Unley Oval Upgrade Works
Upgrade works completion
The lighting upgrade was completed in October 2023 and the new LED lights are now in use.
All works associated with drainage, irrigation and new turf were completed in January 2024.
Establishment of the new turf surface commenced immediately thereafter, and the entire project was completed on schedule by late April 2024.
The Community Open Day on Saturday 4 May marked the Oval's official reopening, as hundreds of residents, families and children from our community joined us in celebrating this great milestone.
Why the work benefits everyone
Unley Oval is considered by many to be Council’s premier open space asset and is well-used and much loved by residents and the wider community for a range of recreational purposes, with community and sporting events also held on this highly regarded site.
The latest phase of improvement works is the first time sub-surface drainage and irrigation has been installed at any facility in our city, guaranteeing a fit-for-purpose playing surface for elite-level sport in all seasons, safer for players and easier for Council to maintain through all weather conditions.
The resurfacing project is a significant achievement for the timeframe involved, realised through the productive, effective partnerships established with our project contractors Belair Turf Management, lead consultants Living Turf, and Greenhill, who oversaw all the works throughout the seven months of the schedule.
The extent of the work involved over that time frame was a major undertaking, and can be fully appreciated in the short video here, which compresses all those efforts into an action-packed two minutes, from lighting install to our Community Open Day!
The upgrades are part of Council’s ongoing commitment to providing a premier, high-quality open space facility for Unley, ensuring it continues to be fit-for-purpose for our residents and the wider community, the Sturt Football Club, and other sporting clubs.
The improvement to this iconic facility is a generational project. The Oval 's playing field has never been redeveloped in this manner, and the end result now ushers in a new era for this magnificent venue, which will continue to be enjoyed by future generations of residents and visitors to Unley.
Council is truly proud of the outcome and wishes to recognise the wonderful members of the Unley project team, under the leadership and guidance of Council, who also contributed so much to make the project a reality and deliver such an outstanding result for our city.
Our Council is also grateful to the South Australia government's Office for Recreation, Sport and Racing, who supported the latest phase of the redevelopment project with grant funding of $635,000.
A brief history of the process
The scope of the lighting project was to remove all existing metal halide lights and install new LED fittings, and these upgrade works were completed in early October 2023. All existing infrastructure was retained and used for the new lights.
The Sturt Football Club requested an increase in existing lighting levels from 100lux to 150lux to comply with SANFL training requirements, with the club committed to meeting costs to increase lighting levels. This request was considered by Council, which agreed and accepted Sturt's offer to pay additional costs. The requested 150lux does not enable the hosting of night matches at the Oval, which requires a lighting level greater than 500lux.
The scope of the playing surface project involved removal of the entire turf surface, which in recent years had been challenging for Council to maintain. This aspect of the upgrade provided drainage, irrigation, new turf and four cricket pitches.
The new turf surface considered the usage of the Oval, and was constructed to meet the objectives of the community and all the sporting clubs which call Unley Oval home.
The phased delivery of the works was subject to weather conditions and was expected to be completed in early April 2024. A significant rain event in November 2023 caused significant damage to works which had been completed at the time. Nevertheless, despite the temporary setbacks, it was a real achievement when all works were finished only three weeks behind the original schedule, a testament to the skill and dedication of our project partners, who worked tirelessly to ensure that delays were minimised.
Thank you and congratulations to everyone involved in this landmark project.