The $26.7million Monash Tennis Centre and multisport pavilion in the Glen Waverley Sports Hub is ready for play, with the centre officially opened on Saturday 23 March 2024.

The new facility features a regional level tennis venue with 18 courts, including two show courts; a multisport pavilion for tennis and golf participants; 18-hole golf course; practice facilities; fully stocked pro-shop; car parking; a café and supporting infrastructure.

Glenvale Tennis Club will join Glen Waverley Golf Club as co-users of the pavilion and upgraded facilities.

To find out more about booking a court or a round of golf contact 9560 7806 or visit glenwaverleysportshub.com.au

Below is some background information from the earlier stages of the project.

Design work is underway on a new $26.7M 18-court public tennis centre in Glen Waverley, with $21 million in funding from the State Government and a $5.77M commitment from Council.

Council will deliver this exciting project on an area zoned Public Park and Recreation that is adjacent to the Glen Waverley Golf Course, and includes the 3.4 hectare golf driving range.

The tennis centre will add another facility to this well-known sporting precinct, which already offers netball, softball and golf. The tennis centre is anticipated to be ready for play by early 2024.

The project will include:

• 18 synthetic surface tennis courts
• A shared-use pavilion with change rooms, public amenities, a kiosk/café, social space and club storage rooms. The pavilion will be for the use of golf and tennis club members and spectators
• A new linear park forming a buffer between residential properties and the tennis courts
• Drainage infrastructure improvements to the site to reduce flooding.

As part of this project, we will also upgrade the intersection of Jells Road and Waverley Road to manage traffic movements in response to the concerns raised by local residents during the initial consultation process earlier this year.

The concept design provides traffic signals at the Jells Road / Waverley Road intersection, whilst generally retaining the existing intersection configuration and layout (T-Intersection). It retains the existing unsignalised intersection at Waverley Road / Golf Course Access Road.

The intersection upgrade to Waverley and Jells Roads includes:

• Lane Configuration: The lane configuration generally remains the same, apart from lengthening of the right turn lane on the Jells Road south approach to approximately 75m, resulting in the removal of the parking lane along the west side of the road.
• Vehicle Access: The proposal generally retains the existing geometry and therefore vehicle accessibility will generally be the same as the existing conditions.
• Signal Phasing: The layout adopts the typical three (3) phase arrangement for T-intersections, operating at a 60s cycle time to minimise delays and queue lengths.
• Signal Hardware: Mast arm proposed for south approach to assist visibility due to the existing intersection geometry. Median island proposed on the west approach to provide dual primary lanterns.
• Pedestrians: Signalised pedestrian crossings on the south approach (Jells Road) and north-east approach (Waverley Road). Crossings across the slip lanes provided in a raised zebra configuration to reduce vehicle speeds and provide improved pedestrian conditions.
• Tree Removal: The tree outside 3 Jells Road is to be removed due to its poor structure and the sightline concerns.

Over the last nine months, Council has been working closely with local residents, tennis clubs, and other stakeholders to develop a better understanding about the tennis project, and how they would like to see the surrounding area improved.

From these conversations, we have created the draft reference design.

Since the December 2020 announcement of this project, Council has held a number of information sessions and surveys with adjoining and nearby residents and golf players to discuss the siting of the project, traffic concerns, open space options and golf practice facilities. There were 3 on-site information and listening post sessions and 3 online surveys on open space preferences, traffic issues and golf practice facility preferences.

The key messages taken to the design stage of the project from the earlier consultations are:

• siting to minimise negative impacts
• mitigate existing and future traffic and parking issues
• design in safety in relation to the access road, construction, cycle path and crime prevention
• minimise loss of trees
• retain open space for unstructured activity with enhanced landscaping and tree planting
• golf practice facilities to include a chipping green with bunker and putting green, possibly a golf simulator
• improve safety and congestion around the intersection of Waverley Road and Jells Road.

Council investigated several layout options on the site, commissioned a preliminary ecological impact report and conducted a traffic survey on the intersection. The project is on an area zoned Public Park and Recreation. The above findings are incorporated into the reference designs below.

To seek community input, an online survey was open between 10-26 September 2021.

An online community information session was held on Thursday 23 September 2021.

Design work is underway on a new $26.7M 18-court public tennis centre in Glen Waverley, with $21 million in funding from the State Government and a $5.77M commitment from Council.

Council will deliver this exciting project on an area zoned Public Park and Recreation that is adjacent to the Glen Waverley Golf Course, and includes the 3.4 hectare golf driving range.

The tennis centre will add another facility to this well-known sporting precinct, which already offers netball, softball and golf. The tennis centre is anticipated to be ready for play by early 2024.

The project will include:

• 18 tennis courts. Following discussion with tennis clubs, we are proposing there be at least 14 synthetic courts, with up to four hard acrylic courts to allow for a mix of court surfaces
• A shared-use pavilion with change rooms, public amenities, a kiosk/café, social space and club storage rooms. The pavilion will be for the use of golf and tennis club members and spectators
• Intersection upgrade and associated traffic improvement works at the corner of Jells and Waverley Roads to reduce traffic congestion and improve traffic flow
• Drainage infrastructure improvements to the site to reduce flooding.

The tennis centre is expected to be the new home to a number of local tennis clubs who will have the opportunity to play on state-of-the-art synthetic courts while still retaining the camaraderie and family feel of community tennis.

Since the December 2020 announcement of this project, Council has held a number of information sessions with residents who live in the properties around the driving range site and open space to discuss the siting of the project and to hear their views.

The residents asked Council to investigate some different options on the site rather than the driving range, including whether the tennis centre could be located on a section of the 6^th hole of the golf course or the 17^th hole.

Council’s City Design team designed 12 options based on feedback from the residents.

Council has undertaken the investigation of various options on the site, and considered several criteria including impact to the environment (flora and fauna), cost, the requirement to redesign sections of the golf course to accommodate the courts, impact to other stakeholders including golfers and future requirements of resident tennis clubs.

Council sought the guidance of its own staff as well as external experts including golf course designers Wellplayed and environment consultants Practical Ecology, to guide this investigation.

Following that investigation, Council has determined a preferred option for the site based on its scoring in the assessment criteria.

A resident also submitted a plan for the 17^th hole for consideration and spoke to this at the 1 March community information session. Council committed to assessing this option (9C) against the criteria used for the other 12 options.

You can view the 13 designs in the document library with the ‘traffic light’ summary of the assessments.