SUSTAINABILITY
75 Years!
Born in 1947 in The Netherlands, indispensable in Belgian sports construction since 55 years, German sports hall champion for 50 years and last but not least: 38 years of successful sports activities in Great Britain.
Sports facility construction is our passion. Collaborative, digital - and therefore time and cost efficient - project management is the focus of our overall process. We use LEAN planning methodology to set up your projects, always using the latest technology and BIM methods to optimise design and construction processes. We don’t just think about tomorrow, we focus on the distant future: We make our buildings sustainable, efficient and with a high well-being factor.
Editorial
DEAR IAKS MEMBERS AND “SB” READERS,
As people around the world struggle to come to terms with the impact of extreme weather pat terns, as well as trying to work out how to cope with the effect of huge rises in energy prices on their households, the issues around sustainabil ity and environmental design have taken on an even greater sense of urgency and significance.
The 2021 United Nations Climate Change Con ference in Glasgow (COP 26) had seen renewed efforts to move towards renewable energy and target urgent cuts in greenhouse gas emissions, with many countries committing to net carbon zero targets.
This issue of “sb” magazine takes a look at “sustainability” in a broader sense. More than ever, we are dedicated to going beyond just a discussion around design principles, to also in clude management and operation decisions in the reports.
Based on comprehensive data of around 100 sports and leisure buildings from six decades, architecture firm FaulknerBrowns developes values for embedding carbon reduction into the design process. Partner Michael Hall and Senior Associate Irina Korneychuk also under take a certified Whole Life Carbon assessment of the recently completed Ravelin Sports Centre in Portsmouth, UK. The findings are interesting but sometimes counterintuitive.
With reference to recent projects in Australia, such as the Ken Rosewall Arena, Queensland Country Bank Stadium, Sydney Football Sta dium, and Optus Stadium, their architects dis cuss design principles and the impact on a “net zero” facility.
The choice of material is also crucial to net carbon zero targets. The case study of the Eric Tweedale Stadium in Merrylands, Australia, high lights how timber construction can be a key element in delivering a highly sustainable devel opment that is low carbon, low waste, and highly energy efficient.
The Climate Pledge Arena in Seattle, USA, is poised to become the world’s first arena to earn a net zero carbon certification from the Interna tional Living Future Institute. It embraces sustain able design by employing numerous sustainable practice and operations – including being pow ered solely by renewable energy sources – and by retaining the existing roof and façade of the original building – significantly reducing the em bodied energy in construction.
Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta, USA, was the first professional sports stadium in the USA to achieve LEED Platinum, incorporating a range of sustainability measures that includes energy reduction, renewable energy, stormwater man agement, and the inclusion of an urban garden.
La Trobe Sports Stadium in Melbourne, Aus tralia, incorporates a high-performance building fabric that lowers energy use and greenhouse gas emissions, as well as incorporating rainwater harvesting for the outdoor parkland area.
CommBank Stadium in Sydney, Australia, is the first stadium in the world to achieve the new LEED v4 Gold certification for sustainability. The project achieved a 40 % reduction in global warming potential through measures like the integration of solar panels on the roof.
The energy-neutral Sports Hall in Zwolle, Netherlands, incorporates a series of energysaving measures that allow its overall building performance to deliver an energy-neutral status.
I hope that the examples of sustainability show cased in this issue of “sb” magazine will help to encourage you in your own efforts to promote sustainable design and operation in the sports and leisure sector.
Tom Jones Senior Principal, Populous IAKS Vice President
SUSTAINABILITY
PROJECTS
Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta
AMB Sports + Entertainment
On the path to “net zero” energy stadiums
Dr Matthias Irger and Russell Lee, COX architecture
Reducing the carbon footprint of sports and leisure centres
Michael Hall and Irina Korneychuk, FaulknerBrowns
The new age of timber
Ivana Simkovic, dwp – design worldwide partnership
Climate Pledge Arena in Seattle
La Trobe University Sports Stadium
Warren and Mahoney, MJMA
CommBank Stadium in Parramatta
The newly built WRZV halls in Zwolle
Pellikaan Bouwbedrijf
PROFESSIONALS & PROFILES
DENMARK LEADING THE WAY IN ACTIVE LIVING
IAKS CONFERENCE “INNOVATIVE OUTDOOR ACTIVITY AREAS” IN ODENSE
On 5 and 6 October, the “Lab for Innovation and Play” at SDU Southern Denmark University in Odense was packed with 50 experts from 11 countries for a day full of information, learnings, and discussions.
Internationally renowned researchers from SDU presented their findings about „Active Living“. Jens Troelsen, Jasper Schipperijn, Bjarne Ibsen, and Signe Højbjerre Larsen (all SDU Department of Sports Science and Clinical Biome chanics) shared their knowledge around the question “What does active living mean for developing cities and providing infrastructure?”
Maria Keinicke (KEINGART), Rachel Kenny (ARUP), and Mikkel Hjort (Transparent Design) presented exemplary projects and approaches for “temptations to move”, “walk able cities”, and “participative design”. Casper Lindemann (DIF) and Jens Øyås Møller (LOA Foundation) showed ex amples of successful trail centres for outdoor sports as well as for water sports.
Supported by
The SDU Sports Science Department and the prize-winning Athletics Exploratorium were the perfect setting for pre senting and discussing innovative ideas for facilitating active living. Some (provocative) conclusions were: Don’t build or upgrade any facility, unless you know what the community in the neighbourhood needs, and without knowing which institution, group or club will take the “own ership” of the facility to fill it with life and activities.
Hitting the nail on the head, Maria Keinicke summed up her five steps to meaningful innovation: 1) Base everything on knowledge from research; 2) Find local evidence by listen ing and learning; 3) Develop different scenarios; 4) Create a new synthesis by pushing boundaries; and 5) Evaluate and adjust to improve and learn.
IAKS AUSTRIA’S CONGRESS “BEWEGTES ÖSTERREICH” IN SALZBURG/RIF, 21 SEPTEMBER FOCUSED ON LOCAL SPORTS PROJECTS
The IAKS Congress “Bewegtes Österreich” brought togeth er participants from various fields on 21 September in Salz burg/Rif to discuss the future of Austria’s sports facilities. The focus was on local sports projects, reports on experience in Germany and the relevance of sports centres in Austria. Chaired by Marissa Jöbstl, eight speakers gave exciting insights into the current state and potential of Austria’s sports facilities.
Sports facilities and spaces for people
IAKS Germany President Prof. Dr Robin Kähler kicked off the event with an engaging keynote speech on the topic of
“Sports facilities and spaces for people”, in which he addressed the current challenges, the range of facilities currently available and ideas on sports facility architecture. Among other things, the 76-year-old from Mannheim presented his findings that “current sports spaces exclude certain groups (such as women, children and people with disabilities)” and, above all, that “school halls are outdated and their interiors were defined 100 years ago”. Ending with the words “architecture can do more than it does”, the first lecture set the tone for the rest of the IAKS Congress day.
(Report by: Nils Daiker)
IAKS UK AUTUMN EVENT
TOTTENHAM HOTSPUR STADIUM, 22 NOVEMBER 2022
IAKS UK is arranging a one-day seminar at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in London on Tuesday 22 November. The day will consist of seminars looking at issues around venue operations and sustainability that are affecting sports and leisure facilities, as well as including a comprehensive tour of the stadium after lunch and a panel discussion to close the day. The stadium won a Gold Medal at the 2021 IOC IPC IAKS architecture prizes and showcases lots of design inno vation in its main concourse and hospitality spaces, as well as the innovative sliding pitch that moves under the south stand to reveal the artificial pitch for NFL matches.
2ND INTERNATIONAL IAKS POOL CONFERENCE
POOL CONFERENCE AND FACILITY TOUR TO NORWAY‘S FUTUREBUILT MODEL PROJECT IN NORWAY, 7 8 SEPTEMBER
More than 60 international experts from Austria, Canada, Denmark, Germany, Iceland, Norway, Switzer land and the UK converged for the 2nd IAKS Pool Conference which took place in Asker, Norway from 7-8 September. They discussed energy efficiency in pools, embodied carbon in pool buildings, the feasibility of a climate neutral pool, alternative air circulation concepts, and pool water quality.
The sustainability concepts of Holmen pool in Asker and the aquatic facility at Baerum Sports Park were presented at the conference, rounded up by the impressing facility tour of these two best practice examples. The delegates continued to exchange thoughts and ideas during the net working dinner.
How to reduce embodied carbon? Most experts agreed that in general, the aquatic facility industry is well on its way to apply all relevant technologies and methods for building and operating energy-efficient pools. They see a big po tential to operate more sustainably by increasing visitor numbers. The more people use a facility, the smaller the operational carbon emissions per person.
FaulknerBrowns Partner Michael Hall summed up the dif ferent stages of embodied carbon reduction: Retrofit first, build less, build lean, build to last, build for reuse. www.iaks.sport/events
View picture gallery!
This is what people said
„This was a great event to discuss holistic approaches to build and o perate future indoor swimming pool facilities.“
Prof. Dr-Ing. Wolfgang Uhl, Aquateam COWI, Norway
Jens Øyås Møller, Danish Foundation for Culture and Sports Facilities, Denmark
„Thank you for an interesting program and thanks to all for visiting our Norwegian pools!“
Elisabeth Kolrud Head of Sustainability, Asplan Viak, Norway
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„Very inspiring conference and facility tour!“
NEW TO THE IAKS NETWORK
KATASKEVES DAPEDON, THESSALONIKI (GREECE )
Kataskeves Dapedon Ltd. (KDF) is one of the most dynamic and export-oriented Greek companies (exporting to 70 countries on four continents), with production facilities and warehouses for both acrylics and polyurethanes sports flooring.
KDF has deep knowledge in sports flooring in Europe, pro viding complete acrylic or polyurethane-based solutions for indoor and outdoor sports courts and halls, as well as wet-pour playgrounds, running tracks and PU binder and glues. Operating under the requirement of ISO 9001/2015 gives particular attention to provide a fully upgraded range of products and services. The company provides certi fied systems by ITF, WORLD ATHLETICS, EU norms, LNE, LABOSPORT, ISASPORT and more.
www.kdf.gr
AQUATICUS DESIGN & CONSULTANCY, GREENSBOROUGH (AUSTRALIA)
Aquaticus Design & Consultancy (ADC) is a complete ly independent design and consultancy firm specializing in commercial swimming pool and aquatics projects. With over 25 years‘ experience in the building and construction industry, ADC provide complete, homogenous, and fully coordinated design packages including structures, water treatment, hydraulics, and finishes. This simplifies the ten dering process and avoids vital elements being omitted or forgotten about during the design or construction phases.
We pride ourselves on our commitment to provide a pro fessional and speedy service at all times, whilst maintaining the highest quality of work. ADC take on all types of com mercial aquatic projects, with all work all conducted to the highest standards. www.aquaticus.com.au
MUNICIPALITY OF BÜLACH (SWITZERLAND)
Founded in 1384, Bülach is a town with tradition and today the prosperous and growing centre of the Zürcher Unter land with a population of around 23,000. The sports centre features an indoor swimming pool with a wellness area, a covered artificial ice rink and one of the largest uncovered outdoor ice rinks in Switzerland. The facilities are comple mented by a mini-golf course, inline skating hall, tennis court, and a climbing and bouldering hall. The adjoining multifunctional sports hall rounds off the facilities. Also available are an outdoor swimming pool, various walking, biking and inline-skating trails, and football pitches. The municipality of Bülach assists clubs and athletes and oper ates the sports infrastructures.
www.buelach.chCO OP STUDIO, MELBOURNE (AUSTRALIA)
CO-OP Studio is a leading architecture firm with a clear focus on design of elite sport and community recrea tion facilities, with demonstrated capacity for delivery of complex, multi-faceted projects. The range of experience includes grass-roots level masterplans through to design, documentation and delivery of high performance facilities and venues. The studio champions an integrated, collabo rative approach and seeks to provide innovative, flexible and highly functional design outcomes. The practice is built around an ethos of client focused delivery and providing high quality design solutions that are responsive to the cli ent’s objectives and priorities.
www.co-opstudio.com.au
GEORGE DEVENISH, GISBORNE (AUSTRALIA)
As founder and Director of iDwala, George Devenish is a specialist consultant for the design and construction of out door sporting facilities.
