The award-winning, sustainably designed Netball Central building project was envisioned as an indoor sports venue and a landmark complex for world-class events and the community. 

The first sporting facility built at Olympic Park since the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games, Netball Central signified a milestone project for women’s sport in Australia and required a strong structural presence and a distinct placemaking profile befitting its status.   

Opened in 2014, Netball Central has hosted a range of significant international and professional sporting events, including the 2015 Netball World Cup and 2018 Invictus Games, and is the training base for the New South Wales Swifts and Giants Netball teams.   

Almost a decade on, the multi-purpose venue promotes first-class facilities in an environmentally conscious timber structure that is equipped to host a range of sports and performances, including basketball, volleyball, netball, martial arts, table tennis, badminton, and dance. 

Olympic design, modern appeal

Netball Central was designed to be monumental in scale yet integrate seamlessly with its natural surroundings. 

The unique design is anchored by a prominent gable-roofed portal frame of laminated veneer lumber (LVL) that distinguishes it from existing steel structures and imbues the building with warmth, while lightweight metal and translucent polycarbonate façades welcome light and shade. 

The design team wanted to achieve a distinctive interior aesthetic for the complex and used the timber portals to establish a grant internal scale commensurate with indoor sporting needs. 

The repeating form of the structural portals were designed to create a ‘rhyme’ down the length of the court halls that was juxtaposed with the three-quarter rhyme of the façade’s supporting structure. 

Polished timber-sprung flooring, raw concrete and translucent polycarbonate complement the industrial scale of the LVL, inclusive of a neutral colour palette of metal and plasterboard linings that form a backdrop for select red elements into jewel-like focal points. 

The interior of the completed complex contains six state-of-the-art, timber-sprung courts, the main show court seating 860 spectators, training and physiotherapy rooms, first-aid rooms, change rooms and an event control room with a view of all courts. 

Courting sustainability in action

The Netball Central project translates sustainability into form, using innovative materials and structural design with sustainable principles to realise a building with a reduced carbon footprint and efficient energy and water usage. 

As Australia’s first large-span public building with LVL construction, the materials used, including low-grade renewable plantation timber, reduced the overall carbon footprint and ensured a healthy and comfortable environment for players and spectators all year round.   

The combination of operable structures (such as timber louvres), angled blade walls and light-diffusing materials help prevent direct sunlight and glare from impacting play while enabling full natural ventilation to all courts and creating considered energy efficiencies. 

By harnessing daylight and solar heat gains, the venue does not use artificial heating and cooling and can avoid court lighting during the day. 

At night, the streamlined structure reflects a stretched lantern shape where the open ventilation allows views directly into the competition arena. Once the centre shuts, the operable roof louvres allow for night purging of heat in summer, to ensure player comfort the following day.  

Each façade is attuned to its environmental orientation and with the courts stepping down the tight, triangular site, the design solution is uniquely suited. 

Scott Carver employed sustainable initiatives to ensure the overall building performance of Netball Central was paramount, working within a limited budget with multiple stakeholders and public funding to deliver a successful design solution with long-term benefits to players and the community. Industry recognition includes the 2016 AIA NSW Architecture Award for Sustainable Architecture and Commendation for Public Architecture; and the 2015 Australian Timber Design Awards for Excellence in Sustainability.