Adelaide Oval Redevelopment

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The Project

The Adelaide Oval Redevelopment is one of the most important pieces of social infrastructure in South Australia, forming an integral part of the precinct development. The project has transformed the previously aging venue into a state of the art 53,500 seat stadium, uniting the people of South Australia and creating vibrancy in the city of Adelaide. Maintaining the heritage and culture of the Adelaide Oval was at the centre of the design.

Technical Solutions

The project included construction of two new stands to the south and east providing 36,000 additional seats, significant modification of the northern mound and insertion of a media pod into the existing western stand. A continuous two-storey basement below the new stands accommodates catering, maintenance, broadcasting and AFL changeroom facilities and significant carparking.

WGA was appointed by the Stadium Management Authority to assist Arup in delivering structural design services and to provide specialist input on local conditions and the South Australian construction industry. An integrated team was formed, with WGA members responsible for design and documentation of the following key elements:

  • Basement Retention
  • Substructure
  • Earthquake Bracing
  • Suspended Concrete Floors
  • Steelwork & Precast Seating Plates to the grandstands.

Client Focus

One of the many structural challenges on the project was the design of the suspended structures to accommodate crowd loading with acceptable dynamic performance. The grandstands were designed based on vibration criteria for a sporting stadium, but were also assessed for use in concert mode, where a higher natural frequency would be required to cope with the higher excitation forces generated by large crowds moving in sync.


The Adelaide Oval Redevelopment is included in the following sectors & services.
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