The Stadium extension provides a venue for sports events and other cultural activities including performances. The design team have endeavoured to provide a functional space that can cater for a range of different activities. The stadium will house 3 courts as well as change facilities and should be able to cater for up to 4,000 people in event mode. Associated external works are planned including netball courts, parking re-configuration and landscaping.
An evaporative cooling system will provide a highly efficient solution for the facility. Evaporative coolers use as much as 75% less electricity than refrigerated systems. They are also cheaper to purchase, relatively compact and require simple installation. Evaporative cooling works best on hot and dry days, making the hot and dry climate of Bendigo very well suited to this system.
The potable water use for the facility will be reduced by incorporating best practice water saving design features including water efficient sanitary fixtures (showers, taps, urinals and toilets), rainwater collection and re-use from the roof of the stadium. The collected rainwater will be used for toilet flushing, irrigation and the evaporative cooling.
The project will aim to maintain and reuse all viable topsoil on site and to not import any new topsoil. WSUD initiatives such as swales and permeable surfaces will be integrated into the landscaping and civil design works. The project will demonstrate a score of 100 or better in the Melbourne STORM calculator which equates to a 45% reduction in the typical annual load of total nitrogen and suspended solids leaving the site. Local indigenous species will be used for the planting palette. These will naturally have good drought tolerance
