The Sydney Cricket Ground is far more than a sporting venue. For generations, the SCG has been the backdrop to some of Australia's most memorable sporting moments. The roar of the crowd, the tension of a close finish, the joy of sharing the experience with family and friends - these are the moments that become part of our story.

For decades, COLORBOND® steel has helped shape the grandstands that bring fans closer to the action. As part of COLORBOND® steel’s 60th Anniversary celebrations, we spoke with Russell Lee of COX Architecture, whose work on the Sydney Cricket Ground (SCG) has helped create spaces where unforgettable memories are made.

Russell's first major SCG project was the Victor Trumper Stand, designed to replace the famous "Hill". While the Hill held a special place in the hearts of cricket fans, growing crowds created new challenges.

"There were safety concerns, there were amenity concerns," Russell explains. "It was really hard to get food and beverage to people, so the Victor Trumper Stand was a fairly high priority for the SCG Trust to build."

Old becomes new

The previously constructed Brewongle Churchill Stand (completed in 1986) featured a cantilevered roof made fromCOLORBOND® steel that stretched partially over the adjoining Rider Avenue that the stand backed onto - it was a very impressive structure for its time. The Victor Trumper Stand, built in the early 2000s, also featured a cantilevered roof made from COLORBOND® steel, but was able to push the limits even further. New technology, better computer modelling and big advances in steel allowed an even greater stretch of roof coverage. That construction was then followed in 2014 by the replacement of the old MA Noble and Don Bradman Stands with a new state-of-the-art Noble Bradman Stand - its roof canopy topped with COLORBOND® Ultra steel covered 85 percent of the new 13,000 seats below.

Surviving extremes

In each of the grandstand builds, Russell agrees that material selection has been a vital component. “The environment at the SCG is very aggressive...even stainless steel and other fairly inert materials suffer significantly in that sort of environment... it's close enough to the sea to really have quite a significant impact.” Despite the extreme conditions, Russell noted that the COLORBOND® Ultra steel roofing has continued to perform well in the site's highly corrosive coastal environment.

On-site curve perfection

Another advance that made COLORBOND® Ultra steel well suited to the project requirements was the innovative ability to roll form it on-site, as was first done for the MA Noble Bradman stand. Having an on-site machine pumping out perfectly tailored lengths of the Lysaght Longline 305® profile was a huge benefit, meaning each sheet stretched exactly from one side of the roof to the other.

“Because the roof is an arc,” says Russell, “the profile needed to be rolled in such a way that it reflected that arc geometry...and we got long sheets with effectively no joins in the center.” Lysaght Longline 305® profile also allowed concealed fixing with a unique locking system, meaning no fasteners needed to pass through the roofing.

Reducing the load

Environmentally speaking, COLORBOND® Ultra steel has helped kick some important goals too. “We try to minimise the amount of kilograms of steel we're using per square meter. If you look at a traditional grandstand roof, the primary steel load is around about 150 kilos per square meter. We're getting it down to between 65 and 75 kg a square meter. What's helping us is the strength of the steel ... getting sheets of high strength that can span long distances.” Russell says that reducing steel mass was an important design consideration and, in his view, contributed to reducing the carbon footprint of new venues.

Against the wind

At the same time, strength is an essential element in a grandstand roof, a structure which is essentially a giant sail during strong winds. “These structures are subject to enormous wind loads” explains Russell. “The roofing systems come under a lot of stress...it might be only for about 1 or 2% of the life of the structure, but the sheeting needs to transfer the loads back to the primary structure and effectively then work its way to the ground. As a system, the steel roof sheeting is a very integral part of resisting those very high dynamic loads”.

Colour choice

One of the challenges in a location like the SCG is creating world-class grandstands that work with existing heritage buildings in a way that complements them, ensuring the new structures visually integrate into the existing site profile without overwhelming it. Russell says it’s a challenge that has been embraced both in shape and colour.

“We've tried to keep the new grandstands as separate structures...they don't match the old forms and scale of the Members and the Ladies Stand but we wanted to make them complementary. In terms of colour, we've kept the steel supports and also the roof fabric as light as possible. The Surfmist® colour is not particularly dominant.... it goes well against the sky and the scale impact is lessened up against the existing grandstand structures”.

Spectacular roofscape

Russell is also keen to point out the memorable impact of the SCG’s distinctive roofscape. “The profile of the COLORBOND® Ultra steel roof when viewed at scale means that you get a very fine texture over those large areas...that helps tie in with the finer detail and scale of the heritage structures. On television, there's a lot of aerial shots looking over the ground with the Members and Ladies stand framed by the new grandstands but with the CBD in the background.... that's the classic view of the SCG”.

The MA Noble and Don Bradman stands located at the Sydney Cricket Ground (SCG), featuring COLORBOND® steel in colour Surfmist® in a Classic finish.

Access and maintenance

The strength and durability of the COLORBOND® Ultra steel roof sheeting in structures like these is also an important factor when considering access and maintenance - workers need to get up there for all sorts of reasons. Antennas for digital phone services for spectators, camera platforms, stadium lights - they all need safe access. Interestingly, even at these great heights, gutters need to be regularly cleaned, with everything from plastic bags to dead birds causing blockages. Russell is very impressed with how the COLORBOND® Ultra steel has handled it all:

“From our point of view, what we're seeing is that the quality of the finishes and the longevity of the steel sheets is standing up well to this relatively large amount usage over time”.

An iconic experience

The Sydney Cricket Ground is one of Australia’s, and indeed the world’s, most iconic stadiums. The look and feel of the grandstands, their design and the materials they’re made of all contribute to the  experience of both the sports people and the spectators, as Russell explains: “What we're trying to do in these facilities where you have such elite player teams over a number of decades is have an architecture which represents the very strong nature of the performance quality, but also a real elegance about it so that there's a robustness and a rawness about it... but there's also a real sense of elegance. The grandstands are a backdrop to what spectators want to see, and so we're trying to make sure that they don't intrude in terms of the way people actually view and enjoy the game. But we’re also focused on it providing for sports people a real sort of ‘colosseum’ so that can feel the crowd behind them, and they can feel the energy of the venue itself helping them give their utmost performance on the field”.

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