Western Bulldogs and their partnership with Ballarat a success

[Pugz89]

And the CEO just rocked up. Don't know any of the other fans, so if you're here, come say hi to the loner.

 

[LittleG]

And the CEO just rocked up. Don't know any of the other fans, so if you're here, come say hi to the loner.

Sorry mate. I would walk down the street but my little one is really sick.
Would love a report later if possible.

 

[Pugz89]

Sorry mate. I would walk down the street but my little one is really sick.
Would love a report later if possible.

All good, hope the little one feels better soon. Fair turnout here actually.

 

[Pugz89]

Was a great night. Also announced the Ballarat Bulldogs supporter group is a player sponsor this year.

The Brontttttt

 

[Roogal]

 

[Pugz89]

Is there a clear plan for parking? No way they can accommodate everyone there. Was whispers of a shuttle bus running from a parking area away from the ground to eureka etc. Gonna be interesting to see how it holds up in that regard.

 

[bontshow]

Was whispers of a shuttle bus running from a parking area away from the ground to eureka etc.

That was from the train station IIRC

 

[Pugz89]

That was from the train station IIRC

Surely there is gonna be bugger all parking there as well? Thankfully Eureka is near the highway, so might be some back streets can park in away from the city centre.

 

[bontshow]

Surely there is gonna be bugger all parking there as well? Thankfully Eureka is near the highway, so might be some back streets can park in away from the city centre.

I meant the shuttle bus I heard about was just to get people who caught the train from the train station to the ground

 

[Pugz89]

I meant the shuttle bus I heard about was just to get people who caught the train from the train station to the ground

Ohhh getcha, sorry thought you meant people park near there. Yeah, makes sense.

 

[Roogal]

Looking at the face of the existing pavilion, they are seriously heavy duty and clearly not just there to support the simple roof above several rows of seats. To me they look very much like an engineer has future proofed the design to allow for the existing pavilion to eventually be either demolished or built over the top of as these uprights appear to provide initial footing for perhaps a bigger two tiered stand in the distant future.

It seems that the whole ground is being engineered with a lot of future-proofing in place. Even the light towers have considerable capacity to have almost double the lights added.

 

[ivan rassmussen]

Looking at the uprights in the shot above, they are seriously heavy duty and clearly not just there to support the simple roof above several rows of seats. To me they look very much like an engineer has future proofed the design to allow for the existing pavilion to eventually be either demolished or built over the top of as these uprights appear to provide initial footing for perhaps a bigger two tiered stand in the distant future.

It seems that the whole ground is being engineered with a lot of future-proofing in place. Even the light towers have considerable capacity to have almost double the lights added.

Hope they future proof it for frost and snow! I'm about 20km out of town, had my car frozen shut by frost a few times last winter, plus the almost annual snow event. And windchill out in my paddocks in winter is not conducive to AFL footy..,

 

[ringa5]

Hope they future proof it for frost and snow! I'm about 20km out of town, had my car frozen shut by frost a few times last winter, plus the almost annual snow event. And windchill out in my paddocks in winter is not conducive to AFL footy..,

European Football says hello

 

[Roogal]

Hope they future proof it for frost and snow! I'm about 20km out of town, had my car frozen shut by frost a few times last winter, plus the almost annual snow event. And windchill out in my paddocks in winter is not conducive to AFL footy..,

Come on Princess how about you whip out a can of "Harden up"

I remember as a kid that we had a sand pit at our primary school in Wendouree and we couldn't play in it one morning because the water that had accumilated in it over the weekend froze across effectively turning it into a skating rink ... true story.

 

[Pugz89]

Looking at the uprights in the shot above, they are seriously heavy duty and clearly not just there to support the simple roof above several rows of seats. To me they look very much like an engineer has future proofed the design to allow for the existing pavilion to eventually be either demolished or built over the top of as these uprights appear to provide initial footing for perhaps a bigger two tiered stand in the distant future.

It seems that the whole ground is being engineered with a lot of future-proofing in place. Even the light towers have considerable capacity to have almost double the lights added.

Well two further stages already planned, still don't think that will be enough if Dogs play it right. Glad it's the case if so, cheaper to upgrade stands that way.

 

[Roogal]

The following video is pretty uninteresting, mostly just engineering stuff about the roof:



Images taken on Wednesday 8th March:

The new stands will look quite elegant (in a modernistic sense) once they are fitted out with seating, glass and have their geometric screens wrapped around the backs. It will be interesting to see what colours they use on the seats. The colours would have to be something reasonably neutral and neither North Ballarat Roosters specific (because that would just piss everybody in Ballarat off altogether), nor would they be red/white/blue.

