Design the ultimate sport cover or shed with shed designer.
Design custom sport covers and clubhouse sheds online. Court covers, training shelters, equipment storage. ShedSafe accredited dealers, BlueScope steel.
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What is a sport cover or sport shed?
A sport cover is a steel-framed roof structure built over a sports court, training surface or playing area, leaving the sides fully or partly open for ventilation and player movement. A sport shed is the matching support building: walled and lockable, used for equipment storage, change rooms, canteens, club rooms or referee facilities. Both are built from 100% Australian-made BlueScope steel, clad in Colorbond®, and engineered to AS/NZS 1170.2 wind loading and AS/NZS 1170.0/1 dead and live load requirements (Standards Australia, AS/NZS 1170.2 Structural design actions, Part 2: Wind actions).
Court covers protect the playing surface and the players from rain, hail and UV, lift player participation through summer heat and winter wet, and extend court life. Sport sheds keep gear secure and on-site so volunteers don't haul equipment home every weekend. ShedDesigner carries templates for both, sized around the court envelope rather than a generic shed footprint. Pick the closest template, set your span and eave height, and submit your design once for free comparable quotes from ShedSafe accredited dealers in your region.
Common court envelopes and span requirements
Span is the lever that decides whether a cover works. Most popular court sizes in Australia and the minimum clear span you need to cover them.
Tennis (singles court). Court 23.77 m long x 8.23 m wide, with a recommended 5.5 m run-back behind each baseline and 3.05 m side-out (Tennis Australia, Court Building Guide). Total covered envelope: roughly 35 m x 17 m for a singles court including run-back. Doubles widens the playing strip to 10.97 m. Clear span 18 to 20 m is the minimum for serious play.
Netball (full court). Court 30.5 m long x 15.25 m wide with 3.05 m clear run-off all sides (Netball Australia, Facility Standards). Total covered envelope: 36.6 m x 21.35 m. Clear span 21 to 24 m is the working minimum.
Basketball (full FIBA court). Court 28 m x 15 m, with 2 m clear run-off (FIBA, Official Basketball Rules). Total covered envelope: 32 m x 19 m. Clear span 19 to 21 m. Note that the indoor playing-clearance height of 7 m above the playing surface (FIBA) drives an eave height materially higher than most other shed builds.
Multi-sport / training shelter. Sized to the largest court that uses the surface, then add 10 per cent for line-marking variation and team movement.
For more general school and community shelters, see our school covers and shelter sheds and covers and shelters pages, or the broader commercial designs category.
Eave height, ball-strike clearance and lighting
Three numbers usually decide the design.
Eave height. Tennis needs at least 9 m of unobstructed clearance above the baseline (Tennis Australia, Court Building Guide, Indoor and Covered Courts). Netball plays comfortably under a 7.6 m clearance. Basketball under FIBA needs 7 m above the playing surface. Plan eave height at the lower edge of the roof slope, not at the apex.
Ball-strike clearance. Roof framing, purlins, lights and ventilators all sit in the path of high lobs in tennis and high jumpers in netball. The roof needs a smooth underside or a ball-strike-tolerant lining (perforated metal liner, mesh) so a strike doesn't damage equipment or ricochet unpredictably.
Lighting. Sport covers usually need illumination to AS 2560 Sports lighting. Pendant fittings and dropped luminaires sit in the strike zone, so most covered courts mount lighting flush to the roof line, recessed into the purlin space or on cranked brackets clear of play.
NCC class for sport sheds and clubrooms
The walled support building usually classifies under the National Construction Code as Class 10a (non-habitable outbuilding) when it's pure equipment storage, Class 9b (assembly building) when it's a clubhouse, function room or canteen with public access, and Class 7b when it's bulk storage for a large facility (Australian Building Codes Board, NCC Volume One, building classifications). Class 9b carries materially heavier provisions around exit width, fire compliance and accessible amenities than Class 10a, so the use case decides the budget.
Before you get quotes
Community sport runs on volunteer labour and tight budgets. The cover that earns its keep is the one engineered for the court the first time.
