Over the past two weeks, Bayside Mayor, Cr Alex del Porto officiated the opening of both Beaumaris Reserve Sports Pavilion and Donald MacDonald Pavilion with plaque unveiling ceremonies attended by tenant clubs and the wider Bayside sporting community.

While the pavilions have already been in use, celebrations marked the official opening of these two projects and 15 pavilions completed as part of our $52 million investment to improve all 27 sporting pavilions in Bayside by 2025.

Bayside Mayor, Cr Alex del Porto said the opening of both pavilions is an important community milestone for Bayside’s sporting community.

“Sporting pavilions become important meeting places and landmarks of Bayside and I’m glad the clubs at both Beaumaris Reserve Sports Pavilion and Donald MacDonald Pavilion now have access to modern, upgraded facilities.”

Completed in just under 16 months, works for the Beaumaris Reserve Pavilion began in March 2021 and were completed by June 2022.

Built in 1968 the original pavilion served the community for 44 years, however it was no longer meeting the needs of the community.

The upgraded $3.7 million pavilion was designed by Cohen Leigh Architects and constructed by FIMMA Constructions.

The new pavilion, is an environmentally conscious building that reflects the changing needs of the resident soccer and cricket clubs and will support players of all genders and abilities.

The pavilion is designed as a SMART building responding to Bayside’s declaration of a climate emergency and features:

• solar panels;
• north facing windows to maximise use of natural light for heating during the winter months;
• electric appliances and water heating systems to reduce reliance on natural gas;
• sensor lighting and water tanks;
• timers on heating systems; and
• activation lighting – using sensors to activate services such as lighting and ventilation in use while the remainder of the building lies dormant to reduce cost and improve building lifecycle.

Other design features include realigned car parking within the reserve to ensure no loss of spaces, an accessible car park at the pavilion entry, and unsealed paths to connect all buildings within the heritage precinct.

The cleverly designed pavilion ensures maximum use of Council’s assets, through inclusion of a community kitchenette to support casual daytime use, during non-sporting hours.

To ensure the reserve maintains its natural leafy environment, native landscaping of the site has been included as part of the pavilion renewal project including the planting of an additional ten indigenous trees that will reach 18 metres tall by 10 metres wide once fully grown.

At the entry of the pavilion, you are greeted by a beautiful indigenous mural created by highly acclaimed indigenous artist Stan Yarramunua, a Yorta Yorta man from the Barmah Forest region.

This magnificent mural symbolises the clubs relationships with the site which you would agree, is a sight to behold.

The pavilion is now also fully compliant with the Disability Discrimination Act.