JC Donath East Pavilion upgrades
As part of our ongoing commitment to community health and wellbeing, we are planning upgrades to JC Donath Reserve Eastern Pavilion’s change-room facilities to accommodate growing soccer and cricket participation, particularly for women and girls.
Why is Council upgrading the field lighting and change rooms?
Currently, the change facilities do not meet gender-inclusive or accessibility standards, which limits and creates barriers to sport participation, particularly by women and girls.
Two additional change rooms will increase capacity to service up to three sports fields at the reserve.
A new accessible public toilet will assist in providing amenities for all abilities and users of the park. The pavilion was rated as a high priority for upgrade in Council’s Outdoor Sport Infrastructure Framework (2020).
What is being delivered as part of this project?
Following consultation and advice from tenant sporting clubs and state sporting bodies, the project will deliver:
- two new gender-inclusive change rooms, providing 6 change rooms at the pavilion to service up to 3 sporting fields at the reserve
- a new accessible public toilet
- gender inclusive refurbishments to existing change rooms (subject to available project budget to deliver).
This project’s scope won’t address any additional car parking capacity, existing public toilet amenities or ground upgrades.
What community and user benefits do these upgrades offer?
Council’s upgrade of this pavilion will deliver gender-inclusive and accessible change rooms and toilets to meet current sporting requirements and community needs. Benefitting tenant sporting clubs include Keon Park Soccer Club and Donath Cricket Club, as well as park users.
The gender-inclusive and accessible change room upgrades will benefit park users, soccer and cricket club players, ensuring more community members of all ages, genders and backgrounds have access to quality facilities that support healthy, social, and active lifestyles. In particular, this project will foster greater access and participation for women and girls.
How will the project be funded?
Funding for the design and construction of this project is allocated in Council’s draft Annual Budget and Financial Outlook 2026–27 to 2029–30.
The project is supported by and will be delivered in partnership with the Victorian Government. In 2022, Council received a Victorian Government election commitment of $600,000 towards improving facilities for women and girls and meeting the current sporting requirements for soccer and cricket.
What are the project timelines?
| Stage |
Indicative dates |
| Community engagement |
June 2026 |
| Design phase |
May–October 2026 |
| Tendering phase |
Early 2027 |
| Commencement of construction |
Mid 2027 |
| Expected completion |
Mid 2028 |
Who was involved in the consultation process?
We completed targeted consultation with key user groups and stakeholders throughout the design process. They include:
- tenant sporting clubs – Donath Cricket Club and Keon Park Football (soccer) Club
- Victorian Government Football Victoria
- Cricket Victoria
- external services authorities
- internal Council departments.
How will these upgrades impact the ground and sporting club users?
Some disruption is expected for neighbouring residents and ground users during the works. There will be no pavilion access and limited car park access during the construction period.
More information regarding construction noise can be found on the neighbouring construction page.
Pedestrian access will be maintained to this eastern section of JC Donath Reserve, with the ground to remain open for recreational use when organised sporting activity is not allocated.
Public toilet facilities will be closed during the works period, with nearest public toilet access at the JC Donath Central Pavilion further down Harmer Street or at IW Dole Reserve on Dole Avenue.
Does the pavilion’s redevelopment meet established sustainability standards?
The pavilion upgrade’s design will meet Council’s ESD policy requirements, which are over and above that of the National Construction Code.
The design will incorporate a number of sustainability measures including electric heat pump hot water units, electric or high efficiency appliances and good passive design principles.
Who can I speak to with further enquiries?
If you have further questions or feedback regarding this project, please contact the Leisure Services Team on 03 8470 8305 or email us at leisure@darebin.vic.gov.au.