Robins Oval Grandstand

Robins Oval is in Maitland Park, which is an exceptional community facility close to the centre of Maitland. Early in 2022, Maitland City Council invited Graph, and three other builders, to tender for:

• refurbishment work to the heritage listed Robins Oval Grandstand which, at the time, was in poor condition, and
• the construction of two new buildings, one on each side of the grandstand.

Graph was successful in its submission, and work commenced in July. The project involved work in four key areas:

• in the grandstand, repairs and reconstruction of the existing tiered seating area, and the refurbishment of existing changerooms/amenities underneath and behind the grandstand;
• construction of a new building for storage of sporting and ground maintenance equipment;
• construction of a new building to provide a canteen, umpire/referee changerooms, accessible and family amenities, and other services and utilities; and
• associated site work including fencing, paths, gardens, turfed areas, and stormwater drainage.

One of the problems that had to be addressed during the course of construction was the procurement of suitable timber to replace a number of structural elements in the old grandstand, such most of the floor joists, which were found to be in poor condition in the course of “opening up” areas for the work to proceed.

Peter Donn of Donn Architects produced a very detailed set of architectural drawings for the project and, in conjunction with Council, was involved in the administration of the contract.

The project cost just over $1.9m (excluding GST) to complete, and provides a very worthwhile improvement to the facilities at Robins Oval.