Delivering innovative designs, technical expertise and advice on hundreds of sports facility projects, George has proven himself to be a highly sought-after consultant capable of offering his clients the benefit of in-depth con struction experience coupled with strong technical design skills.
Having contributed to the civil construction, mainte nance and sports surfacing industry for over 25 years, George’s innovative solutions are helping clients to meet the needs of Australia’s growing sports and active recrea tion community.
HARO Sports Flooring & Protective Walls:
Double experience
For more than half a century, Hamberger has been developing and producing one of the most important pieces of sports equipment: the flooring. HARO’s Protect Light, the new generation of area elastic protective walls, sets new benchmarks once again. All-in-one solutions for sports and multi-purpose halls that exceed all current standards, guarantee to comply with official regulations and also allow a fast and cost effective installation, are now possible. That’s for sure!
MATTHEW COHEN, PHUKET ( THAILAND)
As the Managing Director and founder of Trackmaster International, Matthew has been a true industry leader for the last 30+ years. Having worked in a staggering 80+ dif ferent countries throughout his career, Matthew has under taken 40 % of the world‘s Class-1 athletics track surveying and line marking, with a reference list boasting some of the world’s most prestigious and internationally acclaimed sta diums, Olympic venues and world class facilities.
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FROM CASUAL PLAY TO SPORTING EXCELLENCE
BURNABY LAKE AQUATIC & ARENA FACILITY IN BURNABY, BC, CANADAThe Burnaby Lake Aquatic & Arena Facility will be a destination recreation facility with a widely stretched program from the NHL-sized ice rink, and spectator seating, to the 25-m pool, 50-m pool, leisure pool, hot pools, universal change rooms and washrooms, shared social spaces, reception, and café.
Connecting seamlessly to an existing competition-focused ice arena with extensive spectator seating, this facility re places an existing ice rink and indoor pool facility that have both reached the end of their useable lives.
The design is influenced by the history of Burnaby Lake to the west of the site, formerly a wetland and Indigenous fish ing place that was infilled over time as a result of settler ac tivities. Its potential for recreational uses resulted in repeat ed dredging to reclaim the lake in a rectilinear form de signed to permit rowing.
Over time, the natural habitat has been allowed to return, changing the area back to a seasonal marshland, with salmon now returning to the area. The facility, inspired by the tension between man-made forms and natural recla mation seen in the adjacent wetlands, is designed as a series of man-made forms placed within the landscape, separated and sculpted over time.
Natural organic forms
A series of large, sculpted volumes contains the large formal programmatic elements, such as the ice arena, the 50-m pool, 25-m pools, and the leisure pool. These formal volumes are sensitively located to allow for the “natural” spaces in-between, that contain informal program elements such as hot pools, universal changerooms, wellness
features and shared social spaces. Large glazing and natu ral organic forms within these spaces enhance a connection to the surrounding landscape, offering expansive views across Burnaby Lake Park.
Environmental performance
Respecting its role as a responsible custodian of the land, the facility is designed with highly efficient envelope, water management and building systems. Furthermore, the building will rely on electricity as a daily energy source; a gas connection is available for generators in emergency scenarios. These measures will considerably reduce the building greenhouse gas emissions to approximately 9 kg CO2 /m²/y, making this facility the lowest carbon emitter for its building typology in Canada.
Rainwater will be used for pool tops, extensive bioswales will manage storm water, and retention tanks will reduce year-round potable water for irrigation by 20 %. The gen erous social spaces, universal changerooms / washrooms, and accessible design features will create a welcoming place for all, inspiring positive change and connection within communities and the unique local environment.
The completion is estimated for 2025.
MANAGING “SUSTAINABILITY” AND CLIMATE ADAPTATION IN FACILITIES
A MATTER OF SURVIVAL
More than just a buzzword, “sustainability” captures exactly what is needed at this moment: an economy which co-exists with the environment. Far too often, “sustainability” only implies an understanding of how sport impacts the environment. However, sport has a bidirectional relationship with the environment: envi ronment is also impacting sport. The author advocates for adjusting our thinking to consider both directions in addressing environment and climate.
Management’s approach to sustainability Based on my own research into the perspectives that facility managers have on sustainability, there is a recognition of the importance of the topic and the need to address it. But many are prevented from adopting environmentally sustain able practices for a variety of reasons: budget, time between events, physical infrastructure capacity, person power, and lack of knowledge on the topic.
Some of these are easy to understand: new technologies can be expensive, too many events leave little time to make wholesale changes, and older buildings were not designed to accommodate current infrastructure needs. Each build ing also comes with its own challenges depending upon the sports and leisure activities it accommodates.
Management might recognize the need for sustainability but lacks the first-hand knowledge to do something with it –especially if people in charge have been in the industry since before sustainability was a concern. In response, often one of these two actions is undertaken: create a sustainability team or assign sustainability to one individual.
Sustainability teams have varying degrees of success but are highly dependent upon their power to make change versus recommend change. Recommendations are easy to dismiss, but we are often afraid to assign an ad hoc team (or commit tee) any real power. It can be difficult to strike a balance be tween upper-level decision-makers, lower-level employees who are responsible for carrying out these tasks, and other organisational and community members you might wish to include.
You see variations in success for individuals who get assigned sustainability too. Often sustainability becomes the respon sibility of people in operations or finance. Some hire an indi vidual whose full-time responsibility is managing sustainabil ity, but their success depends upon their level in the hierar chy and how their work is received by others. Sometimes a single passionate individual champions sustainability, but this momentum is lost when that individual leaves or retires.
Rethinking the whole organisation and beyond
Sustainability is not some task that can be compartmentalized and managed by a single unit. It requires buy-in from everyone: top to bottom, laterally, inside and outside of the organisation. Stakeholders from teams, tour operators, events, governments, suppliers, environmental organisations and the community should all be involved in the process.
Adding climate to the mix
Now, to address the other direction in this bidirectional relation ship, you should be asking yourself the question: “Is my facility ready to cope with climate change?”
This needs to be part of your facility’s sustainability manage ment strategy. Will you have access to the resources you need, or do you need to change your patterns of work? Will the space your facility occupies be viable for this purpose long-term?
Globally, sport is already having to adjust to warmer tempera tures. FIFA has imposed water-break rules. Ski resorts are reliant upon artificial snow to stay open. Facilities are part of these ef forts since they are where sport takes place: from the commu nity level to the Olympic Games.
Concluding thoughts
Managing these bidirectional environmental relationships with sport and leisure facilities is essential to the discussion of sustain ability in facilities today. Know that it is a complex topic requiring complex solutions. My hope is that we can build more resilient venues that not only address the climate challenges of today but are better prepared to meet those needs of the future.
About the author
Dr Walker J. Ross is a lecturer in sport management and digital marketing in the Moray House School of Education and Sport at the University of Edinburgh. His main research interests are focused on sport ecology and sustainability in sport – particularly in venue management and mega-events.
FOR THE GREEN SPORTS INDUSTRY
Home to the NFL’s Atlanta Falcons, Atlanta United of MLS and many of the world’s top sports and entertainment events, Mercedes-Benz Stadium (MBS) was the first professional sports stadium in the world in November 2017 to achieve LEED Platinum Certification and by that time had gathered more points than any other sports facility in the world with a total of 88. The 158,804 m² stadium’s unique sustainability solutions for water, lighting, and energy conservation, as well as community programs and stewardship, have been a key part of the building’s story of innovation from day one.
Mercedes-Benz Stadium has become a trail blazer for green building in sports with its approach to building with low-/zero-toxicity materials. It was the first sports facility to pur sue LEED v4 credits, specifically in the materials and resources suite. A life-cycle analysis was performed on the buildings’ structure and building envelope materials, helping the de sign and construction team to identify and select materials that demonstrated an at
least 10 percent reduction in global warm ing p otential. Sustainability initiatives are projected to save 29 percent in energy usage versus a typical stadium design.
Flexibility Designed to be scalable to host some of the world’s top sports and entertainment events, the stadium is easily reconfigured to accom modate games for the Falcons, matches for
Atlanta United, the city’s Major League Soccer franchise, and for world-class events such as Super Bowl, FIFA World Cup matches and major concerts and performances. Retract able seats surrounding the field bring soccer fans closer to the pitch. A 30-meter high mega-column is wrapped with a 3- dimensional video board that encases more than 75 per cent of the column, designed to maximize additional unique programming space. The mega-column required more than 142 video boards.
Zero-waste efforts
In June 2022 Mercedes-Benz Stadium became the first sta dium in professional sports to be awarded Total Resource Use and Efficiency (TRUE) precertification for its zero-waste efforts. Administered by Green Business Certification Inc. (GBCI), TRUE precertification recognizes buildings and pro jects that have implemented the foundational programs and policies needed to effectively pursue zero-waste and have demonstrated a commitment to achieving official TRUE certification.
Through innovative strategies and strong community part nerships, the Mercedes-Benz Stadium has developed its en vironmental awareness and continuously pursued its sustain ability goals. Key drivers are:
Water treatment
Mercedes-Benz Stadium sits atop of the Proctor Creek Water shed, historically known for flooding during large rain events. The collective goal of the ownership, design and construction team was to positively impact the approach to water for the project. As a result, the project was the first sports stadium to receive all water credits due to these aspects: water conserva tion; rainwater recapture/reuse in a 3-million-liter cistern for the cooling tower and in landscaping irrigation; 5-million-lit er cooling tower; partnership with Trees Atlanta (to plant and maintain trees in the urban core) to share captured rainwa ter for tree and urban garden irrigation; and waterless urinals throughout the building. The highly advanced stormwater management system captures and slowly releases storm water to help to prevent flooding and storm surges in the
neighboring community. The stadium includes water-efficient fixtures that in aggregate use 47 percent less water than base line building standards (EPAct 1992).
Energy optimization
4,000 photovoltaic (PV) panels are installed on the stadium site and the campus with the goal of generating approxi mately 1.6 million kilowatt hours per year of renewable ener gy. This is enough to power a) roughly ten percent of the sta dium’s energy consumption (the equivalent of approximate ly 160 households in Atlanta) or b) more than nine Atlanta Falcons home games or 13 Atlanta United home matches.
Ten electric-vehicle-charging stations are installed in various parking areas on the campus with capacity to charge up to 48 vehicles simultaneously. Monitoring equipment helps to track energy consumption including lighting, heating and cooling use to ensure maximum efficiency.
The advanced stadium-wide LED lighting system lasts ten times longer than standard lights and reduces energy usage
by as much as 60 percent. The abundant natural light that enters the concourses and inner bowl through high-tech, en ergy-efficient, floor-to-roof glass and ETFE fabric reduces the need for additional lighting use.
Alternative transportation
The stadium provides excellent transit access for patron use with three convenient rail line stations. The layout of the property encourages the use of bicycle and alternative-fuel vehicle usage through direct connection to the Atlanta Bike Trail network and the availability of electric-vehicle-charg ing stations. A bike valet program is provided for fans who want to ride their bikes to the game and securely store bikes during the event. Pedestrian-friendly walking paths allow for easy connectivity between the communities.
Local food production
Edible landscaping on site, including blueberry bushes and trees carrying apples and figs contribute to the natural eco system. The MBS Urban Garden, featuring eight beds with
a variety of produce and flowers, grows spices and pro duce used in the stadium’s concession menus and serves as an educational resource for both staff and students of the culinary jobs training program, giving lessons on healthy eating, growing food and buying locally.
