Clean up begins at Suncorp Stadium

Having been covered by over two metres of water during last week's flooding of the Brisbane River, the city's Suncorp Stadium is in recovery mode.

In the immediate aftermath of the flood, which inundated the venue's playing surface, dressing rooms and control room, and which saw a fire in its generator room, two Brisbane Roar games have been rescheduled. In addition, a significant amount of equipment was moved to higher ground.

AEG Ogden Chairman and Chief Executive Harvey Lister explains that "the grounds staff, led by Mal Caddies, have done an amazing job in the recovery of the playing surface and we are working on progressively restoring power to affected areas. I am confident we will be back in operation in a short time which is a terrific outcome given where we were a week ago."

Lister said a critical issue was maintaining communications with venue stakeholders and patrons, particularly with upcoming events.

"With the potential for damage to switchboards and staff not being able to get to work because of floods in the Milton and South Brisbane areas, it was decided to consolidate communications for both venues through the Brisbane Entertainment Centre and the AEG Ogden Head Office which were not flood affected.

"This enabled the Stadium to keep Roar patrons advised of developments regarding the status of upcoming games and the subsequent decision by the FFA to reschedule them to another venue."

However, Turf Research Scientist Bernie Proctor believes that the rehabilitation of the Stadium's playing surface may be costly.

On the Austadiums.com website, Proctor stated suggested that the restoration of the playing surface may require "an opencheque book" adding that "they may not have a playable surface for some time to come."

Proctor continued, "muddy water, or in fact any form of water, over a surface for extended periods of time, is never a good thing. However, the level and type of silt of particulates within it will have a varied effect on the differing surfaces that becomes flooded."

Proctor suggested that many truckloads of silt from the flooded waters will need to be trucked out before a new surface could be laid, adding "I would suspect that the top 50-100mm (maybe more) will be sliced off, fresh sand and a new surface laid. This is, of course that a suitable turf surface is not also affected by flooding at their supplier, as most major stadiums like this and ANZ in Sydney, would have a complete surface at a farm, being treated exactly the same in case of emergencies like this."

Meanwhile Harvey Lister has added that through the floods the company followed strategy which saw its venues (it also manages the Brisbane Convention and the Brisbane Entertainment Centre) assisted each other to get through their immediate issues and ensure a continuity in business going forward.

Lister explains that the strategy is "unique in a sense that we manage the number of venues we do in one city. With that came an unique opportunity in difficult circumstances to work as one to ensure where humanly possible that it was business as usual."

Lister also confirmed that AEG Ogden had been approached by the Queensland Premier to co-ordinate a fundraising concert for flood victims. Music industry heavyweight, Michael Gudinski also offered his services so in conjunction with Frontier Touring, AEG Ogden will be the co-producer of this event.

Lister concluded "once the city has recovered, AEG Ogden and Frontier Touring will aim to deliver a world-class event at the BEC."

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