design underwent several iterations to determine the best approach for achieving the large, semi-discontinuous cantilevers. While initially exploring diagonally-framed options to maintain simple continuity over the columns, it was ultimately decided that incorporating the complexity into the connection itself was the most effective solution.
This approach was further refined in collaboration with the engineers at Rubner Holzbau, where the straightforward connection design evolved into a set of intricately fabricated embedded plates, featuring simple bolted connections for ease of assembly. The prefabricated nature of the timber supply facilitated a smooth construction process on-site. Timber installers, Savcon, efficiently assembled the individual timber components, with most connections designed for quick and safe assembly using simple bolted fittings.
Impact
This project marks a major investment by the Cumberland City Council in enhancing sports and community facilities in Western Sydney, making a valuable contribution to the local built environment.
“It is a rare opportunity nowadays for structures to have such a profound impact on the people who use our buildings, but exposed timber structures can add a particular warmth and tactility to the structure that can’t be compared.”
Nicholas Boey – Principal, Technical Lead, Structural Engineer | Northrop Consulting Engineers
Related Projects
Macquarie University Central Courtyard Redevelopment
- Acoustics
- Electrical Engineering
- Hydraulic & Fire
- Mechanical Engineering
- Sustainability
Uniting Bowden Brae
- Civil
Everleigh AFL Clubhouse
- Civil
- Structural