From a Commonwealth Stadium to a Football Stadium
A successful two-stage design approach enabled the stadium to meet its initial requirements as an athletics venue, before adaptation for its permanent use for football. To provide the running track for the Commonwealth Games, the stadium had to be elongated. The first stage of construction involved completion of three sides of the permanent stadium, with a temporary stand to make up the rest of the seating for the Games’ duration.
In the second phase, the track was removed, the ground was lowered by 6m (with 90,000 m3 of earth removed), and a lower section was installed to provide 24 additional rows of seating when the temporary stand was replaced. The bowl, which first covered three-quarters of the stadium in a horseshoe shape, was completed for the football stadium. The primary mast and cable structural system, totally independent of the roof plate structure, was fully constructed in the initial phase.
The secondary structure was finalised with the construction of the north stand in the second phase. The project shows the value that can be attained by strategic design, avoiding the redundancy associated with large one-off events.
Comfort, convenience and safety
In its effective conception for crowd management, the stadium's circulation system design is pivotal. An entry ramps allow crowds to enter and leave the stadium quickly and safely, and their gentle gradient facilitates wheelchair access. Innovation in turnstile design, configured with a 120° rotor arm, offers users increased space upon entry. These factors combine to provide a reassuring arrival experience, and reduces queuing times and pre-match agitation, which in turn decreases operational costs as ticketing controllers are not required.
An innovative fire strategy, using double roller shutters without a sprinkler system and containing many services in the towers, enabled the creation of continuous concourses. These allow for mass evacuation and provide large, uncluttered spaces for ease of movement to the concessions and WCs around the building, avoiding the typical half-time scramble for refreshment and relief. These spacious ‘street’ concourses meet the project objectives for coherence, clarity and user amenity.