Project Details:
The Etihad Stadium is home to Manchester City Football Club, and was built as part of Sportcity; the venue for the 2002 Commonwealth Games. The project aims to further increase the seating capacity within the stadium by installing 3 further rows of seating around three sides of the pitch.
The works started with the excavation of trial holes in the area surrounding the pitch with the aim of locating as many of the buried services as possible prior to the main works commencing. This phase was to be carried out during the football season and so required the trial holes to be excavated, inspected and then backfilled and resurfaced in-between two matches, and working around the regular squad training times and the grounds keeping teams.
The main phase of the works involved the excavation of the areas surrounding the pitch down to formation level. This was not without its complexities as all of the services, ducts, drains and cables required either dropping below the base of the new excavation or diverting around the new seating. These works were to be completed between the last match of the previous season and the first match of the following season.
Once excavated, new ducting was required for power and data cable runs for the new electronic pitch-side signage, new drainage to accommodate of the new levels and falls surrounding the pitch, and then the new foundations for the new seating could be formed. The new levels were built up with stone beneath the new seating and then build up the new levels beneath the grass surround of the pitch. The seating was to be pre-cast units, formed and manufactured off-site and brought in at a later date.