Recycling and compost
Since March of 2022, MBS has diverted over 90 percent of accumulated waste from landfill at all major events. MBS em ploys a variety of green practices and programs that allow the stadium to achieve zero-waste on event day and in the building’s administrative offices including:
• Using supply chain items made from recyclable and com postable materials
• Leveraging a 540 square-meter resource recovery room to reclaim, sort and divert materials from landfill
• Sustainability education and engagement programs for fans, associates and the stadium’s food and beverage partners
• Recycling and compost bins added to every stadium suite
• Compostable paper soda cups and lids used at all conces sion stands
• Compost and recycling bins clearly marked throughout the building so that fans can actively participate in the build ing’s sustainable efforts.
Community engagement
Atlanta’s Westside has been one of the most disinvested, marginalized and challenged neighborhoods in the city. In the decade prior to the stadium vision becoming a reality, many projects started to make a positive, meaningful differ ence on the Westside. Here are a couple of examples:
The Arthur M. Blank Family Foundation (AMBFF) provid ed more than USD 9 million in philanthropic investments in education, greenspace, health and other related issues.
AMBFF sees its primary role on the Westside as being a catalyst for positive neighborhood transformation. The foundation accomplishes this by: 1) making smart, strategic
funding investments; 2) leveraging additional resources to the Westside; 3) building community and political will to address systemic issues of poverty and disinvestment; 4) ensuring that neighborhood transformation benefits all, especially long-time residents; and 5) supporting, where appropriate, and leading, when necessary. The foundation is committed for the long-term.
In 2018, a new synthetic turf field was installed at the Salva tion Army Boys and Girls Clubs of Greater Atlanta – Bellwood Club, thanks in part to a USD 250,000 grant from the At lanta Falcons through the National Football League Foun dation Grassroots Program. They teamed up with the Local Initiatives Support Corporation (LISC). LISC identifies local, non-profit, community-based agencies that have an inter est in building or refurbishing football fields in schools and neighborhood parks. Through the program, local agencies are provided with the necessary financing and technical as sistance to improve the quality and safety of fields in their communities.
In May of 2019, a new counselling center in the historic West side community of Atlanta was opened with the help of CHRIS 180, an Atlanta-based non-profit organization dedicated to healing children and families with holistic health services and trauma-informed care.
With the Second Helpings Atlanta program, more than 30,528 kg of food (translating to 56,250 meals) were diverted from landfill and delivered via 19 partner agencies to the un derserved in the community.
Recycle for Good, launched in partnership with AMBSE in 2017, turns aluminum cans and bottles collected from events into funds to support a Habitat for Humanity home build. For every three million bottles and cans collected and recy cled, one home is built on the Westside. To date, more than nine million aluminum bottles and cans have been collected and recycled from the Georgia Dome, former home of the Atlanta Falcons, and Mercedes-Benz Stadium, allowing the construction of the program’s third home.
ON THE PATH TO “NET ZERO” ENERGY STADIUMS
BEST PRACTICE EXAMPLES FROM AUSTRALIA
The challenge to achieve the goals of the Paris Climate Change Agreement to limit global temperature increases to avoid catastrophic impacts requires action by all sectors, including sport and leisure. With about 40 % of carbon emissions attributable to buildings and cities, transforming the way we design our built environment is fundamental to combatting the climate emergency. With reference to recent projects in Australia, such as the Ken Rosewall Arena, Queensland Country Bank Stadium, Sydney Football Stadium, and Optus Stadium, the authors discuss design principles and their impact on a “net zero” facility.
Many sports organisations around the world have now joined the UN Sports for Climate Action Initiative, which aims to “act, educate, measure and promote” the need to reduce carbon footprint. Sports facilities inherently provide a formidable challenge to achieve net zero carbon emis sions due to their large energy consumption on game days and material used in construction and operation, as well as their significant water use and waste.
The need to extend roof coverage to protect spectators from rising heat, rain and wind exacerbates the challenge of reducing embodied carbon in stadia: how do you pro tect from “more” but achieve this protection by using “less”?
These concerns are particularly acute in Australia where life is more affected by rising temperatures and extreme weather that has the potential to cancel events and put the wellbeing and enjoyment of both athletes and spectators at risk.
Three core principles for approach to sustainability As a signatory to Architects Declare, COX acknowledges the global climate and biodiversity emergency, and we un derstand the importance of protecting and regenerating the natural environment. By 2030, COX aims for all our new projects to be carbon neutral in our operations and achieve a 50 % reduction in embodied carbon emission. Addition ally, COX is pursuing broader environmental goals such as achieving net zero water and zero waste amid a circular economy, increasing climate resilience and enhancing na tive biodiversity.
COX’s approach to sustainability follows three core prin ciples – firstly the fundamentals of good passive design should be achieved to the degree possible on any given site, secondly the amount of embodied energy within the proposed fabric of a design minimised, and thirdly any ac tive systems appropriate to the site and the brief are fully explored before pen is put to paper.
Passive design
When applied to stadia, passive design remains one of COX’s key design considerations including solar manage ment with adequate sun protection for spectators and glass facades, natural ventilation, access to daylight and the use of light coloured, reflective materials for the building envelope.
Just as in any other building typology, facilitating natural ventilation in sport buildings can significantly reduce the reliance for HVAC systems, systems that can be expen sive to run and can quickly have trickle down impact on ticket costs as energy costs continue to rise. Furthermore, the COVID pandemic and the primacy of public health has made access to fresh air even more important, especially in high-density venues which are often cited by media as potential “super spreader” events.
Upgrading Ken Rosewall Arena
The redevelopment of Ken Rosewall Arena at Sydney Olympic Park allowed us to optimise the roof shape and operable facade to improve airflow inside the stadium and thus the thermal comfort of users as far as possible without the use of energy-consuming active conditioning. It was a combination of budgetary restraint and our “resilience” approach to design that also allowed us to upgrade this facility rather than advocate for its replacement. This is not always possible, or the most cost-effective outcome in the medium and long-terms, but it is always a starting point for our design and is usually a way to minimise the carbon footprint of our work.
Queensland Country Bank Stadium
Another example is Queensland Country Bank Stadium in Townsville, located in Australia’s tropical northeast. The stadium is rotated approximately 25 degrees east of North to align with the prevailing afternoon winds, the most fre quently used timeslot for both sporting and entertainment events. The stadium takes advantage of the local natural
breezes in two key ways – the open-ended horseshoe de sign allows the breeze to enter the bowl and the bowl is orientated toward the breeze to cool spectators, athletes, and employees. It’s almost a “back to the future” design, but one that is very modern in its form and realisation.
“The fundamentals of good passive design should be achieved to the degree possible on any given site.“
Apart from maximum temperatures and rainfall, wind speed is a significant climatic influencer on the design of Queens land Country Bank Stadium. Townsville is within a cyclonic region and has wind loads that are about 50 % higher than Queensland’s capital Brisbane, and 100 % higher than Syd ney, for instance. Therefore, the weight of steel required in response to these conditions is proportionate to these increased loads. However, the architectural and engineer ing teams have worked hard to design a roof structure that responds efficiently to the wind but also minimises material used. The roof is a combination of membrane to the truss forms and metal deck to the infill panels. The membrane produces the same visual shading as a solid roof panel whilst significantly reducing the weight of the roof, creating a sense of openness and an overarchingly light and mini mal expression. This expression, created for efficiency but crafted for elegance, has already become a unique identity element for the stadium. This minimal, ultra-efficient form also enables it to stand out from other global venues, so much it has been commented in the media that the sta dium evokes the leaf forms of the Pandanas tree, endemic to eastern Australia.
Embodied carbon
The most efficient way to reduce the embodied carbon footprint of new stadia is the adaptive reuse of existing structures and avoid complete demolition of outdated venues where possible.
As most of the carbon is usually embedded in the con crete bowl and foundations, retaining those would yield the largest carbon saving, while roofs are generally easier to dismantle and recycle.
The lighter the roof, the less materials are used As demonstrated by the redevelopment of Ken Rosewall Arena, it is possible to reuse much of the existing bowl su perstructure, substructure, and piling. It was found that the existing structure could support the new lightweight PTFE fabric roof. The circular form used creates a very efficient self-resolved tension structure. Again, by working together with our engineering partners we were also able to real ise a form that evokes a sense of lightness and elegance in its form and representation. This strategy minimised the use of resources relative to the protection afforded by the extended roof cover.
The lighter the roof, the less materials are used and the lighter the building, which in turn reduces the amount of concrete required for foundations. It sounds easy and obvi ous. But in a project and complex as a 40,000-seat stadium the opportunities to complicate and “add in” arrive daily in the design process so that it’s easy to see where projects can become unnecessarily “heavy”.
Our experience with lightweight structures has allowed us to design our lightest roof yet in close collaboration with
structural engineers Schlaich, Bergermann and Partner – the roof of the new Sydney Football Stadium (Allianz Stadium) and it is now reported to be the lightest stadium roof in the Southern Hemisphere. And again, this lightness is achieved without sacrificing coverage and guest comfort. This is exemplified by the fact that 100 % of the 42,500 seats are within the drip line of the roof.
“The most efficient way to reduce the embodied carbon footprint of new stadia is the adaptive reuse of existing structures [...].”
Business cases may demand for new built Unlike Ken Rosewall Arena, the legacy of Sydney Football Stadium was deemed unsuitable for an upgrade, based on an extensive series of studies and business cases. The cen tral requirement to extend the utilisation of the stadium and enhance patron amenity was beyond what any eco nomic “upgrade” could deliver.
The new stadium does boast some impressive statistics from recycling approximately 87 % of construction and demolition waste, to exceeding energy and water efficiency benchmarks by 20 %. The stadium’s lightweight roof struc ture uses 40 % less steel than a typical venue of the same size, and the building hosts integrated solar panels and water harvesting solutions.
Where concrete is unavoidable, we specify concrete with a high degree of ash or slack and recycled aggregate to mini mize its embodied carbon. Replacing concrete and steel with timber is the next frontier in the journey to carbon neutral stadia.
Energy
Whether designing a new stadium or redeveloping an exist ing one, minimizing operational energy use is paramount. Apart from reducing running costs by saving electricity, it also reduces the need to offset emissions for stakeholders who seek to entertain carbon neutral events.
Reducing lighting energy
Artificial lighting is generally the greatest contributor to electricity use in stadia. By allowing daylight to penetrate deep into the building, the translucent PTFE roofs of Ken Rosewall Arena, the new Sydney Football Stadium and Perth’s Optus stadium have proven an excellent strategy to reduce the need for artificial lighting, while providing shade and rain protection. It is an elegant solution that becomes a feature of a venue and an enhancer of experience rather than feeling like an omission; capturing the golden light of dusk in one of the concourse bars at Queensland Country Bank Stadium has already become a noteworthy experi ence for patrons for example.
The emergence of new technology is an important factor in continuously decreasing the operational energy in our sta dia designs over time. All COX projects incorporate efficient LEDs for interior and external lighting.
On-site energy generation
All our contemporary stadia designs include considerations for on-site renewable energy generation and incorporate solar PVs and provisions for future installation where fea sible. While the large roof area lends itself to the installa tion of PVs, they can also be installed to shade car parks and pedestrian walkways. The arrival of solar PV films will further support their integration in the next generation of ultra-lightweight structures.
Anaerobic digesters using organic waste to produce elec tricity out of biogas is another technology perfectly suit ed for stadia. Sports and entertainment venues produce a large amount of organic waste from food leftovers and grass clippings, which can either be locally composted or transformed to energy. A commitment to a plastic-free en vironment in combination with on-site organic waste treat ment significantly reduces the amount of waste sent to land fill and diminishes fossil fuel emissions from garbage trucks.
While surplus energy can be fed into the grid and power nearby buildings and precincts, on-site renewable energy generation is most efficient when supported by batteries as they help to manage disparities between energy demand and generation and stabilize the electricity grid.
