Over the last eighteen months the Melbourne Cricket Club (MCC) has developed a number of destination type bars within both the MCC Member’s Reserve and General Admittance (Retail) sections. The projects have been part of a carefully considered F&B retail strategy to diversify and upgrade the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG) facilities to cater for increased patronage year on year and to ensure it maintains its position as the benchmark for stadia facilities throughout the Asia Pacific region.
Specifically the projects have included The Outer Bar located on Level 1 of the Ponsford Stand at the Western end of the ground. This bar replaced an old retail concession type facility and involved expanding its footprint onto an external promenade so that it had both internal and external zones. Importantly the MCC obtained permission to serve into glassware rather than plastic (PET) which is normal for General Admittance (Retail) areas, to accentuate the destination bar pitch and positioning of the offer.
The MCC also turned the old police holding cells under the Northern Stand into another quality bar outlet, again offering drinks in glass as opposed to plastic. This bar was named the Lock-Up Bar and again has become a very popular meeting place for patrons looking for more of a style address within the stadium.
The most recent bar development was completed in time for the opening of the 2016 AFL Season. That bar is the Robert Flower Terrace Bar located on Level 4 of the MCC Member’s Reserve. It is a spectacular island bar that has been designed to serve onto the spacious outdoor terrace that has commanding views to the CBD as well as onto the internal concourse (to be activated at a later stage).
At the same time the MCC also constructed a new dining room on Level 3 of the Members Pavilion, the Jim Stynes Room, to cater for a new influx of MCC members. This project required SSC to design two dispense type bars to cater mainly for members event day dining and functions.
MCG
LOCATION: Jolimont, VIC
CLIENT: Melbourne Cricket Club
TYPE: Bar Development
DESIGNERS: Juicy Design (Sydney)
& Artillery Interior Architecture
OUR ROLE
With all of these bar developments Seventh Sense Consulting has been engaged to accept preliminary briefs on concepts; liaise with MCC and stadium caterer Epicure on proposed operations and equipment specifications; provide preliminary concepts for the bars and related infrastructure layouts; review and refine concepts; liaise with stadium consultants/contractors in relation to refrigeration and beer reticulation requirements; attend project meetings; provide final documentation sets including CAD plans, elevations, sections, equipment specifications and services drawings for the purposes of tendering and ongoing operations advice to maximize functionality and efficiency of service.