The latest news on our new pavilion

THE  LATEST  NEWS  ON  OUR  NEW  PAVILION

The latest advice on the Ormond Park pavilion redevelopment is that works will commence at the end of January. Most of our members will be now be aware that both Moonee Valley Cricket Club and the football club will need to vacate.
This is despite the initial assurances from Council officers that we could continue to occupy the old pavilion while the $2 million works were done in two stages.
But they did not include the staging requirements in their tendering, and so we were forced to accept the alternative - vacating into temporary premises.
                                     
                                  Above: The redesigned pavilion plan - looking in from the oval
We have been advised that the portables which will be home to both us and the football club for probably a bit over a year are due to arrive on January 29, so we will need to be ready to vacate the pavilion fairly quickly after that.
The Council is picking up the tab for the hire of the portables, and for the connection of power, water and sewerage. They will be placed in the north-west corner of the park, beside the playground near the entrance and in and around the saplings in that area.
There is a joint bar/canteen portable, as well as three changerooms - one for our home team, another for away teams and a third for umpires. We expect to use the third one as a social area.
There are also two toilet/shower portables, and our expectation is one will be for males and the other for females.
The Council did some tweaking of the designs of our new pavilion some months ago after the tenders came in over budget. However, we have been assured that the size has not altered, nor the functional areas, and that everything we pushed for is still in the plans.
                                    
                             Above: The redesigned pavilion plan - the front door - on the north side opening into the carpark.
We have also been assured that the works will not impact on our playing or training, and all the works areas are outside the boundaries of our two Ormond Park grounds.
Our Club will also continue to utilise our shipping container for storage.
So while it will be inconvenient to us for a what we expect to be part of this season and a good part of 2018/19, we expect that the end result will be worth it - a big, modern pavilion where we have the flexibility to hold good functions, and where we can be proud to showcase Ormond Park and the Moonee Valley Cricket Club.
Charlie Walker.
President, Moonee Valley Cricket Club.