Water collection and use
Conversing potable water is another important considera tion, particularly in Australia with its great rainfall variability and regular droughts, which are also predicted to wors en due to climate change. While stadia have a substantial
Sydney Football Stadium – Photo: Venues NSW – Gregg Porteousdemand for water on game days and pitch irrigation, a typically large roof area provides a great opportunity for rainwater harvesting and reuse to flush toilets and irrigate.
The new roof at Ken Rosewall Arena for example was de signed to enable the collection of rainwater from at least 90 % of the enlarged roof surface with a projected plan area of approximately 8,000 m². The fall and guttering of the roof can collect rainwater which can then be fed into a future tank in the next stage of the development, with the aim of water reuse for non-potable uses. In a predominantly dry and warm Sydney climate the on-site capture, storage and re-use of all water types is essential in enhancing landscape, maintaining amenity, and reduc ing costs.
At Queensland Country Bank Stadium, up to 500,000 litres of rainwater storage from roof run off is used for toilet flushing, post-game wash down and cooling tower water demand on match day. Rainfall is not the issue in the tropical North of Australia, however diverting water appropriate for non-landscape use is an important route to efficiency of operation.
Multifunctionality offers sustainability
For all the debate around the use of sustainable materials and an understandable reticence to “knock down and re build” the key to the success of any leisure facility – from community centres to mega stadia – lies in their utility and in their utilisation. The intensity with which they are used by their codes, teams, events, entertainers, governments, schools and so on is a true measure of their success and a key element to their sustainability.
Longevity is one important measure, but so is multi functional utilisation – if one venue can fulfil the role
where three or four were previously needed then this becomes a net success in the ambition of a more sus tainable future. If a venue is used 14 times a week versus the three delivered by the preceding facility, how should we then view them through the lens of longevity and sustainability?
The new Sydney Football Stadium for example houses three elite code franchises of football; Rugby Union, Rugby League and Soccer, and is also ready-made for everything from superstar concerts to community events.
Perth’s Optus stadium designed by COX in association with Hassell and HKS Architects is another successful example of multifunctionality. The multi-purpose stadium has been designed with current and future flexibility in mind and accommodates Australian Rules Football, Cricket, Rugby Union and League, and entertainment events. The 60,000seat stadium includes the widest range of hospitality op tions in any sports venue within Australia including the in novative locker room, coaches club, sky terraces, corporate suites, club lounges, a 2,000-person function room, retail and over 50 food and beverage outlets.
Community – cultural and social impacts
When looking at the carbon footprint of stadia on an an nual per capita basis, it becomes clear that attendance is key. A stadium development represents a massive invest ment – not only in monetary terms but also in terms of carbon emissions. The obvious goal is to fill the stadium with as many events and spectators throughout the year as possible.
A focus of our design ethos is the desire to enhance the civic life of our cities. Stadia are a rare and very singular oppor tunity to express this ethos to its fullest. It’s inarguable that
Ken Rosewall Arena – Photo: Martin Mischkulnigthe denizens of our cities (eight out of ten Australians in fact) see climate action as a core focus for government and climate change as an existential threat to our society. As such, a presciently designed stadium with flexibility and community at its heart can materially contribute to both objectives and deliver a more sustainable and more culturally inclusive and vibrant city. As designers, you cannot get clearer motivation than this.
We always talk about our projects, but especially our sporting venues, and their need to “give more than they take”. It is this ethos that best expresses COX’s approach to a sustainable future of stadia design.
What are the next steps?
For existing facilities, we are also seeing opera tors and management companies hard-baking a continual review of ever more sustainable prac tices as part of their periodic, and in some cases, their daily operational reviews. This is probably the biggest and most important area of progress, where there’s been a rapid shift from a “net zero” objective being ”nice to have” to one that’s both central and a “guiding operational ambition”. As this has now moved from the niche or specialist realm and into a more mainstream management enterprise, literally everything is on the table from base construction materials through to software that optimises the solar harvesting and storage and then manages to the minute how this power is deployed based on the climatic requirements of the day and the nature and needs of the event being staged.
REDUCING THE CARBON FOOTPRINT OF SPORTS AND LEISURE CENTRES EMBEDDING CARBON REDUCTION INTO THE DESIGN PROCESS
Though significant inroads have been made to reduce the energy consumption of these buildings through design, wide variations in building typology and availability of data make it difficult to identify best practices and define benchmarks.
At FaulknerBrowns, we have been working to gather some of our own data. We chose a recently completed project, the Ravelin Sports Centre in Portsmouth, UK and undertook a certified Whole Life Carbon assessment of the building. The findings are interesting but sometimes counterintuitive.
Though operational energy is still a major challenge, pro jects like Ravelin Sports Centre are successfully using passive
design to minimise primary energy demand. Form factor, performance of the building envelope, natural light, and ventilation, all provide a significant opportunity to reduce demand. Employing a Soft Landings process to first chal lenge set points and then finetune the systems and educate building operators, help to make sure that the squeeze of operational energy does not compromise the user experi ence. Figure 1 highlights the gap between the typical en ergy performance and our target. A typical pool building might consume around 750 kWh/m²/y. Best practice sug gests that this might be reduced to 350-400 kWh/m²/y and we are seeing a current generation of our own low energy pools target well below 200 kWh/m²/y.
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Authors Michael Hall, FaulknerBrowns, Partner Irina Korneychuk, FaulknerBrowns, Senior Associate Graphics FaulknerBrowns Architects
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However, as the squeeze on operational carbon in tensifies, embodied carbon comes more sharply into focus. When considered holistically, traditionally opera tional carbon might represent above 85 % of a typical pool building’s lifecycle carbon. Figure 2 illustrates how moving to a lower energy design, with dramatically re duced operational carbon consumption, sees the share of embodied carbon increase from 15 % to nearly 40 %. Reduction of embodied carbon is therefore an urgent de sign consideration, as opportunities for operational car bon reduction diminish.
Surprisingly high impact by building services
When focusing on embodied carbon, our study showed that green roofs are accompanied by a relatively large carbon premium, due to the structure required to sup port them, additional materials used, and maintenance attracted. We found that careful specification of high-
impact materials such as concrete and refrigerants can make a tangible difference. We were surprised to see that building services can have almost as much impact on em bodied carbon as the building’s substructure. The study also suggested that offsite solutions can offer less carbon benefit than they might promise. Overall, the results show how creative we need to be to hit emerging industry tar gets that are designed to get us closer to NetZero.
We also learned of the importance of aligning the life span of individual building components to the life span of a build ing. 40 % of embodied carbon is emitted post-completion when finishes need to be refreshed, building services re placed or the layout modified to accommodate evolving sport and leisure needs. This prompted us to look at com pleted projects from further back, to see how predicted replacement cycles compare to what is really happening in terms of maintenance and refurbishment.
Photo: Ian Lawson
Refurbishment or demolition?
By reviewing around 100 of our own sports and leisure buildings over a 6-decade period, we identified common patterns of refurbishment and, in some cases, demolition. Manchester Aquatics Centre is an interesting example. The project, built for the 2002 Commonwealth Games and first opened in 2000, is now 20 years into its life and undergo ing a major refurbishment. The primary reason for refur bishment is to improve the centre’s energy performance, in line with Manchester Council’s plans to become “zero carbon” by 2038. The refurbishment also includes the re placement of the leisure pool and water rides and provid ing more space for fitness, reflecting ever-changing trends in sports and leisure. The envelope, however, will remain intact, except for the introduction of a new entrance lobby.
These changes highlight the importance of designing facil ities for flexibility and adaptation. In contrast, the building envelope must be designed to last for the whole life of the building; because of the capital and operational implica tions of replacing a building envelope, its failure is likely to trigger a conversation about demolition. Sports and lei sure are critical public services, and demolition will almost always be followed by new construction and therefore a significant further carbon impact.
Flexibility is the key
As a practice, we are increasingly involved in conversations about the future of the buildings we have delivered over the last 60 years. A large number of projects built in the 1980s and 1990s are nearing a major replacement cycle, and we are seeing some typologies weather better than others. Rapid changes in leisure trends mean that buildings with a larger proportion of leisure facilities are more likely to face the risk of demolition. Whilst sports halls and lane pools are timeless and will remain as long as the parameters of the sports they accommodate are unchanged. Inevitably, flexible buildings capable of accommodating changing technology, leisure trends and consumer habits are more likely to survive.
The ongoing energy crisis and skyrocketing costs of oper ating leisure buildings may well create the “perfect storm”, threatening not just existing buildings but the community leisure typology itself. Ever more pressing cost and climate challenges have driven us to develop a set of values for em bedding carbon reduction into our design process: r etrofit first, build less, build lean, build efficient, build to last, and build for reuse. However, more industry research is re quired. We need more data to establish meaningful targets and benchmarks and develop low-carbon solutions that will stand the test of time.
THE NEW AGE OF TIMBER CASE STUDY: ERIC TWEEDALE STADIUM
Author I vana Simkovic, dwp – design worldwide partnership, Sydney, Australia Photos dwp – design worldwide partnership, www.dwp.com
Can mass timber constructions provide a low-carbon alternative to steel and concrete structures? Based on the case study of Eric Tweedale Stadium, dwp Associate Design Director Ivana Simkovic from Sydney looks at the pros and cons in terms of procurement, handling, and performance.
Timber is one of the world’s oldest building materials and has been valued for its raw beauty, versatility, and strength since ancient times. Today, it remains one of the most popular materials for architects and designers, used for everything from cladding to structural framing. Over the past three decades, however, advancements in new types of innovative engineered timber products have revo lutionized the way we use wood in construction.
Mass timber products, such as cross-laminated timber (CLT) and glued laminated timber (glulam), offer an ex ceptionally strong, low-carbon alternative to concrete and steel structures. They can be used for everything from simple load-bearing systems to major timber-frame struc tures and complete wood structure solutions, enabling architects to build bigger and higher with timber.
Around the world, timber towers – often dubbed „ply scrapers“ – are rising in our cities, challenging the conven tional notion of cities as concrete and steel jungles. The world’s tallest is the 85-metre-tall Mjøstårnet tower in the Norwegian town of Brumunddal; while the HoHo Vienna in Austria stretches 84 metres into the sky; in Vancouver, Pritzker Prize-winning architect Shigeru Ban has recently designed a “hybrid” tower that combines steel and con crete with a timber frame; and by 2024, Japan’s Sumitomo
Group hopes to use CLT to build a 70-storey wood sky scraper in Tokyo.
Compared to what is happening in the rest of the world, Australia is just at the beginning of its journey with tim ber construction. Part of the issue is that Australian timber is still more expensive than timber imported from Europe, even when shipping is included in the cost; and the first cross-laminated timber (CLT) plant in Australia only opened in 2017.
Eric Tweedale Stadium in Sydney by dwp, however, offers an exciting example of Antipodean timber engineering. dwp has a real focus on innovative sustainability, and tim ber engineering is one of those sustainability initiatives. The use of mass timber construction for the stadium is the first use of glulam timber for this type of facility in Australia and it represents an impressive achievement in timber engineering.
The stadium is constructed almost entirely from glulam timber and features a 760-seat grandstand and first-floor function space enclosed by a soaring cantilevered roof. A key part of the brief was to incorporate sustainability initia tives where possible, and the client was supportive of the use of a timber structure.
CASE STUDY: ERIC TWEEDALE STADIUM
Concept & connection to site
The design of the Eric Tweedale Stadium in Granville, Syd ney, is driven by the facility’s connection to its local en vironment and the history of the Cumberland Plains. The area was once home to several clans of the indigenous Darug people and was widely forested. The construction of the Sydney-Parramatta railway in the 1850s, however, brought large-scale deforestation and much of the usable timber had disappeared by the following decade. The tim ber construction of the stadium not only celebrates this heritage but creates a connection with the enormous grey and red gum trees to the west of the site today.
