Commonwealth Games

The opening ceremony for the 2018 Commonwealth Games premiered on the 4th of April at Carrara Stadium, Gold Coast and was in need of event matting. Welcoming thousands upon thousands of fans, the Games committee were bound by strict schedules for the opening and closing ceremony. Wet weather, muddy grounds and unstable terrain plagued the event as increased foot traffic, heightened vehicle use and heavy machinery was present.

Organisers of Commonwealth games were faced with the task of creating temporary overlay and makeshift parking areas over a two week period to accommodate the volume of attendees anticipated. With over 1.2 million tickets sold, 6,600 athletes from 71 nations, the challenge was to ensure venues could support the increase in traffic.

Three major problems that existed were:

• Lack of accessibility for machinery in wet weather

• Extra foot traffic from the sightseers attending the Commonwealth Games

• Having to protect the parklands, private property and public property

Muddy grounds and preserving parklands, however, have been a challenge JWA is well versed in. The heavy-duty bog mats provided a smooth continuous surface allowing the construction team to manufacture a working environment suitable for forklifts and other heavy machinery. Before reaching out to JWA, gravel was being used to level the ground to prevent sinking and submerging. Fortunately, Dura-Base is a more efficient, eco-friendly, and effective solution that safeguards the terrain and saves time.

The heavy matting was also used as a temporary car park. The ground was uneven, wet, muddy and overall unusable. Dura-Base was used to ensure the safety of visitor’s cars while also establishing a set marked area to park.

Our smaller, portable rhino mats offered a path for a pedestrian walkway. Guiding visitors to the venue with a non-trip surface eliminating any trip hazards for pedestrians.

Quick, easy to install, easy to remove, the heavy duty matting at the Commonwealth Games was a success. The environmentally sensitive area was intact with minimal damage to the grassland or the soil underneath. The organisers successfully completed their objective of returning the landscape to before the games began and avoided accidents with a safe and solid platform to work on.