November 8, 2026 in News
Championing Better Ventilation on World Ventil8 Day
Effective ventilation plays a critical role in creating healthy, resilient and high-performing buildings. World Ventil8 Day on 8 November 2026 brings ...
Sydney Football Stadium Redevelopment
The redevelopment of the Sydney Football Stadium ensures Sydney has a modern, world-class venue of international standard for many years to come.
Located next to the Sydney Cricket Ground at Moore Park, the former Allianz Stadium was Sydney’s premier rectangular field venue for rugby league, rugby union and football (soccer) for 30 years.
The stadium’s aging infrastructure and poor spectator amenity led the NSW Government to announce that the stadium would be demolished and rebuilt into a world-class venue.
Role of A.G. Coombs
Engaged by John Holland as the first contractor on the project during the Early Contractor Involvement (ECI) period, A.G. Coombs was commissioned to deliver all mechanical services for the stadium under a design and construct contract and also performed the role of lead services and building information modelling (BIM) coordinator.
Significant work was undertaken during the project’s detailed design phase to refine the mechanical services systems and solutions, particularly in light of the project targeting a Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Gold certification.
Approach and Methodology
The mechanical services design features natural ventilation whenever possible. A combination of fan coil units (FCUs) and variable air volume (VAV) terminal units provides localised temperature control and zoning to the stadium’s corporate hospitality spaces.
The control strategy and arrangement of the chillers and central energy plant reflect the variation in the load placed on these systems as a consequence of the stadium’s event scheduling and non-peak days.
To meet the challenges of the compressed construction program, A.G. Coombs designed prefabrication into the mechanical services design response wherever possible. This saw all FCUs, VAV boxes, pre-assembled fan and pump modules and risers modules manufactured offsite.
Additionally, much of the Level 5 main mechanical services plant – which has been reduced in size and noise output due to its publicly visible location – was also preassembled offsite.
A.G. Coombs also brought its experience from the previous construction of the Commbank Stadium (formerly Bankwest Stadium) in Parramatta to ensure effective acoustic treatment of the stadium’s externally-located chillers.