Massing & materiality
The architectural form of the stadium takes inspiration from the modest nature of “aboriginal architecture”, which was a product of highly complex relationships between the physical and social environment. The materiality is also a response to the heritage of the site, with a distinctive glu lam timber construction that responds to the history of the site and its current surroundings. The glulam timber has a warm, earthy glow that softens the interior palette and makes the space welcoming to the wider community.
Timber roof
Together with engineering firm Northrop, dwp explored two different options for the timber roof of the Eric
Tweedale Stadium. One option featured a continuous tim ber bean and less heavy fabricated steel. It was preferred by the structural engineer, but as it was disconnected with the planning of level one, it wasn’t dwp’s preferred option. The second option had a simpler structure and worked well with the planning of level one but had a considerable amount of fabricated steel at the cantilever connections –which highlights some of the structural constraints encoun tered when working with a timber construction.
Prefabricated timber structure
One of the benefits of a timber structure is the ability to prefabricate off-site and install in sections. Timber con struction specialists Rubner split the construction of the Eric Tweedale Stadium into three distinct phases, which were informed by production and shipping constraints as well as installation procedure. The circular penetrations in the roof purlin for the siphonic system were also done in the off-site plant, simplifying the on-site construction process.
There was a huge amount of customisation in the project –from ensuring the bracing fit inside the wall thicknesses to the precast concrete lift shaft. Rubner and Northrop were keen to keep the design intent without any changes to the appearance of the timber, however, allowing dwp to realize the project’s vision. Prefabricating the structure off-site was essential to this.
Interior
The interior of the Eric Tweedale Stadium is a celebration of material honesty. Timber rafters and columns are exposed in the function space, and are complemented by the raw, polished block walls on the ground level. As the raw timber structural columns are a part of the interior scheme, great attention was paid to the design of the columns’ steel base during the prefabrication process. It is a very simple and restrained interior palette. Warmth and brightness are cre ated by leaving the wood and other raw materials exposed.
Carbon footprint
Sustainable design was an important objective of the pro ject, and the timber construction was key to achieving this. The goal was to demonstrate that this scale of building can be a highly sustainable development that is low carbon, low waste and highly energy efficient. Beyond the low carbon footprint of the timber structure, the stadium has an eastwest orientation to allow for natural cross-ventilation, pas sive solar shading, a rainwater tank for irrigation and toilets, and there is a provision for photovoltaics and metering to monitor and reduce wastage.
According to a study by Rubner, thanks to the net storage effect, Eric Tweedale Stadium provides an active contribu tion to climate protection of around 130 t CO2. This storage effect corresponds to the greenhouse gas emissions of the combustion of 268 barrels of oil, or truck transport over 119,878 ton-kilometres.
THE BENEFITS AND CHALLENGES OF BUILDING WITH TIMBER
Sustainability
Timber sourced from ecologically managed forests has ex cellent sustainability and environmental credentials. It is a renewable, recyclable, and re-usable resource that is able to act as a carbon sink, absorbing and storing carbon diox ide from the atmosphere – while concrete is widely recog nized as the construction industry‘s primary contributor to greenhouse gas emissions. According to a 2014 study in the Journal of Sustainable Forestry, up to 31 % of global carbon dioxide emissions could be avoided using timber structures instead of steel and concrete.
Engineering properties
A mass timber structure has a high load-bearing capacity yet is lightweight – and outperforms even steel when it comes to breaking length. These properties not only allow for an impressive material efficiency, but also for speed of construction and easy handling on site. CLT and glulam can be prefabricated off-site to almost any dimension and shape and can theoretically span any length – yet will re main more lightweight than comparable concrete and steel structures. Timber has also proven to be less vulnerable to collapse in fires than steel structures. Burning speed and retention of load-bearing capacity can be calculated.
Quality
Mass timber constructions lend themselves to off-site fabrication – and a higher quality can be achieved when building in a factory than the less-controlled conditions of a construction site. Timber elements can be measured ac curately and produced to very millimetre, then equipped for assembly to ensure ease of construction on-site.
Aesthetic appeal
Timber has a natural warmth and brightness that creates a desirable aesthetic appearance in both interior and exterior use. There are a wide range of timbers available in different hues and timber grain offers a pleasing visual tactility. Tim ber has also been proven to regulate humidity and surface temperature to create a comfortable interior environment; and has impressive acoustic qualities that make it particu larly suited for workplace and hospitality interiors.
Challenges
Of course, there are also challenges specific to building with timber. In Australia – as on the Eric Tweedale Stadium project – it is common to work with an overseas supplier and engineer through the shop drawing process, which can be challenging and time consuming. It is also necessary to account for the exact size and location of all penetrations in the timber at the outset due to the time needed to replace elements that are incorrect. When pre-fabrication is done overseas, it can also raise challenges around certification.
During the shop drawings process for the Eric Tweedale Stadium, for example, certification of the structure was done in EuroCode to Australian standards.
The future of timber at dwp
As the Eric Tweedale Stadium shows, timber engineering not only allows for the creation of aesthetically beautiful constructions but is essential for greening our cities. By of fering a viable low-carbon alternative to steel and concrete, we can continue to push the boundaries of possibility in terms of architectural expression with less of an impact on our planet. Creating greener cities is one of the driving mo tivations at dwp. Based on the success of the Eric Tweedale Stadium, we will consider timber for future projects first and foremost for its many sustainability credentials – but also for its impressive structural potential and its unparalleled natural beauty.
SUSTAINABILITY BY PRESERVATION AND ENHANCED FAN EXPERIENCE
CLIMATE PLEDGE ARENA IN SEATTLE, WA
Populous was engaged as architect of record by Oak View Group and the City of Seattle to design this 68,750 m² arena with three goals: to create the most sustainable arena in the world, to responsibly revitalize a historic landmark, and to cultivate the ultimate fan experience. As the region’s largest indoor venue, Climate Pledge Arena will host the NHL’s newest team, the Seattle Kraken, the WNBA’s Seattle Storm, and numerous concerts and other events.
The design enables Climate Pledge Arena to employ numerous sustainable practices and op erations. The arena relies solely on renewable en ergy sources – including on-site solar energy de signed on the atrium roof – to power the facility. The fully-integrated transportation plan subsi dizes mass transit for fans. The site design pro vides space for electric vehicle charging s tations and bike valet servic es, while also building s trong con
nections with the monorail. The arena supports water conservation systems – such as harvesting rainwater from the roof and zero waste initiatives.
Historic revitalization of original design
This multifunctional venue in the heart of Seattle Center harkens back to its original arena, which was built for the 1962 World’s Fair. The design was centered around revitalizing the landmark arena and honouring its original design intent while activating and enhancing a pedestrian-fo cused plan. The former arena was a flat-floor, column-free pavilion with an entirely glass facade allowing visitors
Location Seattle, USA
Client / operator Oak View Group, Seattle Kraken Hockey and Seattle Center
Architects
Populous US – 64112 Kansas City, MO www.populous.com
Author Populous Photos
Climate Pledge Arena Populous
Official opening October 2021
Construction costs USD 1.15 billion (EUR 1.17 billion)
to see inside. Populous’ design preserves many of these character-defining features and draws from the firm’s vast experience of creating meaningful spaces for people to gather.
The idea was to maintain the preservation of the 59-yearold historic roof designed by Paul Thiry, the father of archi tectural modernism in the Pacific Northwest. The new con struction required the 20,000-tons roof to be suspended above the site while the new arena was built underneath.
To increase the size of the arena to 68,750 m² – approxi mately twice the size of the former venue – and give the venue 360-degree pedestrian access, it was necessary to dig 5 m deeper than the previous 1995 renovation that bot tomed out at 11,5 m below ground level, and significantly
expand the below-grade building footprint in all directions. In addition, a historic glass curtain wall was preserved in the new arena’s north end, presenting visitors with a view to the plaza.
The Plaza: All-seasons open space in the Emerald City
The expansive and universally accessible outdoor plaza sur rounds the arena, providing year-round open and green space within the Seattle Center campus. With 360 degrees of landscaped plazas surrounding the venue, effectively placing the arena within a picturesque, landscaped park – a first for an urban professional arena in the United States –
Climate Pledge Arena is more accessible to all, links local neighbourhoods, and restores the original relationship be tween surrounding plazas and the building.
The world’s first dual suspended scoreboards Unlike any other arena video display, Populous designed the industry’s first dual suspended arena scoreboards – a signa ture element of Climate Pledge Arena. Behind this new de sign lies a thorough analysis of on-ice and on-court action for hockey and basketball, spectator and athlete sightlines, and flexibility for shows and concerts. The result is a pair of distinctly shaped video displays that place digital content in an ideal location for spectators, improving the atmosphere and connection between fans on opposite sides of the seating bowl.
Colourful wayfinding from top to lower level
Each level of Climate Pledge Arena has a different colour of wayfinding signage, which harkens to natural features as the
levels go deeper underground – from the light blue on the top level to mimic the atmosphere, to a muted orange to reflect the earth on the main concourse level, to a dark grey for the lower level.
The arena boasts 2,620 m² of digital signage, the most in the world for a sports and entertainment venue. The immersive LED experience throughout the user journey displays way finding, events and partner promotion, and atmospheric im agery that is customizable for each event. The Climate Pledge brand is further strengthened through a 61-m living wall with live plants and LED activations on the main concourse creat ing social media-friendly content opportunities. Egress tunnels and other LED displays throughout the arena blur the lines between the structure and the outdoors with graphic imagery.
AUSTRALIA’S FIRST HIGHEST RATED SPORTS BUILDING IN DESIGN AND SUSTAINABILITY
LA TROBE UNIVERSITY SPORTS STADIUM IN MELBOURNE
The La Trobe University Sports Stadium has been designed by Warren and Mahoney in association with MJMA Toronto and is an Australian-first. Generating more energy on site than it uses – making it net positive – it is the first sports building in Australia to be awarded the highest rating for both the design and build by the Green Building Council of Australia. This was achieved through an integrated strategy covering building m aterial performance, natural ventilation, sustainable energy generation, water storage and reuse, and building management and operational strategies.
As a centralised facility, the Sports Park offers high ball sports courts, high performance assessment and testing laboratories, teaching spaces and sports management tenancies. Breaking down barriers between industry and the student experi ence, the stadium provides facilities for grass root community sport and in return creates a pathway to connect the community and university life.
The Sports Park Stadium project allows student sport and sport related clubs to increase student participation; actively engaging the local com munity and schools through the use of enhanced sporting facilities and sport services at La Trobe; leveraging sports facilities to encourage all mem bers of the university to improve their health and fi tness; securing long-term, meaningful institu
tional influence within the sport industry in Victoria and Aus tralia; and developing links between high performance sport and the teaching and research capacity of the university.
Passive design and a photovoltaic roof
The facility was designed as a Net Zero emissions building. This was achieved through application of the energy hierarchy-op timised passive design which includes natural and mixed mode ventilation, a highly efficient facade well over BCA minimums, highly efficient all-electric building systems and maximisation of PV on the extensive roof. The mixed mode provided chal lenges in terms of thermal separation and performance be tween the naturally ventilated and conditioned spaces.
The stadium is equipped with a vast high-spec photovoltaic array on the roof that amounts to over 519 kW and generates around 724,000 kWh per year. This is more than enough to meet the stadium’s electrical demand, so surplus renewable energy is fed back into the rest of the campus. The first major piece of La Trobe’s bold “University City of the Future” plan, the stadium and surrounding park will help it achieve its Net Zero strategy for a net positive operation.
The building makes use of the stack effect to enable an ef fective natural ventilation to the sports courts. High level windows also facilitate this, providing daylight into all spaces in line with best practice levels. The building has considered
PHASE2PHASE1
The project was designed to accommodate a third fieldhouse expansion. Each fieldhouse uses natural ventilation with base louver walls allowing fresh air to enter low and exhaust high through banks of upper clerestory louvers located between each fieldhouse. The rooftop houses a full PV array with interspersed linear skylights to power the building and provide daylight autonomy to the fieldhouses throughout the day.
