Sensational-Adelaide.com

THE wreckers have been. Now for the job of rebuilding Adelaide Oval.

The Advertiser this week captured the first images of the world-renowned ground stripped bare of three of its famous grandstands.

Over the past two months, the 22-year-old Bradman stand and the newer Clem Hill and Chappell stands have been demolished.

Work is now beginning on returfing the Northern Mound and on preparations to install about 2000 seats.

The new Southern stand is on track to be complete in time for the Ashes Test match in December next year and the Eastern stand will be ready for Adelaide's first AFL match of the 2014 season.

"The majority of the demolition work has been completed and we're now embarking on other fronts," said the Planning and Infrastructure Depart- ment's Adelaide Oval redevelopment project director, Manuel Delgado.

"We're getting ready to install some seating on the Northern Mound and we'll still have the majority of the grass there. We're still on target to allow the SACA to host the Test match at the end of next year.

"We'll have enough seating capacity (in the remaining Western stand and on the Northern Mound) and the lights will be in place.

"We're not touching the middle of the Oval."

The Bradman Stand was built in 1990, and the Chappell and Clem Hill stands were built in 2003.

Mr Delgado said other work under way on the Northern Mound included building new toilets and a lift shaft.

Two light towers have been removed from the eastern side and the lamps are being replaced before they are repositioned behind the new Eastern stand.

Excavation around the Oval is digging 4m down to make room for a car- park under the Eastern stand and changerooms and kitchen facilities under the Southern stand.

Construction officially began in early April, launched by the Prime Minister.

The finished stadium will have a 50,000-seat capacity and will host various sports.

AdelaideNow wrote:
WELCOME to the new Adelaide Oval Hill - ready to greet spectators for the coming cricket season.

The Sunday Mail can reveal how the historic and famous northern section of our Oval will look after its $535 million facelift, in time for the summer cricket season.

The redeveloped Hill area will take some sting out of the fact that much of the rest of the ground will be a frantic building site over summer.

The new northern mound will have a capacity of 4000-5000 spectators and include decking at the rear and new temporary food stalls, bars and toilet facilities all under the heritage Morton Bay fig trees.

The new Hill will be the first addition to catch the public's eye at Adelaide Oval with entry to the cricket ground this summer being through the northern gate at Pennington Tce and a second temporary entrance at Adelaide Oval No. 2.

SA Cricket Association chief executive Keith Bradshaw said his organisation was working towards providing a memorable summer of cricket despite the disruptions of the construction work. "Any project at this size is going to be disruptive to some degree, but domestic and international cricket will be played at Adelaide Oval throughout construction with spectator facilities available at all matches," Mr Bradshaw said.

"SACA members have overwhelmingly supported this project - they see it as being in the best interests of cricket, sports lovers and the state.

"We are very confident that we will have their full support throughout the season.

adam73837 wrote:Perhaps your concern stems from the fact that given the Western Stand was just completed, the government couldn't really just come in and knock it down in order to build a new arena; hence we'll have 3 (seemingly individual, but I'll wait and see) stands that will look remarkably like a public toilet seat from space.
In which case, .
But in any case, I think we should wait for the development to finish because we may be pleasantly surprised at the atmosphere that can be created in an AFL game here, or dare I say, an Adelaide United vs Melbourne Victory match.

adam73837 wrote:Perhaps your concern stems from the fact that given the Western Stand was just completed, the government couldn't really just come in and knock it down in order to build a new arena; hence we'll have 3 (seemingly individual, but I'll wait and see) stands that will look remarkably like a public toilet seat from space.
In which case, .
But in any case, I think we should wait for the development to finish because we may be pleasantly surprised at the atmosphere that can be created in an AFL game here, or dare I say, an Adelaide United vs Melbourne Victory match.

adam73837 wrote:<snipped>>
But in any case, I think we should wait for the development to finish because we may be pleasantly surprised at the atmosphere that can be created in an AFL game here, or dare I say, an Adelaide United vs Melbourne Victory match.

mattblack wrote:Some of these arguments are the most pathetic I have heard on this forum. Reminds me of the members meetings I attended during the consultation phase of the new development. Rain coming in sideways will make people wet, well Duh ... this cannot be averted in any open stadium, The AO will have more coverage for spectators in the stands than any other in the country. People will be looking into the sun, well Duh ... this cannot be averted in any open stadium and happens at AAMI now anyway. Get a members tick and look the other way. Stadium will look like a toilet bowl from the top .... well last time I went to any sporting event I did not check out a satellite image of the stadium before deciding if I was going to go or not, please stay away if you do this, you won’t be missed. The stadium will only hold 47,000 + standing, when was the last time that AAMI was sold out? When was the last time that a cricket match got over 40,000 people? I’d rather be a a full stadium than a half empty one, look at the atmosphere of Ethiad compared to MCG when you get 45,000 people to a match. The stadium will be big enough for now, especially because it can be extended IF we need. The ground is the 'wrong' shape for football (soccer) ..... Just plain wrong, it will be FIFA compliant and be able to host A league, NRL and ARU matches.

Can we please reserve this forum for construction and keep this inane/obsolete/boring discussion to the 'Discussion' forum.