Increased community access to the Fremantle Dockers training ground is just one major benefit of a planned $11.24m expansion of shared facilities at Cockburn ARC and the football club.
The City’s CEO will start negotiations with Fremantle Football Club (FFC) to establish a Heads of Agreement.
This will enable the City to provide the Club with pre-funding of $5.8m so its portion of the proposed works can be completed as part of the expansion project.
If approved, the Club will enter a payback agreement with the City. The Club has already agreed to pay the City $230,000 up front, for its portion of design works for the proposed expansion.
Among the new facilities that will be available for community use includes unisex changerooms and spectator seating. These elements will allow the Club to increase community use of Victor George Kailis Oval.
The City’s additions to the multi-award winning Cockburn ARC will include increasing gym floorspace to 1,500sqm and the body mind and soul studio to 250sqm, relocating the main group fitness and indoor cycle studios, and relocating administration space to increase gym floor space.
City of Cockburn Head of Recreation Infrastructure and Services Travis Moore said the expansion project would benefit the City, the Club and the community, especially if works were completed as one construction project.
“This partnership will achieve economies of scale and cost sharing for some elements of the expanded facility design that cross into both projects,” Mr Moore said.
“It will prevent the need for two separate construction projects so completion of new assets for the community, City and Club happen all at the one time, resulting in a shorter disruption period.”
The City completed a Cockburn ARC Expansion Feasibility Study with FFC in February 2020 and included $500,000 in the 2020-21 budget to begin the design process.
The arrival of COVID-19 placed significant financial pressure on FFC and it was unable to progress with its portion of the design process, until recent discussions about a payback agreement began.
The City will also apply for a $1m Community Sporting and Recreation Facilities Fund through the Department of Local Government, Sport and Cultural Industries to part fund the Cockburn ARC expansion project.
This funding would help offset project costs and potentially help pay for the unisex changerooms, a multipurpose room and umpire changerooms.
The $109m facility opened in May 2017, and welcomed its millionth visitor just nine months later in February 2018, a source of pride for the City, as the centre was not projected to achieve the milestone until its fourth year of operation.
The ARC's success demonstrates the capacity of the unique partnership between local, state and federal government, a professional national sporting body (Fremantle Football Club), and an Australian public research university (Curtin University) that enabled delivery of the integrated, environmentally sustainable community facility for people of all abilities.
Find out more about the Cockburn ARC facility on the City's
website.