The project was designed to accommodate a third fieldhouse expansion. Each fieldhouse uses natural ventilation with base louver walls allowing fresh air to enter low and exhaust banks of upper clerestory louvers located between each field house. The rooftop houses a full PV array with interspersed linear skylights to power the building and provide daylight to the fieldhouses throughout the day.
climate change adaptation and resilience – future climate change scenarios were assessed and building design re sponses implemented to address identified risks. These in clude the provision of plant space for additional services and others.
Procurement, cost allocations and environmental performance
Operable louvres were implemented with the wall construc tion and structural systems to achieve a high level of natural ventilation to the 3-court event hall and community halls. There were some challenges experienced, including the set ting of pre-set modes responding to the building weather s tation and overrides for the operational staff to control air movement on high wind days.
Naturally ventilated cells (courts) were created to separate the naturally ventilated courts from the high thermal insu lation education, commercial and front of house areas. The
wall separating the conditioned space from the naturally ven tilated space was treated thermally as an external wall.
The skylight design was modified using a combination of off the shelf products to ensure that the skylights perform ther mally similar to the adjacent roof insulated panels, incorpo rating a top material to match the roof profile of the selected roof and a bottom layer to create an air gap and internal appearance to match the perforated acoustic metal lining to the interior.
The structural design of the long span roof drew from ar chitectural elements, such as the striking cantilevered cano py over the main entrance and the trussed columns in the southern hall, to find an efficient form. By using these features as key structural elements, a reduction in the overall amount of structural steel – a highly carbon intensive material. Re duced by 21.1 tonnes, it resulted in a 5 % decrease across the whole building.
exhaust high through daylight autonomy
Sustainable performance over entire lifespan
Provision has been made for the modification of the Event Stadium and Show Court, so that it transitions from a ventilat ed three court sports hall to being a thermally sealed condi tioned space to address patron comfort for the 2,500 patrons that will be accommodated by retractable seats on both sides of the main show court.
There is also provision in the design to accommodate more teaching spaces and an additional three courts to the south of the site to increase the capacity of the facility to meet the requirements of the local community and add to the university campus experience. Consideration of future expansion and provision for that expansion is a critical piece of addressing the sustainable performance of the building.
Exceeding the Green Building Council of Australia’s criteria
The stadium achieved innovation points for sustainable sourc ing, use and disposal of materials, material reduction and
efficient material use, with 16 % of the building area fit out with locally procured sustainable products.
The contractor, client, and design team conducted a whole of building Life Cycle Assessment using eToolLCD software, comparing the building to a “Business as Usual (BAU)” refer ence case. This frame of reference was important to position the project in terms of its sustainable outcomes. The structur ally efficient design achieved a reduction of 15 % in embodied carbon (the greenhouse gas emissions generated upfront to construct the building) compared to the “BAU” level.
The support of the client team and the operators was critical to the successful six star “As Built” rating but was principally credited to the post construction phase of the project and the client’s initiatives to support the design data with an opera tional response.
AUSTRALIA’S FIRST LEED V4 GOLD CERTIFIED BUILDING COMMBANK STADIUM IN PARRAMATTA
In 2020, CommBank Stadium was the first building in Australia to announce LEED v4 Gold Certification from the US Green Building Council. Smart decisions in design, planning, construction, and operation contribute to the high grade of sustainability. Design pro cesses and solutions were implemented which saved time, and reduced truck movements. More than 90 per cent of materials from the old Parramatta Stadium were recycled to construct the new stadium and the project used sustainable sources of energy, sun shad ing, waste recycling, and natural ventilation and cooling strategies. The use of beam-line fabrication techniques, and the simplification of a complex structure into simple parts minimized the amount of steel handling.
Making the complex simple
Adoption of bolted flange plate connections and open sections in the structural design enabled an automated “beam-line” approach to steelwork fab rication, reducing manual labour and producing s tructural members ready for delivery and installa tion on site. By creating custom steel sections, the connection detailing was simplified and optimised the design by reducing the weight of the roof truss es and eliminating over 2,000 connection plates within the roof and grandstand structure.
Outside of the structural ingenuity, there were many other examples of creative and innovative tech niques including the adoption of Water Sensitive Urban Design (WSUD) solutions such as perme able paving and Open Bio-Swales which avoided excavation within 15 metres from the riverbank and eliminated lengthy environmental approvals and high-risk excavation. The heat island effect which plagues the area was reduced by recharging the underground water-table and keeping the local subgrade moist, improving ground temperatures.
The roof
The 28,000-m² roof is an innovative combination of PTFE & ETFE fabrics that allow enough natural light in for the natural growth of the turf whilst reflecting sunlight to reduce heat gain and providing spectator coverage from the elements. The fabric roof forms a halo, providing a 100 per cent dripline coverage for spectators, which is an Australian first. The roof also features 309 solar panels above the fabric line with 100 KW of photovoltaic array to feed clean electricity directly into the building.
Rainwater is harvested from the main roof and stored in a 250,000 l underground tank, used to irrigate the pitch and flush the 564 toilets and numerous urinals in the building.
The facade
The design of CommBank Stadium celebrates local manufac turing heritage along with exposed steel in its natural form. The western facade, which from the „west loaded stand“ faces Parramatta Park, is articulated vertically and horizontally to reduce its scale to the park. The energy efficiency is enhanced through reducing windows and openings facing west into the setting summer sun. Significant windows and openings in the western facade are designed with external sun protection or planted roof top gardens to minimize heat and prevent glare
from entering the building, while also providing a physical and visual connection back to the parklands through green space.
Innovative turf technology
CommBank Stadium features an innovative underground drainage system that can suck water out of the field. This is the first of its kind in Australia and ensures the stadium is play able even after heavy downpours. The drainage system has b een likened to a reverse-cycle air conditioner. It uses a small suction fan about a metre in diameter and is modelled on those used at a number of European golf courses to keep the fairways and greens playable after heavy rain.
Offsite completion
The 4,500 tonnes of Australian steel were designed to be transported and assembled on site. Painting of the steel struc ture was completed offsite to reduce construction time and improve the quality of the paint and steel finish. This approach has enabled the roof to be designed to be disassembled and reused in the future if desired. Also designing the roof to ex pose the steelwork, enables rain to naturally clean the steel work and eliminates temporary scaffolding access for mainte nance, leading to a 20-year paint manufacturer warranty. The roof was also designed with walkway structural members to enable safe maintenance of lighting.
Adaptability to user demands
The diversity of events requires a venue that can be highly adaptable, and the stadium’s unique design features allow it to change shape – based on demand – in a matter of hours. Designed for long-term viability, the 30,000-seat venue can flex into multi-sporting modes for football, rugby league and rugby union, and into concert mode.
Features such as the stadium’s 360-degree LED screens across two levels and dual 19 x 8 m big screens allow the venue to be themed for each hirer while simultaneously meeting commercial and advertising demands and providing an engaged and interactive experience for patrons.
56 external-facing LED uplights can be used to project coloured light onto the roof sails, meaning the stadium can be lit-up in different home club’s colours from night-to-night and is also used to raise awareness for various charity and community campaigns.
Ten internal spaces and nine external spaces cater for func tions anywhere between 2 to 900 guests with the stadium regularly hosting business meetings, expos, product launch es, school formals, banquet dinners, conventions and much more. The Cumberland Lounge, while a key event space, also doubles as Western Sydney’s largest function space – cater ing for up to 900 guests.
Impact on operation and maintenance
Innovative environmentally sustainable measures that were introduced into the stadium included recycling rainwater
from the roof into underground storage tanks and a range of passive design measures including ventilation and natural cooling/heating, an on-site gas fired co-generation system. There are 800 m² of photovoltaic solar panels on the west ern roof harvesting up to 75,000 kVA of power at any one time. Since opening the stadium, 242 MWh of power has been harvested, and 167 tonnes of carbon have been offset – the equivalent of 14 acres of forest.
State-of-the-art Building Management System (BMS)
The BMS monitors all utility usage (electricity, water, and gas) throughout the building and provides the stadium’s operations team real time usage data. This enables the sta dium team to immediately identify any unnecessary usage (such as leaking pipes) and respond accordingly.
The air conditioning system is programmed to operate only when required and needs motion in the space for the sys tem to run to designed temperatures.
Highly efficient LED lighting based on motion technology is installed throughout the building effectively. Essential ly, these only switch on when they detect a motion within the space and switch off automatically after a few minutes and when no motion is detected. The same technology is applied to the escalators available in the west side of the stadium.
On the field of play, tonnes of grass clippings and worn turf are recycled each year, often propping up fairways and greens at golf courses throughout Western Sydney.
ENERGY - NEUTRAL AND IN TUNE WITH THE CIRCULAR ECONOMY
BUILT WRZV HALLS IN ZWOLLE
To replace the more than 30-year-old WRZV halls in Zwolle, Pellikaan has built a new sports facility. The new building is situated in an attractive, climate-friendly location in the city. The facility provides space for various sports organisations, clubs and educational institutions.
Durable wooden structure
The load-bearing structure of the two sports halls consists of glulam trusses with glulam supports. The cross members, also made of glulam, have a span of 31 m in the large hall and 27 m in the small hall. The diagonals in the halls’ wooden roof frames take the form of tie beams, creating an elegant load-bearing structure with a warm and sleek appearance. The roof is covered with steel roof panels.
The complex also offers sufficient space for stor age rooms, an administration area and a spa cious kitchen. The facility is surrounded by parking spaces for cars and cycles and is also readily acces sible for pedestrians and athletes with a disability.
Energy-neutral building
As an energy-neutral building, the sports hall gen erates as much energy as it consumes. The aim is to generate it as efficiently as possible and recover
it wherever possible. The basis for this is a heat pump, which is three times cheaper than a conventional central heating system in the well-insulated, predominantly wood en construction. As much as possible of the generated heat is recovered.
By using boosters in addition to the basic hot water supply, it is possible to cover peak loads in heat demand, e.g. when the showers are put to heavy use. The intelligent LED light ing in particular minimizes power consumption.
The entire roof surface is used for solar collectors. A south-facing panel usually achieves optimum efficiency at an angle of 35 degrees. Calculation using simulation soft
ware taking account of shading and walkways resulted in an alternative layout that maximises use of the roof surface area. The photovoltaic panels will generate more energy than the building and its users will consume.
Use of second-hand components
In the choice of materials, the focus was on recycling and minimising the environmental impact. A used ventilation unit, written-off paving stones as ballast for the solar panels, cable ducts dismantled from a demolition site and 28 washbasins "with previous experience" have been used. The grounds of the new sports complex are designed to be climate-friendly with greened parking solutions, water reservoirs on the site and greened shaded areas to combat heat stress.
SUSTAINABILITY IN EVENT CONSTRUCTION THROUGH TEMPORARY SOLUTIONS
THREE BEST PRACTICE EXAMPLES
Author Marike van der Ben, NUSSLI Group, CH – 8536 Hüttwilen, www.nussli.com Photos Swiss Images (ESAF Pratteln), Peter Meisel (Munich), Napur Architects (Rendering Budapest)The demands on events are becoming ever higher, the locations ever more extraordinary, the dimensions ever larger. At the same time, there is a growing desire for sustainability, for forward-looking planning and conservation of resources. Three examples show how event builder NUSSLI plans and implements top-class events sustainably with a great deal of know-how and the right materials.
Temporary solutions play an important role here. They open up completely new location options, are particularly flexible, and are downright exemplary in terms of sustainability. This is because NUSSLI‘s own system material is used for temporary structures, which is completely dismantled after an event and reused for other projects.
European Championships 2022 in Munich: How major events reach spectators in the city
In August, Munich was transformed into a huge sports s tadium. The European Championships became a big celebration. An impressive beach volleyball and climbing arena was temporarily built on Königsplatz – a place where architecture, art and culture are usually the main attractions. The exhibition hall was temporarily converted for the track cycling competitions, as was Odeonsplatz for the road cy cling races outside. For all other sports, existing sports ven ues were used and complemented with temporary solutions.
