Centennial Park Sporting Precinct

Article by the City of Albany

Over a 3 year period from 2016 the City of Albany upgraded and redeveloped its 45ha Centennial Park sporting precinct. The City aimed to create a high-quality playing surface for year round use with surrounding facilities to attract WAFL games and AFL pre-season matches. The stadium and sporting fields were part of the $34 million redevelopment of Albany’s Centennial Park Sporting Precinct. The stadium features a 442-seat grandstand, while the field size meets AFL specifications and features WAFLgrade lighting.

The precinct redevelopment comprised 3 main areas: The western precinct, the junior football ovals and the main AFL stadium ovals (2 training ovals & 1 main stadium oval).

The Western Precinct

The Western precinct consists of 3 ovals with turf cricket wickets, an athletic track and a winter overlay of soccer pitches. The area was irrigated in the early 1990s using Hunter i31 / i25 rotors using #15 grey nozzles with a row spacing of 18 m and a sprinkler spacing of 20m using a triangle plan. The uniformity was adequate, and an improvement over the travelling irrigator that had been used up to this point. The 48 station multi wire system utilized a second controller to operate the turf wicket irrigation. The “Centennial park sporting precinct” redevelopment saw the total upgrade of over half of this western area from the drainage layer up to and including new kikuyu roll on turf. The irrigation was designed by “Hydroplan” and installed by “Horizon West Landscape & Irrigation”. The new system saw the installation of a new pump station using 2 x Lowara 66SV4/2 vertical multistage pumps with variable frequency drive Hydrovar’s fitted to each drawing from 2 x 230kL Heritage tanks. A third tank has since been added, increasing water storage. Water is sourced from 13 shallow low yielding bores each fitted with a Lowara 4GS05 submersible pump. A 200mm PN 12.5 poly main was installed through the center of the western precinct adjacent to a new cycle/walking path connecting to the pump station that services the main AFL football stadium. Isolation valves

Above: The 2 x Lowara 66SV4/2 vertical multistage pumps

installed along the main are used to separate the systems, however, if required water can be pumped across all precincts using either pump stations. A 160mm PN 12.5 poly main was used as a ring main on the redeveloped area and the existing 100mm PVC main on the remaining fields was also interconnected.

Above: Pump controls in the Western precinct

A Hunter ACC-99D controller was installed and connected to the City of Albany’s existing IMMS 4 central system. The redevelopment saw the system grow to a total of 78 stations. Sprinkler row & spacing in the new area is now 15.5m square spacing and all Hunter i25 rotors are fitted with #18 red nozzles operating at around 450kpa nozzle pressure.

The Junior football Precinct

The junior football irrigation system required partial redevelopment due to a new clubroom building and redevelopment of the parking facilities being constructed over the existing bores, tank and pump station. This project was undertaken in-house by City of Albany irrigation staff and involved the relocation of an existing 120Kl Heritage water tank, a new 250Kl Heritage water tank, new Lowara 46SV04/2 vertical multistage pump including Hydrovar, 5 new bores and connection to 2 existing bores and all associated mainlines.

Above: The Western precinct under construction

Above: Pump and controls in the Junior football precinct

The existing Hunter ACC-99D controller (IMMS 4 central linked) was relocated to the new pump house and incorporated a new electrical switch board housing all bore and irrigation pump controls. All electrical controls and bore field wiring for this project were completed by local electrical company J & S Castlehow, including the installation of a Maxon Smartmax telemetry modem used to send SMS’s to the irrigation team in the case of any faults. Similar units are installed on all 3 Centennial Park pump stations. This system now comprises 30 stations using Hunter i25 rotors with #18 Red nozzles operating at around 350kpa nozzle pressure.

Above and top right: Aerial done images of the stadium (photos courtesy Hunter Industries).

Main stadium Precinct

This area is the City’s main AFL football precinct and is made up of an AFL standard oval, 442-seat grandstand, clubrooms for home and away teams, WAFL grade lighting and bunded grass parking for in-car game viewing. Two AFL training ovals are also located in this area, one of which shares with a hard cricket wicket.

This entire precinct was also redeveloped from the drainage layer up to and including new kikuyu roll on turf, the area had used a traveling irrigator for irrigation and had long suffered with poor to no drainage and water logging during the winter months. The project aimed to increase the drainage throughout the active sporting surfaces combined with a uniform irrigation coverage to ensure the ground could be maintained throughout the playing season to WAFL standards. The existing pump station received an upgrade with a complete electrical rewire and the incorporation of Vacon Variable Frequency drives for both the Grundfos CR60/60 and Cr32/5 vertical multistage pumps. An Arkal 150mm self-cleaning filter is located in the pump house and water is drawn from a man-made and recently upgraded lake that collects water from 4 bores and storm water catchment. With significant iron content in the bore water the lake was considered the most effective means of “dropping out” the iron content to minimize any effect on the irrigation system. The lake level is maintained approximately 250mm below overflow level to maximize any storm event while also being used by local model radio yacht clubs.

The irrigation was designed by “Hydroplan” and the main oval irrigation and 200mm mains installed by “Horizon West Landscape & Irrigation”. The irrigation for the 2 training ovals and associated mains were installed by Thinkwater Perth. The stadium ovals are connected via a 200mm PN 12.5 poly main and 160mm PN 12.5 poly ring mains. The system is controlled by a Hunter ACC-99D controller (IMMS 4 central linked) and operates 66 stations. Sprinkler row & spacing is 15.5m square spacing and all Hunter i25 rotors are fitted with #18 Red nozzles operating at around 400kpa nozzle pressure. Passive areas around precinct are irrigated using Hunter PGP’s and Hunter pro sprays.

Another existing AFL football oval and a multi-use oval with their own irrigation systems completes the Centennial Park sporting precinct.

Conclusion

The City of Albany sporting precinct is now a vibrant area boasting new clubrooms, walking / cycling paths, passive areas and playing surfaces that have seen WAFL and AFL preseason games played. With over 1500 sprinkler heads, 200 valves, 6800m of mainline, 28 bores and 5 pump stations the City’s irrigation network has increased significantly. The resulting systems have delivered an efficient and effective coverage.