Seeing the future

Bouygues and Basil Read JV hand over 2010 Mbombela Stadium to Mpumalanga Municipality.

Leading construction group Bouygues and Basil Read (Pty) Ltd have recently completed the much anticipated Mbombela Stadium, a world-class sporting facility, located in the heart of Mpumalanga, which will host four rounds of FIFA World Cup matches in 2010.

Basil Read in a Joint Venture with French consortium Bouygues Construction began the construction of the stadium in February 2007 and completed the construction of the stadium in October 2009, despite various setbacks during this period.

The Executive Board and Directors of Bouygues and Basil Read, proudly handed over the magnificent new Mbombela stadium to the Executive Mayor of Nelspruit, Lassy Chiwayo and other distinguished members of the local Municipality at an official ceremony held on the night of 15 October 2009.

“Basil Read is proud to have been involved with such a prestigious project,” says Basil Read, CEO Marius Heyns. “The Mbombela Stadium will not only provide an attractive and uniquely South African experience to international soccer fans , but will be an asset to Nelspruit and surrounding areas where there have been minimal sporting facilities available, and certainly nothing of this kind, prior to the construction of this stadium.”

The decision to construct one of the new stadiums in Nelspruit, Mpumalanga was to equip the region with a much needed multi-purpose sports facility, and also to use and promote the natural beauty of the Province. This uniquely African stadium, designed by R & L Architects can accommodate 45 000 spectators.

The most prominent features of the stadium are the 18 giraffes that stand 48m high and are evenly spaced around the structure. These giraffes not only represent an aesthetic feature but are also a critical part of the structure, supporting the stadium roof and bowl. The architects also played on the idea that the giraffe towers over all the other animals and can see far into the future. This analogy plays nicely into the idea that this stadium will form an important part of the area’s development in years to come.

The black and white seats, patterned with zebra stripes, and stadium walls covered with African designs round-off the wildlife theme. According to Willem Meyer, Managing Director of the Basil Read Civils Division: “The spectator bowl is divided into 3 tiers. It’s a FIFA requirement that all spectators are as close to the action as possible, making sightlines an important component of design.” He goes on to say that the lower tier is excavated into the ground so the 21,000 spectators on this level move from the main arrival podium without having to change levels. On the mid tier, lift access is provided for the 4,000 users of this level.

The presidential suite is located on the west side of the mid level. It is connected directly by an access lift to the president’s entrance and parking in the basement. The 20,000 spectators on the upper tier will circulate with ease by using the eight 5.5m wide ramps located on the corners. Four pedestrian ramps, one at each corner of the stadium, ensure that the design meets the FIFA requirement that each and every spectator must be able to move from his or her seat, to the perimeter fence in under eight minutes. The pitch which was designed for both soccer and future rugby games and meets the FIFA requirement of 105m by 68m.

The basement contains change-rooms, medical, doping control and officials’ rooms. There are warm-up areas for each of the teams and busses can drive into the basement area to deliver the players to their dressing rooms. The main kitchen, groundsman, and service areas are also located in the basement. The slope of the site is such that the north face of the basement is at ground level and this is where the stadium management offices and stadium shop is situated. The media zone includes a 200-seater press conference room, the press workroom and mixed zone.

The mixed zone is where the players and journalists can interact after the match just prior to the players boarding their bus. “Mbombela Stadium will also do its part to meet the World Cup’s Green Goal standards,” says Meyer. “Efforts include recovering all the water that falls onto the pitch, either from precipitation or irrigation.

Designers have conceived a network of pipelines that channel the water back to a holding tank for re-use and recovery cycle on the air-conditioning system, which actually produces the hot water for the showers,” he adds. Mbombela is the smallest of all the newly constructed stadiums in South Africa, but has certainly made up for its size in its visually appealing design.

The stadium and paving surrounds will compliment the surrounding Lowveld vegetation, and at night the stadium will light up as a floodlit arena with contrast lighting. “Heavy rainfalls and numerous strikes have all contributed towards a very challenging task for the construction team, but we are proud to say that these challenges were quickly overcome and that the stadium was completed on time and within budget,” says Meyer.

“At the end of the day, it was very important to us that both FIFA and our client, the Mpumalanga Local Municipality were not only completely satisfied with the construction, but that we also exceeded their expectations,’ concluded Heyns.