100% Australian-made BlueScope Steel. Across structural framing and Colorbond® cladding. BlueScope's COLORBOND® steel cladding for sheds and garages carries a warranty of up to 15 years against corrosion to perforation, with the exact period set by location and application (BlueScope, Garages & Sheds Warranty). Check your build on BlueScope's online warranty estimator.
ShedSafe accredited dealers, no exceptions. Every dealer on ShedDesigner is ShedSafe accredited under the Australian Steel Institute programme, which independently assesses dealer design and engineering against the National Construction Code and AS/NZS 1170.2.
One design, multiple quotes. Your sport cover design goes out to dealers in your region. Every quote prices the same cover, in the same steel, to the same engineering, against the same NCC class, so the quotes you get back are directly comparable. Worth knowing for grant-funded committee builds where the funder usually requires written like-for-like comparison.
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Frequently Asked Questions
What's the minimum clear span for a tennis court cover?
A singles tennis court needs roughly 18 to 20 metres of clear span to cover the playing strip plus the side-out, with the full envelope (including run-back behind each baseline) running about 35 m x 17 m. A doubles court widens the playing strip to 10.97 metres and pushes clear span to 20 to 22 metres. Tennis Australia's *Court Building Guide* sets the recommended runback at 5.5 metres and side-out at 3.05 metres for serious play.
How tall does the cover need to be for tennis?
Tennis Australia recommends a minimum 9 metre clearance above the baseline for indoor or covered courts (Tennis Australia, *Court Building Guide, Indoor and Covered Courts*). That's measured at the lowest point of the roof above the playing surface, not at the apex. For social and community-grade play, lower clearances down to 7 metres are acceptable but limit the lob and serve.
What clear span do I need to cover a netball court?
A full netball court is 30.5 m long x 15.25 m wide with 3.05 metres of clear run-off all sides (Netball Australia, *Facility Standards*). The covered envelope works out to 36.6 m x 21.35 m. Clear span of 21 to 24 metres is the working minimum to cover the full court without internal columns interfering with play.
How much does a sport court cover cost in Australia?
Most large-span sport covers sit between $400 and $700 per square metre installed in 2025 for a single-skin steel-roof build (industry indicative pricing across major shed builders). A 36 m x 21 m netball cover lands roughly $300,000 to $530,000 supplied and installed before site works, lighting and surface. Spans, eave height, lighting integration and wind region all move the number.
What lighting standard applies to a covered sports court?
AS 2560 *Sports lighting* covers most outdoor and indoor sports lighting design in Australia, with sport-specific clauses for tennis, netball, basketball, football and others. Lighting design for a covered court has to deal with luminaires sitting in the ball-strike zone, so most covered courts mount fittings flush to the roof line or recess them into the purlin space. Your dealer or sport-lighting designer specifies fittings and pole positions to AS 2560.
What's the NCC class for a sports clubhouse or canteen?
A walled clubhouse or canteen with public access usually classifies as Class 9b (assembly building) under the National Construction Code Volume One, with stricter provisions around exit width, fire compliance and accessible amenities than a Class 10a outbuilding. Pure equipment storage with no public access classifies as Class 10a or Class 7b depending on size. Your certifier confirms the class against the design.
Can the cover be open-sided or does it need walls?
Most sport covers are open-sided so air can move freely across the playing surface. End walls or partial side walls are added where prevailing-weather rain blows across the court (commonly westerly to south-westerly in southern and eastern Australia). The wind loading on a partly open structure is materially different from a fully walled shed under AS/NZS 1170.2, so engineering scales to the actual configuration.
Are sports infrastructure builds eligible for federal or state grants?
Often yes. Sport Australia, state government sport and recreation departments and local councils run several capital grant programs for covered sport infrastructure, especially community-level facilities (Sport Australia, *Sport Australia funding programs*, sportaus.gov.au). Funders typically require like-for-like written quotes from accredited builders. Talk to your local council or state sport department before submitting.
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