Engineer critical of stadium site

Long-time Horsham civil engineer Leigh Davies has weighed into debate over a multi-purpose sports stadium in Horsham with ‘serious’ concerns about a proposed site of the project.

Mr Davies said in a letter to The Weekly Advertiser that the site was not suitable for some of the important uses being proposed based on ‘a variety of factors’.

Mr Davies’ stance comes as the proposed site of the multi-million-dollar centre, to straddle Mcbryde Street and include Horsham Basketball Stadium and a northern section of Horsham Showground, polarises public opinion.

Mr Davies said a major concern, based on his previous investigations of the site, was that it was home to significant soil-moisture variations that would be extremely difficult to overcome as well as deep-filled soils.

His letter arrived at the same time Horsham Amateur Basketball Association officials adopted a ‘wait and see approach’ after discussing concerns with Horsham councillors at a consultation meeting on Monday night.

The association has threatened to take legal action ‘as a last resort’ if forced into accepting the project proposal.

Association spokesman Gareth Hiscock said his group appreciated the opportunity to stress its point of view and there was a clear understanding that opinions were ‘miles apart’.

“We’ll wait and see what they come up with, but we reinforced our main issues with the proposal, which surround pricing, autonomy and governance,” he said.

“Taking legal action is the last course of action, something no one wants, but it might be unavoidable.”

Technical services director John Martin said there was a need for considerably more ‘background planning’ work and he welcomed both the basketball association in expressing its position and Mr Davies’ expertise.

“It would be premature to be making any recommendation at this stage. Further work needs to be done,” he said.

Mr Davies, meanwhile, said he remained concerned about deep-soil conditions at the site and felt compelled to make his thoughts public.

Here is a condensed version of Mr Davies’ letter. SIR, – I have had over 50 years’ experience in civil engineering including major projects in Australia and overseas.

I returned to Horsham over 30 years ago and have had partial involvement with many major projects.

Some of those projects include Horsham Aquatic Centre, Anzac Centenary Bridge and Horsham North children’s hub. For the first two, my documented warnings of impending problems were not addressed, resulting in serious additional costs. For the third, my concerns were addressed resulting in a re-design of footings for the hub building.

I understand the Horsham council is about to make a decision on using the basketball stadium site for the proposed multi-use stadium without knowing what is below the ground, which will literally support the project.

It seems incomprehensible to me to find that no deep-site investigation work had been carried out until recently on this site and results have only just become available.

My company carried out investigations on this site as one of the options proposed for Horsham Aquatic Centre, and we also carried out more recent investigations for extension works to the basketball stadium, so I am very familiar with the problems associated with the use of this site and can advise that it is not suitable for some of the important uses being proposed.

Some of the problems are that the site has significant deep soil-moisture variations and deep-filled soils. This will mean all buildings will need to be constructed on piers and outdoor courts and car parks will experience serious movement variations in the future, which will be difficult if not impossible to overcome.

I am also not aware that any contamination studies have been carried out, which is normal practice for such a project.

There is no question this facility would be good for Horsham and everything about this project seems to have been really well researched – apart from this one most important exception.

I have prepared feasibility reports for some of the large projects previously mentioned and it is normal practice to include site investigation as a part of this early work.

This is because proper cost estimates and feasibility cannot be prepared without knowing deep-soil conditions.

I am not associated with any group. I also have no wish to upset or offend, although I understand there will be those with different views.

I am presenting this statement out of genuine concern for the direction that this project is heading. Leigh Davies Horsham

“I am not associated with any group. I also have no wish to upset or offend, although I understand there will be those with different views” – Leigh Davies