Blacktown Exercise Sports and Technology Hub

Blacktown Exercise Sports and Technology Hub (BEST) sits at the heart of the Blacktown International Sportspark. Originally developed for the Sydney 2000 Olympic games, the park has continued to grow its reputation as a world class venue for sporting teams and the local community. The BEST provides a collaboration between education, health, sports medicine, research and high-performance sport to create a dynamic interchange of ideas.

Location

Sydney, Australia

Client

Blacktown City Council

Project Value

$100m

Project Status

Completed

Placemaking to change lives through exercise and sports innovation

Blacktown City Council is committed to being a sporting and active City. In 2017, the City developed a masterplan to enhance Blacktown International Sportspark over the next 20 years. The aim was to strengthen the position of Blacktown International Sportspark as a destination to drive positive sporting and health outcomes for the community. The first phase of this vision was the development of a centre of training excellence.

The realisation of this vision came in the form of BEST which opened on 19 November 2023 and showcases world class facilities, patient care and rehabilitation services alongside excellence in education and research. This project tool won the Australian Institute of Architects Award for Interior Architecture and a Commendation for Educational Architecture in 2024.

BEST plays host to a range of facilities that have been designed to improve the performance of athletes, but it does more than that. The facility has been fitted out with consulting rooms, an aquatic recovery pool, a physical rehabilitation space, a 60-metre analysis running track, an environmental chamber, a biomechanics lab, as well as medical technology and to provide allied health treatment and a commercial hotel offering in the Lodge.

What makes a place

BEST has community at the heart of its values and as a development, it connects and promotes health, sport and exercise from elite athletes to grass roots through innovation, community development and local community engagement. To reflect and embrace the diversity of the community, the design team incorporated elements inspired by various cultural traditions, such as Indian temples, Turkish bathhouses and Chinese gardens.

The accessibility to interactive play areas created to improve children’s physical, psychological, social and cognitive skills make this development a sporting and family-oriented hub for the community.

Additionally, the academy style accommodation featuring 37 rooms ensures that athletes and teams of all standards can optimise their training and competition needs within the Sportspark, taking advantage of bespoke catering options, intensive training regimes and on-site recovery facilities.

The academy style accommodation takes advantage of the proximity and connectivity of the Sportspark to the Western Sydney Parklands as well as other prominent local attractions – making this a great place and attractive option for families, friends and tourists visiting Western Sydney.

Designed by ARM architecture with landscape architecture by Architectus, the hub is eye-catching, vibrant and dramatic. It was delivered through the construction phase by CO.OP Studio with Buildcorp, in partnership with Blacktown City Council and ARM Architecture. Working collaboratively with the project team to ensure that spaces promote health, accessibility are functional and adaptable, WSP provided services in Mechanical, Electrical, Fire Protection, Fire Engineering, ICT, Security, ASP L3, Sports Lighting, Specialist Lighting and Waste Management.

The endless hours and way too many meetings to count your team have spent on this project and the professionalism you all have shown has delivered a stunning facility. Your diligence, work ethic and dedication have been exceptional.

Grant Bambach Project Director at Savills Australia

Grant Bambach Project Director at Savills Australia

Adopting circular economy principles

The project aimed to reduce waste and promote circular economy by documenting the waste volumes expected during the construction process in our waste report. We identified high-level opportunities for material reuse and recycling, such as using excavated material as fill, crushing concrete as gravel, repurposing surplus tiles as pavers, and so on. These opportunities were presented to the project team for consideration, as they would help to extend the life cycle of these materials and avoid dependence on virgin materials.

The nature of the site meant that large scale vehicle access such as waste collection would be limited. To address this issue, WSP Waste design was featured early in the engagement with City of Blacktown waste department to achieve a waste design outcome beneficial to all parties. WSP incorporated a separate waste store adjacent to the internal roadway (external to the building, but within general proximity via a paved pathway). This meant we were able to design for both Council waste vehicles and fulfill the expected BEST waste volumes.

Safe & sustainable solutions for a community driven space

Solar panels were implemented and optimised on the BEST roof area to reduce the reliance on the electrical network as much as possible and to provide a self-generated, green energy source as a secondary source of supply to power the development.

We also planned for future integration of electric vehicle charging by providing underground conduits for cable pathways and allocating space and power for the electrical infrastructure.

Intelligent lighting controls with sensors and astronomical time-clock control ensures the lighting is only operational when required to reduce energy use.

Smart and wireless technologies were also adopted to enable simpler, more flexible, and user-friendly systems. We designed a ubiquitous ICT network that allows multiple stakeholders ranging from universities, medical service providers, retail tenants, council staff and general public to come together and collaborate in a single environment. The network design emphasised on data security without compromising on user experience and scalability to support future expansions without impacting underlying infrastructure.

We supplemented this with bespoke Audio Visual (AV) systems comprising of meeting rooms, auditoriums, and training rooms all of which were enhanced with videoconferencing capabilities to accommodate both local and remote participants. While each AV space was designed to be use-case specific, we strived to maintain a consistent user experience across different spaces for a better customer journey.

To ensure a safe and secure environment for both professional and public users, we assessed and evaluated the complete requirement of integrated security systems for BEST premises. Our Security team formulated a comprehensive approach by consulting end users and stakeholders to understand the actual need and purpose of the offered solutions. We then designed, tested, verified and commissioned a foolproof security system that includes Video Surveillance, Electronic Access Control, Intruder Detection, Fixed Duress and Intercommunication system adept for real-world operations.

Illuminating future stars

The extraordinary architectural concept, colour palette and finishes challenged us to understand how to integrate lighting design to the architecture while adding a playful layer of unique lighting elements. The exterior lighting needed to provide flexibility for training and competition level sports while mitigating against adverse effects on the environment.

As a solution, our Specialist Lighting Team worked closely with Blacktown City Council, the architect and the design team to enhance the interplay of lighting with the architecture. WSP investigated cutting edge lighting equipment which can be used to support slow motion cameras and high-definition recording equipment. All lighting equipment is LED based with high colour rendering and intelligent lighting control.

Our Specialist Lighting experts conducted intensive 3D modelling to ensure excellent uniformity across the playing field while ensuring minimal light spill beyond the sports-field boundaries. The lighting design considers the high night-time venue use with highlights to the children’s playground and landscape lighting to vertical illumination and safe movement to ensure visual comfort and disability access.

Ensuring the venue is resilient to adverse climate changes, the exterior lighting equipment is appropriately Ingress Protection (IP) & Impact Resistance (IK) rated, robust and fit for purpose to withstand extreme weather events. Wherever possible the lighting equipment is modular to allow for replacement of parts over time.

On my last site inspection, a little boy came up to me asking if I built the building. I said yes, and that we did all the speciality lighting. To which he excitedly exclaims, "We love it. We never want to go home." - Ultimately, creating great places like BEST with the community in mind and for younger generations to benefit and thrive is what makes this warm genuine feedback extremely rewarding.

Fiona Venn Director, Specialist Lighting

Fiona Venn Director, Specialist Lighting

Faced with the challenges of climate change and society’s evolving needs, we need to rethink our buildings and cities. They must deliver environmental, economic and social benefits: enhancing health and wellbeing, supporting sustainable development, protecting our environments, and adapting to whatever the future brings. The BEST Hub is what makes a place, to improve health outcomes and grow young minds and body for the Western Sydney community. Through powerful partnerships and multidisciplinary collaboration, we design places that perform at the highest level – inside and out – to create long-lasting value for everyone.

WSP has a long and deep history in Western Sydney, with over 20 projects already delivered. Explore ‘Preparing Western Sydney for Take-off’ for more information.