 

[Pugz89]

The following video is pretty uninteresting, mostly just engineering stuff about the roof:



Images taken earlier today:

Legend, thanks for posting. Starting to look nice and sleek. Digging it alot.

 

[Hoges64]

Just a little snippet from our local(ish) rag yesterday about the BBSG...

 

[Roogal]

Well two further stages already planned, still don't think that will be enough if Dogs play it right. Glad it's the case if so, cheaper to upgrade stands that way.

The architect (in Video 4) stated that much about the Eastern stand where he said that it's been designed to take the back off and to easily add another 14 rows. He said that from a design point of view, that all it is is just the first 8 rows of the new main stand.

I personally reckon that the City Council may go for broke later this year and seek the funding to roll stages 2 and 3 in together. Expect no announcements until the first stage is completed and the pollies have had time to bask and take it all in. But I imagine a packed out and sold out game in August will probably stir things along.

 

[Pugz89]

The architect (in Video 4) stated that much about the Eastern stand where he said that it's been designed to take the back off and to easily add another 14 rows. He said that from a design point of view, that all it is is just the first 8 rows of the new main stand.

I personally reckon that the City Council may go for broke later this year and seek the funding to roll stages 2 and 3 in together. Expect no announcements until the first stage is completed and the pollies have had time to bask and take it all in. But I imagine a packed out and sold out game in August will probably stir things along.

Rooblu said alot of it will also depend on the game day management and how the council go in that regard as well. At the moment I assume it is on time and no obvious reason as to why it isn't on budget either. Those three things were going to be a big part of whether further stages go ahead. Any idea how long stage 2 & 3 would take to do? Would you get it done in an 8-10 month period between AFL games?

 

[Roogal]

Never thought of it from that angle, I suppose that's why they limited the size of stage one to 11000. They started building in late July last year and are scheduled to complete in late May because they originally weren't sure if they were getting two games in 2017 and the first would have been in May or June. They've done exceptionally well to get built what they have so far although there is a lot of work that still needs doing outside the ground beyond the stadium, so I suspect that lack of current infrastructure will constrain further development. Realistically each new stand should be built within an 8-10 month window between major events. I am guessing that the council may try to secure funding for both stages but build them incrementally so that while seating capacity is increasing, the ground's capacity wouldn’t drop below 11,000 at any stage.

This photo shows local MP Sharon Knight at the ground a couple of days ago:

 

[Pugz89]

Never thought of it from that angle, I suppose that's why they limited the size of stage one to 11000. They started building in late July last year and are scheduled to complete in late May because they originally weren't sure if they were getting two games in 2017 and the first would have been in May or June. They've done exceptionally well to get built what they have so far although there is a lot of work that still needs doing outside the ground beyond the stadium, so I suspect that lack of current infrastructure will constrain further development. Realistically each new stand should be built within an 8-10 month window between major events. I am guessing that the council may try to secure funding for both stages but build them incrementally so that while seating capacity is increasing, the ground's capacity wouldn’t drop below 11,000 at any stage.

This photo shows local MP Sharon Knight at the ground a couple of days ago:

But if hypothetically, if august goes well then they play two games next season in May and august again after the august game they wouldn't be hosting another afl game for eight or nine months, could be enough time to get in and do both stages at once since there won't be any major events during that time.

 

[Mr. Walker]

But if hypothetically, if august goes well then they play two games next season in May and august again after the august game they wouldn't be hosting another afl game for eight or nine months, could be enough time to get in and do both stages at once since there won't be any major events during that time.

I am guessing that the AFL might also look at having at least one JLT game there a year in the future.

 

[Pugz89]

I am guessing that the AFL might also look at having at least one JLT game there a year in the future.

We have played there in preseason before, but surely regular season takes precedence over preseason game. Who knows, see what happens after the round 22 match.

 

[Roogal]

2018 planning for JLT would obviously come down to what building activities are ocurring at the ground at the time. I'd be erring more toward what Mr. Walker has suggested and the AWFL have also expressed interest in the stadium as a playing venue for the womens Bulldogs. Although the old NAB games in Ballarat never pulled a bigger crowd than 8,300. So it might be reasonable to assume that if the second stage involved extending the new Western Stand by 4000 seats then there would still be 5000 established seats available plus the 4000 standing positions on the hill allowing for 9000 capacity during a JLT or AWFL series while building works were underway in a February to May time window.