Burnie Tennis Club


Issue

Burnie tennis club is the host of 2 major Men’s and Women’s Pro tour events each January, immediately after the Australian Open.
The tennis venue had been completely resurfaced in March 2019. The resurfacing job was of such a poor quality that Tennis Australia were considering removing the events from the Burnie centre. This would have represented a significant financial and social loss to the community.

 

The brief

The courts had recently been surfaced and some concerns had been raised in relation to this. Total Sport and Floor was asked by tennis Australia, through Sporteng, to inspect the courts and advise the council as to a suitable remediation plan such that the courts would be suitable for Tennis Australia to run their events.

 

Process

On inspection of the courts it was found that a total resurface was the only real option that would guarantee a suitable outcome to allow the events to go ahead. This outcome was obviously unpalatable to the council which had already spent considerable funds in surfacing the courts originally. In order to convince council, we prepared a detailed report advising of all of the issues that were evident on the courts. Total Sport and Floor then carefully prepared a remediation plan and costed out the works. After some negotiation between Total Sport and Floor (as moderator), council and Tennis Australia we were able to negotiate a suitable strategy. We then prepared a detailed brief and specification, specifically outlining the works that would be required. We provided council with a short list of 3 contractors whom we believed possessed the necessary skills for the project. Using our detailed specification and project plan (Including suitable hold points) council settled on a contractor for the works.

At the conclusion of this process council then requested that Total Sport and Floor be utilised as project manager and attend site at various stages of the works to ensure the works were being completed correctly. At each stage of the works we looked in detail at a number of aspects of the work including:

1. Using a 3m straight edge each court was surveyed on a 3m grid to determine any pavement variations over 3mm.
2. All low areas were inspected and flooded for acceptability prior to any colour coats being applied
3. All patch edges were inspected to ensure they would not be visible after coats had been applied
4. All paver runs were inspected and checked to ensure no variations were greater than 3mm.
5. All high Areas were identified and ground down to ensure level compliance
6. All surface joins under lines were inspected to ensure no overlap lipping was evident through the lines.
7. All surfaces were inspected for suitable texture and finish

Any issues that arose from a result of these inspections were discussed with the contractor and fully resolved before moving on to the next stage.

 

Outcomes

As a result of the methodology applied to this project Burnie tennis now have high quality tennis courts that meet Tennis Australia’s standards for international tournament play. Owing to the level of detail provided in the project specification, the contractor had a very clear understanding of the requirements of the project and the expected outcome. This in turn led to a well planned and executed project where contractor supervisor and council had a clear pathway to project completion that was well understood from the commencement of the project.

A satisfactory result for all concerned.