For a total of eight venues, event specialist NUSSLI planned and built grandstands, LED walls, camera and commenta tor platforms, stairs and many other special structures. It is only thanks to the possibilities offered by NUSSLI‘s tempo rary construction that such complex infrastructures can be realized in a metropolitan, partly historic, and inhabited set ting – on a very large scale, economically and sustainably. In the middle of the city, the European Championships reached many new spectators.
Temporary and gigantic: The festival arena for the Swiss Federal Wrestling and Alpine Festival Larger than the largest soccer stadium in Switzerland and still too small for the ticket demand was the festival arena that NUSSLI was allowed to design and build for this year‘s Swiss Federal Wrestling and Alpine Festival (ESAF) in Pratteln near Basel. A temporary arena was built for 50,900 spectators and two days of sports and festivities. Temporary because the
major national event only takes place every three years and at a different location each time.
Temporary construction offers clear advantages here. N USSLI has been involved in the ESAF as a service provider since 1961 and works with its own construction elements that can be reused several times, which makes it possible to respond flex ibly to the conditions on site during construction.
Budapest: Stadium construction as part of the urban development project
As part of a modern urban development vision, the National Athletics Centre is being built in Budapest for the IAAF World Championships in Athletics in 2023. The new stadium is being realized on a former industrial site, which will be sustainably
redeveloped through construction and developed into an attractive public sports and recreation park after the World Championships.
NUSSLI is helping with sustainable and temporary structures that make it possible to set up the new athletics stadium flex ibly and multifunctionally. While there is permanent seating for 15,000 spectators, an additional temporary upper tier provides another 25,000 seats, which will be completely dis mantled after the World Championships.
The intelligent permanent stadium can also be temporarily expanded again in the future for other major events. Planned with foresight, the deconstruction and expansion process can be handled economically and budget-friendly at any time.
Watch the video!
HIGHEST ACCREDITATION LEVEL
ASB GLASSFLOOR ACCREDITED BY BASKETBALL WORLD FEDERATION
Author A SB Systembau Horst Babinsky GmbH, DE – 83371 Stein a. d. Traun, www.asbglassfloor.com Photos G eorg Dürst and ASB GlassFloorMore and more municipalities, hall operators and associations are relying on the advantages of the glass sports floor by ASB GlassFloor. The decision of the basketball world association FIBA to allow the use of glass floors in level 1 competitions in spring 2022 provides additional momentum. Now ASB GlassFloor can also be used in FIBA national team and club competitions.
“We will permit the glass floor,“ said Basketball Bundesliga Managing Director Stefan Holz shortly after the FIBA decision at the “Neuland“ future congress in Aachen in June. “There are some locations that have pushed in terms of remodelling or new construction measures.“
And no wonder – after all, the glass technology offers many advantages and makes it much easier to refinance the entire project, even in municipal construction. Sustainability, digi talization, completely new training and marketing possibil ities, as well as enormous flexibility in the design of the entire floor area give hall operators plenty of arguments to choose the ASB MultiSports, which also represents a great added value for athletes due to its joint-friendly properties.
The special feature: the lines are not permanently marked on the floor, but are located as LED lines underneath the glass surface. Thus, at the touch of a button, a wide variety of play ing fields such as basketball, hockey, handball, badminton and volleyball can be displayed, or also many small training fields. Only the lines that are actually needed are displayed. Gone are the days of the big line confusion.
When school sports, professional training, sporting events and cultural events often have to be accommodated under one roof in the halls, this flexibility provides a decisive ad
vantage. The durability of an ASB GlassFloor is over 70 years, on which you can easily hold school sports in the morning, a handball match in the afternoon and a concert in the evening. In between, all you have to do is change the lines on the touch screen and perhaps damp mop the floor if necessary.
The multi-purpose use and profitability calculation were ulti mately the decisive arguments that recently also convinced the Miltenberg district administration. In spring 2023, the Unter mainhalle in Elsenfeld, where the traditional handball club TV Großwallstadt plays its home games, will receive a glass floor by ASB GlassFloor. After 15, at the latest after 20 years, the high-tech floor will have paid back the investment thanks to its significantly longer service life and lower maintenance costs.
The certified sports floor is FIBA, FIVB and IHF accredited and complies with the European standard EN 14904:2006 for area-elastic sports floors. Due to its elasticity and nature, among other things due to the ceramic dots burnt into the glass surface, it offers perfect conditions for the health of the athlete. The risk of injury due to burning friction after a fall is also much lower.
In addition to the “ASB MultiSports“, there is also the second floor variant “ASB LumiFlex“. Here, the entire floor is underlaid with LEDs and there are even more possibilities for use.
"NO CO2, LOW ENERGY"
SUSTAINABLE, TURN KEY SPORTS FACILITIES BY SMC2
In view of the global climate change and the energy crisis in Europe, SMC2 presents its vision for r esource-saving and affordable sports and leisure facilities.
Sufficiency first
With the hot temperatures and numerous fires raging across Europe and other areas of the world, we could feel it this summer: our planet is burning, and urgent action is needed. Each of us bears a personal responsibility for global climate change. It is up to us to contain the causes and mitigate the consequences. As a construction company and designer of sports and leisure facilities, it is a matter of course for us to minimize our own CO2 footprint and the one of our facilities.
To do this, we face the challenge of designing needs-based facilites with the lowest possible use of resources. This is what is commonly understood by sufficiency. With our mission statement „No CO2, Low Energy“ we put the idea of sufficien cy first for our mission: Imagine, conceive, construct pleasant, sustainable spaces for a brighter future.
Building climate-friendly with the right materials
For almost 20 years, SMC2 has been designing and realizing sports and leisure facilities with a lightweight construction and light-flooded architecture. Our innovative solutions are economical and ecological viable, both in terms of invest ment and operation. Our construction method is particularly characterized by sustainable building materials. For example, we prefer the use of wood for the structure of our facilities, as it stores CO2 during the growth phase and has numerous aesthetic, mechanical and thermal qualities. The same ap
plies to the textile building envelopes, which create room vol umes with minimal use of materials and energy. They protect the athletes from wind and weather, provide daylight and only slightly pollute the environment during construction.
Sustainable, turnkey sports facilities
The first step in realizing a sustainable sports facility is to bring economy and ecology together and to adapt the project to the needs of the users. For this reason, we offer mainly sports facilities, which consist of different areas and are designed with different construction principles according to the sports practiced there. Facing the global climate emergency and the energy crisis in Europe, we recommend neither heating nor cooling in halls for dynamic sports. Our special construction and equipment elements for hygrothermal regulation ensure summer and winter comfort. On the other hand, separate rooms with a much smaller volume (changing rooms, recrea tion rooms, areas for fitness training and gymnastics, etc.) should be insulated and heated efficiently. We offer turnkey sports facilities to municipalities and clubs that include all dif ferent areas and we keep an eye on the quality, the costs and the deadlines for our customers.
A look at our references
What illustrates our know-how and the quality of our build ings better than a look at our references? In the following,
Eric Michaud, Head of Major Projects in Verrières-en-Anjou (France), reports of his project, where we built a 1,350 m² sports facility in 2021.
Why did you choose the design suggested by SMC2?
At the beginning we wondered about this type of construction with a glued laminated timber structure and a textile membrane building envelope. Nevertheless, the visits of references of this type of sports facility convinced us. The textile membrane offers numerous advantages, in cluding excellent light transmission, which increases playing comfort and leads to energy savings in artificial lighting. This type of supporting structure is also cheaper than steel construction, can be implemented more quickly and is eco logically advantageous. In addition, the wooden compo nents were manufactured on site in Saint-Sylvain d‘Anjou.
W hat are the different components of this sports complex?
The 2,050 m² facility has a 1,350 m² multi-purpose sports hall equipped with a sandwich sports floor, a grandstand with 240 seats and modern LED lighting. Regardless of the desired level of illumination (300 lux for training and 500 lux for competitions), all lights are switched on to achieve perfect illumination. The lighting level is regu lated by varying the power of all the lights. This hall is heated to a maximum of 12-13°C with radiant panels. The hall also has a ventilation and dehumidification sys tem designed to counteract condensation. In addition, 700 m² of ancillary space adjoins the sports hall, which includes four changing rooms for the players, two for referees, a first-aid room, a common room and several equipment rooms.
TOP QUALITY IS STANDARD AT TROLDTEKT ®
TWO EXAMPLES OF ACOUSTIC SOLUTIONS IN ACTION
Author and photos O laf Wiechers
Acoustic solutions Troldtekt GmbH, DE – Hamburg, info@troldtekt.com, www.troldtekt.com
Whether in a minimalist competition pool or an aquatic wonderland, Troldtekt® delivers acoustic solutions that meet everyday and special requirements in equal measure. Because the lightweight wood-wool panels feature optimal acoustics, while being non-combustible, moisture-resistant and sustainable.
Swimming and other water activities are popular with all age groups, regardless of the level of sporting skill. At the same time, swimming pools provide recreation and collec tive fun for the whole family. In order to meet users’ vary ing expectations, clients and designers have to develop tar get-group-driven strategies that find expression in the pool architecture. In doing so, keeping an eye on both efficiency and sustainability is essential. Two interesting examples in the Ortenau district in Baden-Württemberg show how different pool design can be, depending on use.
Minimalist design at the Kinzigtalbad pool
Located in Germany’s sunny southwest, the Black Forest’s Kinzigtal (Kinzig valley) in Baden-Württemberg is a popular holiday destination. An attraction for tourists and locals alike is the Kinzigtalbad pool. The all-year facility comprising an outdoor pool, indoor pool and sauna area is integrated into a sweeping park landscape, complies with the latest standards and promises the ultimate in bathing and recreational fun.
The Baden-Württemberg Chamber of Architects also rec ognizes that the new complex is of special value not only for users. Consequently, shortly after completion, the facility received one of the awards for “Exemplary Buildings” in the Ortenau district. The jury based its decision on the criteria of
external design, dimensions and proportions of the building, internal spatial organisation, allocation of spaces and practi cality, appropriateness of means and materials, constructive honesty, and integration into and interaction with the urban context and the environment.
The outdoor pool consists of a 25 meter competition pool, non-swimmers’ area, diving pool and spacious water play ground for the youngest users. In the light-flooded swimming hall, there are a swimmers’ pool and a children’s pool with a toddlers’ area, with a watercourse, water fountain and slide. From the recreation and health pool with a water tempera ture of 34° Celsius, users access the outdoor pool, which can b e used all year round. The abundant aquatic attractions are complemented by a panorama sauna and a sanarium with coloured lighting.
Matching the large floor tiles, bright ceiling tiles underscore the pool’s feel-good atmosphere. According to architect Gun nar Lehmann, the lightweight white wood-wool panels deliver excellent acoustic values, look classier than smooth ceiling tiles and blend in perfectly with the overall ensemble. In addition to their design function, the Troldtekt® acoustic panels suitable for use in damp environments are particularly noted for their ability to shorten reverberation.
Immersion in the magical Rulantica aquatic world Rulantica, the unrivalled fairy-tale aquatic world, provides excitement and an extraordinary aquatic experience for the whole family on an unprecedented scale. Covering an area of 40,000 m², the gigantic water park is located just a few metres away from Europapark Rust, Germany’s largest theme park in Baden-Württemberg.
Integrated in a total area of 450,000 m², which also includes a hotel, the magical Nordic water world comprises nine elabo rately themed areas populated by such fantasy creatures as mermaids, trolls and sea monsters. The attractions include 17 water slides, Germany’s largest wave pool, a current chan nel, several water playgrounds for different age groups, and waterfalls.
