Australia’s second largest city, Melbourne was recently named the ‘world’s top city for sports events’ by London based consulting and research firm ArkSports.
Building on the success of the past two years, Melbourne will again host the International Sport Facility Management Program (ISFMP), which enables international sports venue and event managers to learn how the city manages to sustain its busy world class sports schedule.
Chairman of the ISFMP program is Simon Weatherill, CEO of Victoria’s State Sport Centres Trust. The Trust delivers ISFMP in conjunction with education and research organisation Sport Knowledge Australia (SKA).
A major criterion in the design and construction of major sport facilities is how their day to day operations will work long after the event has finished.
“Strategic infrastructure planning is imperative to ensure the smooth transition of a stadium from its use in major event mode to its eventual absorption as a key sporting infrastructure for the community,” Simon Weatherill said.
Leighton Wood, Chief Executive of SKA, said that ISFMP’s objective for 2008 is to provide an intensive knowledge and experience sharing forum.
“This year’s theme is ‘Planning, Managing and Operating Major Sports Facilities in an Environmentally Sustainable Context’,” Leighton Wood said. “Over the five days, world renowned experts in the fields of sports architecture, sports service branding, and sports programming will provide participants with an opportunity to learn first hand in the areas of construction, planning, design, establishment and operation of sporting facilities.
“The 2008 program will provide experiential learning for all participants, with workshops, case studies and networking opportunities with leading industry experts.”
An exciting new element that will be introduced as part of this year’s program is a ‘Sport Facility Management and the Environment’ seminar. This seminar is designed to provide participants with an understanding of how sport can affect the environment and a particular emphasis will be made in relation to developing, managing
and refurbishing sports facilities that will
have an improved environmentally sustainable footprint.
This year’s participants will receive first hand experiences at Melbourne’s major facilities including the Melbourne Cricket Ground, Rod Laver Arena, Melbourne Sports and Aquatic Centre and Olympic Park.
For more information on the program, please visit www.sportedu.org/product_isfmp03.asp or contact Sport Knowledge Australia on
(02) 9390 9390.
*Copy supplied by Sport Knowledge Australia
