Casey Fields, Cranbourne East

City makes the moves

In late 2020, Melbourne City Football Club (FC), in partnership with the City of Casey, announced it was moving its training facilities to Casey Fields in Cranbourne East. The move was part of a plan to develop the Melbourne southeast suburb into a premier destination for professional and community sport.

But the 2022 A-League soccer champions weren’t getting any old training pitch – this would be a football field with a difference.

Project deliverables

Client
City of Casey and Melbourne City Football Club
Type
Hybrid turf
Service
Civil earthworks
Time frame
11 months
Date launched
February 2022
Certification
FIFA certified

A hybrid pitch – only the second of its kind in Australia

Melbourne City FC and the City of Casey had grand plans for the site to be developed over time, including the addition a pavilion and more fields later down the track. As the experts in executing and delivering large-scale excavation and preparation works for sports fields, we were their first choice to bring their vision to life.

Joslyn Group partnered with HG Turf to build a hybrid pitch using a technologically advanced combination of natural and synthetic turf. The square field can also be "rotated" in four directions to support the grass's longevity.

While hybrid pitches are used at the elite level in England and Europe, as of December 2022 there are only two hybrid soccer fields in Australia – Casey Fields is one of them. (Stay tuned – we’re currently in the process of building another.)

Turning swampy land into high-calibre pitch

With its low-lying swampy conditions, Casey Fields was, to quote Joslyn Group director Paul Christian, “a problematic site”.

Levelling the surface was a major operation, requiring the painstaking layering of lime and cement before compacting the area at 150-millimetre intervals to reach a fill depth of three metres. Our aim? To stabilise the surface and create a firm substrate to work off. The compaction was completed under level one geo-tech supervision to ensure this project met the Australian standard.

Once the ground achieved the ultimate density for the materials used, the synthetic surface was laid and infilled with grass seeds for the natural turf layer. This created a premium solution that will extend the turf's life, allowing players to train year-round as water drains through.

While the pitch was the centrepiece of the project, it also encompassed a range of services, from irrigation, drainage and six-metre-high fencing to roadworks and preparing the site for a future pavilion and parking area. We also used to opportunity to complete bulk earthworks in preparation for a new pitch development.

The last word

Melbourne City FC CEO Brad Rowse was delighted with the result: “The new pitch is a visual representation of all of the hard work that has been going on behind the scenes… Thanks to Joslyn Group, who have done a fantastic job on the build.”