QUEENSLAND COUNTRY BANK STADIUM
Digital menu boards will integrate with the system
to display concession choices while its core
technology allows the Oracle POS platform to easily
assimilate with other systems.
“It can become the transaction platform for all
points of service for food and beverage. With the
introduction of open access API’s and Simphony
Transaction Services, we are able to provide direct
CHANGING OF THE YARD
In a symbolic transfer
of 25 seasons of
history, a helicopter
was used to transplant
a slice of turf from
1300SMILES Stadium
to the its new home at
Queensland Country
Bank Stadium.
The removal and
transfer of the turf was
done with the
permission of, and overseen by, representatives of the
Wulgurukaba First Nations People, the traditional custodians of
the land on which both stadia reside.
The remaining 118,400ft² (11,000m²) playing surface was grown
in a single plot at Gumlow just outside of the city by local firm
Fortini Turf, under the technical guidance of field specialists HG
Sports Turf.
The grass called Greenlees Park Couch was chosen for its hardwearing
semi-dwarf couch, with a deep root system and
aggressive surface growth, which makes it ideal for North
Queensland conditions explains Bruce Fouracre, grounds
manager of Queensland Country Bank Stadium.
“The grass is grown to withstand the rigors of football and you
can literally roll it out and play on it the next day,” he says.
A patented system, developed by HG Sports Turf, combines
natural grass as the playing surface with an underlying mesh of
artificial fibers to create a vertically and horizontally stable turf.
“Allunga understands the toll that the strong
Queensland sun can take on outdoor fixtures, so it
made sense to partner with them for our material
performance weather testing,” he says.
The system is fitted to pre-fabricated seating
platforms manufactured in Townsville by local
company Jackson Semler.
“We’ve refined the beam that the seat is mounted on
to allow for a quicker installation and the profile of the
beam has been changed to make more efficient use of
the material, which helps make the whole system more
cost-effective,” he says.
The weather also played a role in the choice of Point
of Sale (POS) technology at the stadium as systems had
to comply with extreme reliability and performance
standards explains Tim Brown, vice president of global
sales consulting at Oracle Food and Beverage.
“Conditions in the food and beverage industry can
be tough – particularly in an open-air stadium such as
North Queensland, although our workstations are
designed to withstand the harshest environments.”
The stadium will feature the Oracle MICROS
Simphony system, which comprises 164 compact
workstations, tablets and a POS platform that extends
across 29 food and beverage outlets, three corporate
experience bars and additional concession stands.
Above: The tapered leaves of
a native plant informed the shape
of the stadium’s roof geometry
Below: Oracle’s point of sale
workstations were specifically
chosen for their ability to cope
with an open-air environment
www.stadia-magazine.com March 2020 43
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