2007 FINA World Swimming Championships Overlay
Managing a major aquatic sporting event to success.
Melbourne played host to the 12th FINA World Swimming Championships from 17 March to 1 April 2007. With five aquatic disciplines held across three competition venues, temporary infrastructure was required to supplement the existing elements of each of the venues – Swimming and Synchronised Swimming at Melbourne Park, Diving and Water Polo at Melbourne Sports and Aquatic Centre (MSAC) and Open Water Swimming at St Kilda Beach.
In July 2006, The APP Group was appointed as Overlay Project Manager and was responsible for coordinating the overlay design team, managing the procurement of all overlay packages and co-ordination of the installation and removal of all temporary infrastructure required to stage the Championships. The APP Group was not only required to work closely with 2007 World Swimming Championships Corporation as the Organising Committee but also with many external stakeholders such as the venue owners, State and Local governments, broadcast and media groups, Victoria Police and corporate sponsors.
Even with more than 2000 participating athletes from 175 countries and a television audience estimated at over one billion viewers, the most imposing task by far was the co-ordination of the installation and removal of two Olympic sized pools into Rod Laver Arena. With the venue committed to staging the Australian Open (Tennis) throughout the month of January and other events scheduled immediately following the Swimming Championships, confidence in the installation and removal programs was mandatory for both Melbourne 2007 and the Melbourne and Olympic Park Trust as the venue owner.
Further to this, at the request of the Victorian Government, The APP Group also developed and implemented a strategy that ensured that the 6.25 million litres of water used to fill the pools was able to be recycled on completion of the event within the required 30 hour timeframe.
