MCG

Project

The Melbourne Cricket Ground is the largest stadium in Australia and is regarded as our nation's spiritual home of sport. Since the mid-1990s, annual attendances at the MCG exceeded 3.5 million!

The Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG) is one of Melbourne’s most beloved landmarks, renowned for its rich sporting history and impressive facilities. The MCG is a versatile venue that hosts cricket over the summer and Australian rules football (AFL) during the winter, making it a year-round destination for sports enthusiasts. It’s hosted several significant global sporting events, including the Olympics and Commonwealth Games, cementing its place in the hearts of sports fans worldwide.

One of the MCG’s most significant recent developments was the design and construction of the Northern Stand. The Northern Stand was a project that involved the creation of a new 55,000 seat facility, at a reported cost of $450 million. The new stand was designed to provide an enhanced experience for spectators with improved sightlines, amenities, and comfort.

The construction consisted of a design over four tiers with improved sightlines and amenities, as well as a distinct approach to the roofing: a cantilevered, cable-net structure that incorporated a glazed edge, minimising shadows on the field of play. These works also required a demolition of the existing Olympic and Ponsford Stands as well as the historic Members’ Pavilion.

The new stand provides an exceptional viewing experience for spectators and comfortable seating. It also provides state-of-the-art facilities for players and officials, ensuring that the MCG remains a popular destination for sports teams from around the world. The Northern Stand is a testament to the MCG’s commitment to providing a world-class sporting experience, and it will undoubtedly cement the stadium’s position as a world-class sporting venue for many years to come.

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PSV Consulting’s Role

PSV’s peer reviews included the staging of the structure to which we needed to liaise with the design team to ensure the staging did not compromise the structural integrity of the building.

One of the key challenges was to ensure that the MCG remained operational throughout the construction process. This meant that the team had to carefully stage the structural work to minimize disruption. The PSV team also worked closely with the design team to endorse a plan that would keep the MCG functioning while allowing for the necessary construction work to take place.

We also had to include the check-in stages of large span PT beams, pre-cast plats, and the cable-stayed roof tensioned structure with rafters suspended from cable-stays running over masts, using counterweights to enable the use of thinner cables.

Despite these challenges, the PSV team rose to the occasion, delivering a high-quality peer review that helped ensure the successful completion of the Northern Stand project. Today, the MCG remains one of the world’s most iconic sports venues, and the Northern Stand stands as a testament to the skill and expertise of the PSV team.