How do you design a venue that meets the needs of athletes, artists, fans, sponsors, the media and staff?
The stadium atmosphere needs to be electric
Online streaming has made watching the action at home all too convenient. To trump this, a performance needs to be powerful and memorable.
Sustainability needs to go further
The 2032 Olympic and Paralympic Summer Games will be the first that are contractually obligated to be climate positive.
Experiences need to be frictionless
As athletes and fans move around the stadium, technology must make each touchpoint seamless.
Safety needs to be paramount
The increasing sophistication of stadiums requires greater complexity in design. While a sports mode is the often primary design function, stadiums also need to accommodate concerts, functions and everyday dining and retail.
Venues need to last beyond a single event
A stadium needs to be flexible enough to host local community events and international sports tournaments. It needs to seamlessly adapt from a first-class concert venue to an explosive sports venue. It needs to inspire and motivate people to come to live entertainment as well as activate and regenerate the local community.
Home viewing needs to be first class
Media teams need space, access and power. Engineering teams should work closely with architects to advise on power and data and make it logistically easy to connect trailers and vans to broadcast rooms.
When the world watches the Australian Open, AFL Grand Final, Olympics, Commonwealth Games, or Test cricket around Australia, they experience stadiums shaped by our engineering.
Our engineering services design considers:
People – a stadium needs to fulfil the needs of athletes, fans, officials, media, broadcasting, operations and maintenance teams.
Community benefit – a stadium or local facility needs to inspire, motivate, active and regenerate.
Flexibility and endurance – a venue needs to adapt to different sports, tournaments, live entertainment, conferences and events.
A holistic experience – a facility, stadium or precinct needs to offer restaurants, bars, retail, function rooms, accommodation and solid transport infrastructure.
Commercial viability – opportunities need to be maximised, from retail and function rooms that operate year round to the hotel on-site.
We bring together technical expertise and sustainable design to deliver exceptional visitor experiences and commercial outcomes. This helps establish a lasting legacy for the climate, community and economy.
Our stadium experience
Local experience, global expertise – we were the original engineering team for the venues being used as reference projects for Brisbane 2032.
Queensland experience
We were the original engineering team on the main venues for the 2018 Commonwealth Games including:
- Gold Coast Sport and Leisure Centre
- Coomera Indoor Sport Centre
- People First Stadium (Carrara Stadium)
We were the original services engineering consultancy for The Gabba, since its last major redevelopment in the 1990s through to the most recent refurbishment in 2020.
We’ve completed many projects with Stadiums Queensland, including lighting upgrades, plant enhancements and the strategic plans for a new rollout of electronic security systems.
Olympic know-how
We have a deep understanding of the demands of Olympic venues, shown through our contributions to the 2000 Olympics at the Gabba and the 2018 Gold Coast Commonwealth Games.
Our venue overlays for these events at the Gold Coast Sport and Leisure Centre, Coomera Indoor Sports Centre and Carrara Stadium demonstrates our local experience in developing outstanding facilities and venues for global events.
We were also the engineering team behind venues for the Sydney Olympics 2000 including Sydney International Aquatic Centre and Sydney Superdome (ACER Arena).
The Tetra Tech High Performance Buildings Group
As part of the of the Tetra Tech High Performance Buildings Group, we have a large portfolio of completed projects. This includes the US$2.6B SoFi Stadium (home to the Los Angeles Rams and Los Angeles Chargers), delivered by our colleagues at Glumac.
Our partnership with our colleagues at Tetra Tech, Glumac, Cosentini and Hoare Lea allows us access to best global expertise for your landmark projects.
The digital experience – some of the most important tools for delivering a great fan experience are hidden in digital technology.
Smart sensors
- Equipment with sensors and Internet of Things (IoT) devices continuously gather and deliver real-time information to venue operators and fans.
- This data can be used to improve crowd management, enhance security and optimise services like parking, ticketing and food and beverage.
Wireless infrastructure
A venue needs first-class wi-fi and mobile coverage including speed, capacity and ultra-low latency of 5G networks. Fans need to use their smart phones to:
- order and pay for food, drinks and merchandise
- participate in interactive polls and competitions
- access stadium information, game stats and a fantasy team
- place a bet through a sports betting app
- watch live broadcasts or streaming, share experiences via social media
- connect with other fans before, during and after games.
Audio visual and wayfinding
Curved ribbons, halos and centre-hung displays offer live action, instant replays and zoomed-in moments. They build atmosphere and engagement as well as providing a 360-degree experience which ensures there’s no bad seat in the house.
Our team designs these displays to seamlessly switch between live entertainment, action replays and critical announcements.
Sustainable design – Brisbane has an unprecedented opportunity to define what sustainability means for a major sports precinct.
Key sustainability areas to explore include:
- reducing environmental impact
- improving business performance
- supporting the health, safety and wellbeing of people
- engaging and supporting communities
- establishing robust governance principles including conducting ethical and sustainable business practices.
Electrification
All facilities should be electrified, remove fossil fuels and focus on efficiency. The energy demand of the facilities should be met by 100 per cent renewable energy, onsite and offsite.
Embodied carbon
Strategies that focus on reducing embodied carbon through dematerialisation and material specification will be key, ensuring the facility can adapt to the changing needs and demands of the community beyond signature events.
Resilience
The strategy must ensure precincts are robust enough to weather the already-evident impacts of climate change.
Integrative transport
Precincts should consider future mobility and a shift to zero-carbon transport.
Biodiversity
Biodiversity and nature should be conserved and improved with prioritisation of nature-based solutions.
Circular design
Embedding circular design principles into operations will ensure both end-of-life waste and operational waste can progress towards a net-zero circular outcome with technology playing a key role.
Connection to Country
Design must acknowledge and consider the cultural history of where it’s located. In Australia, this helps to reinforce Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples’ identity and sense of belonging.
Certification
Adoption of sustainability certifications needs to underpin any strategy, for example:
- Green Building Council of Australia – Green Star Buildings and Communities
- Infrastructure Sustainability Council – Infrastructure Sustainability tool
- Climate Active Carbon Neutral framework
- LEED certification.
These provide best-practice frameworks that ensure a sustainability strategy is implemented, delivered and verified through a third party review process. This can then ensure a precinct delivers environmental, social and economic benefits that leave a lasting legacy.
A team who understands people – we’re engineers, designers and consultants…..
But we’re also people.
Bringing our human side to our work means that we think about how occupants and visitors interact with a place now and 50 years from now. This means that our team gets down into the detail, thinking about how each design decision will affect the people who use your space. Do fans feel safe leaving the stadium at night? Can a wheelchair user move around comfortably? Are people connected to what’s going on and off the pitch?
This approach may not sound ground breaking, but you’d be surprised by how many others don’t start with the people. Know that we do.
Download our joint capability statement with Robert Bird Group