The park’s interior is located in a 32,000 m², 20 m high hall shaped like a seashell. It is spanned by one of the largest wooden roofs in Europe, which is carried by exposed wood en trusses (with a span of up to 50 m). The main façade is divided by façade towers into five wide elements which, with their delicate steel and glass structures, admit a striking amount of daylight into the hall.
The fact that it is surprisingly quiet in this stunning pool inte rior is due, firstly, to the many rocks and decorative elements, and, secondly, to the Troldtekt® acoustic panels installed in the ceiling. Suitable for use in damp environments, the pan els made of Danish-sourced wood and cement have, among other things, outstanding sound-absorbing properties.
Moisture-resistant, non-combustible and sustainable ceiling and wall facings
The Danish Institute of Technology has demonstrated that Troldtekt® acoustic panels are suitable for rooms with a mois ture load of up to 98 % (+/- 2 %) and temperatures of up to at least 40° Celsius. Troldtekt® thus achieves the highest CE marking rating (D) in the water resistance bracket. This result underlines Troldtekt®’s robustness as a choice for even the wettest and warmest environments, such as swimming pools, shower rooms and wellness facilities.
In addition to its standard flame-retardant acoustic panels (B-s1,d0), Troldtekt® also supplies its products in build ing material class A2-s1,d0 non-combustible, so they can b e used wherever stricter fire protection regulations apply.
Troldtekt® A2 panels achieve their fire protection effect solely through the use of special cement without the addi tion of toxic fire-retardant additives. In addition to the classic acoustic panels, the non-combustible Troldtekt® products available include Troldtekt® A2 panels, Troldtekt® design solutions, Troldtekt® baffles and Troldtekt® ceiling clouds.
Since the first quarter of 2022, all Troldtekt® panels have also been offered on the basis of FUTURECEM, a patented cement type from Aalborg Portland. The new Troldtekt® acoustic panels absorb more carbon than is emitted during EPD phases A1-A3. Both the classic acoustic panels and the solutions in the Troldtekt® design series are manufactured on the basis of FUTURECEM.
INNOVATION AWARD AT GALABAU FAIR
DOMO® INFINITUM WAS AWARDED THE GALABAU INNOVATIONS MEDAL
The biennial leading trade fair GaLaBau celebrated its comeback from 14 to 17 September 2022, after the last edition was four years ago due to corona. Domo Sports Grass was represented at the show along with its sister brand Fungrass. The focus of this year‘s show was on sustainability and this focus was met in particular by the Domo® Infinitum (PE) backing.
The path to a sustainable future
Domo Sports Grass has recently set new standards in en vironmental friendliness. For the past two years, Domo Sports Grass’ co-founded, Europe’s first full-scale recycling factory for artificial turf systems has been successfully op erating in Amsterdam, recycling artificial turf systems of all kinds. Now the next step towards a circular economy has been taken. Domo Sports Grass has launched a completely recyclable artificial turf: Domo® Infinitum.
The environmentally friendly complete solution
The complete solution presented at GaLaBau is a system that is not only recyclable but 100 % renewable in the same material cycle (Domo® Infinitum), made of 100 % organic infill material (Domo® Naturafill), has a special fiber tech nology that prevents the loss of infill material (Domo® VarioSlide S Pro) and saves over 95 % resources (Domo® flex). All elements of this system have been developed with respect for the environment, without neglecting perfor mance, durability and sports functionality.
Galabau Innovation Medal 2022
With the novel and innovative backing material Domo® Infinitum, artificial turf systems are now offered that are fully
recyclable in a closed loop. Domo® Infinitum is a backing made of PE, which guarantees a latex- and poly urethanefree turf surface. The artificial turf system consists of a single group of materials and can be processed into pure granules at the end of its service life. This granulate can in turn be used for the production of new artificial grass fibers.
Domo® Infinitum has been awarded the GaLaBau Innova tion Medal 2022. This is a great recognition for the compa ny and all its employees who give their best every day to provide their customers with the highest quality and most innovative products.
Kevin De Bruyne supports Domo Sports Grass
Since March 2022, Kevin De Bruyne has been an inves tor in the Sports and Leisure Group, which includes Domo Sports Grass. The company’s mission is to bring to mar ket sports systems that combine sustainability in harmony with top quality, top sporting performance and durability in tailor-made solutions for its customers. The partnership with top footballer Kevin De Bruyne underlines that Domo Sports Grass is setting new standards in the development of artificial turf solutions.
“It’s important to give talents the chance to reach their full potential.” – Kevin De Bruyne
NEW ERA OF SUSTAINABLE ARTIFICIAL GRASS INFILLS
SALTEX OY INTRODUCES INNOVATIVE BIOFLEX™ INFILL
Author and photos Saltex Oy, FI – 62900 Alajärvi, saltex@saltex.fi, www.saltex.fi, www.unisport.com
The changing legislation and ongoing debate on microplastics have made all communities and clubs more aware of sustainability when installing artificial grass pitches. Decision makers in the Nordic countries are now showing more interest than ever in alternative sustainable infills. Many new infills made of biodegradable plastics, cork, olive stones and wood have entered the market over the last few years, and choosing the best option can be difficult.
Finland- based Saltex Oy – part of the Nordic Unisport Group – wanted to take on the challenge of developing not only a sustainable option but one that would be accepted by play ers as well. As a member of FIFA’s technical committee, it has always been Saltex’s goal to develop, especially for play ers, playing surfaces that meet and exceed sports functional criteria at the highest levels while taking account of players’ safety and the environment.
The company’s new high-performance innovative infill called Saltex BioFlex™ ticks all the boxes and has already demon strated its remarkable features on over 70 pitches. The inno vative product is a surface-treated mineral that is easy-going on players and reduces artificial turf wear.
In addition to its good playing characteristics, BioFlex™ has many sustainable features. Due to the design of the infill, no additional stabilisation or performance infill is required, and because of its weight, infill migration is also significantly reduced. The infill has a unique ability to stay on the pitch because of its weight, which is 3-5 times greater than that of traditional black rubber, thus preventing entrainment
from the playing surface to changing rooms, cars, homes, washing machines and eventually the environment. Saltex BioFlex™ is also fully recyclable and doesn’t pulverise under high pressure.
This is what clubs and players say When it was time earlier in 2022 for SJK, Seinäjoki, Finland and Mjøndalen Football club, Mjøndalen, Norway to choose a new artificial grass system for their FIFA Quality PRO sta diums, they both chose Saltex BioFlex™ as their infill option. In both stadiums, football is played on all levels in addition to professional football.
Berenike Wulfsberg, then General Manager of Mjøndalen Football, says: “In Mjøndalen we take sustainable develop ment seriously. When they introduced BioFlex™ to us we were immediately sold. There is no other product in the market that would have met our needs like BioFlex™ did. Both environ mentally and performance-wise. It truly was a no-brainer.”
The municipality of Seinäjoki, Finland also chose Saltex BioFlex™ for their stadium because it conformed to the
town’s environmental goals and they were convinced of its excellent quality.
The feedback from users has been great. Vegard Hansen, former Head Coach of Mjøndalen Football Club, has been amazed by how pleasant a sustainable infill can be to play on. Tore Hilmarsen, a player in Tolga-Vingelen, Norway confirms: “The future is BioFlex™. It is much better to play on than black traditional rubber granules. The ball flows better, the field is faster and it is soft and good to run on. We tested many fields before we decided, but none was even close to BioFlex™.”
The infill also received good feedback from owners and field staff. Tom Hagen, COB of FUVO Norway, states: “After we got our BioFlex™ field, everyday life has become much easier. Those who wash clothes and clean the clubhouse have no infill around them. Everything stays on the field. Gone are the days with expensive and ugly piles of black rubber granules all around. The response from the players is also fantastic! A very good new alternative to black rubber granules.”
Sustainable innovations
Saltex Oy, established in Finland in 1991 and currently part of the Nordic Unisport Group, is known for its development and production of innovative and high-end artificial turf compo nents including artificial turf, shock pads and infills. In all of its innovations, Saltex considers the life-cycle aspect of the pitches and, together with its partner HGO, has for example developed the world’s first fully electric installation machinery for artificial grass fields called E’nstallation. Over 20 venues have chosen E’nstallation as their installation method this year and, next year, many more will follow.
As a FIFA Preferred Provider and a founding member of the ESTC, Saltex Oy is also continuously involved in developing better recycling options for pitches and contributes to the EU’s discussion on microplastics. The company has decided to stay one step ahead in the industry’s sustainable innova tions and aims to develop artificial grass systems that meet and exceed the expectations of players and owners of sports facilities throughout the world.
FUN AND GAMES WITH A GREEN CONSCIENCE KINEA SHOCK PADS ENHANCE PLAYING ENJOYMENT
Author Björn Hammel
Photos N EVEON Holding GmbH, AT – 1100 Vienna, www.neveon.com
As is so often the case, when it comes to sports and games it is personal values that count. Accordingly, it is precisely in this connection that with its kinea shock pads the foam specialist NEVEON sets new standards.
kinea.turf shock pads form a durable, elastic and shock-absorbent layer, which either b etween the sub-base and artificial turf, or underneath indoor sports floors, is used to protect athletes and increase playing comfort.
From hockey to rugby and football, kinea.turf shock pads underpin specific, sports-related properties such as excellent ball bounce, while simultaneously protecting athletes from injury and thus enhancing performance and playing enjoy ment. Moreover, kinea shock pads not only score on the pitch! For in the kinea.play version they are also employed as fall protection mats in children‘s playgrounds.
Fair competition and a fair environmental concept NEVEON is convinced that the future bears the name “circu lar economy”. This is because if today‘s generation wishes to leave behind a future worth living in, a transition from a linear to a circular economic system is essential. Future-oriented is a system in which at the end of their life cycle products serve as valuable raw materials and as the starting point for new
products. For this reason, NEVEON has placed the topic of the circular economy, which for the foam experts already be gins with product development, alongside emission reduc tion at the forefront of its activities.
k inea shock pads: safety partners for two to three artificial turf lifetimes NEVEON‘s kinea shock pads have an extremely long service life and retain their properties throughout the entire prod uct life cycle. With their 16-year warranty, kinea shock pads can be used for at least two to three artificial turf lifetimes. Moreover, if for example owing to a switch to a new artificial turf system with altered requirements the shock pads have to be replaced sooner, or when they reach the end of their life span, they can be reused, recycled or recovered.
POOLS RENT BIKES | BÄDER MIETEN RÄDER
With the creation of the business model "Pools rent bikes", AquaKinetics paved the way for a practical test for operators to rent AquaFitness equipment such as the Aquarider® and/ or AquaJumper® without having to buy them straight away. The rental costs are covered by the income from courses. These already achieve a surplus with five courses/week irre spective of the entries.
The course system enables a high level of planning and secu rity of occupancy for the water areas. The tried-and-tested system comes with a complete marketing plan to introduce it, as well as instructor training.
Especially in these times, models that are available at short notice are important. AquaFitness courses are particularly suitable as an increase in attractiveness to guide new guests into the pools.
More information with an interactive rent-calculator at: www.Bäder-mieten-Räder.de
RETRACTABLE TUNNELS BY TATAMSPORT
The TatamSport model tunnels are perfectly designed to meet all possible requirements. They can be adapted to any dimen sions, colours and shapes to offer the maximum possible ver satility. Their aluminium structure makes them light yet sturdy, and the canvas panels are M2 flame-retardant PVC.
The advantage these tunnels have in being retractable is that, when not in use, they can be folded up and stored in any small space.
We manufacture a wide variety of models depending on their location and intended use.
Since 1996, we have been supplying our guaranteed quality products to countless sports facilities, in turn expanding con tinuously in the international market and developing into a reference in the domestic market.
With virtually no maintenance required, the quality and guarantee of our tunnels speak for themselves.
AquaKinetics GmbH www.aqua-kinetics.de
TatamSport S.L. www.tatamsport.com
REDCLAY PRO® IS IMPORT FAVORITE
Together with RedClay USA, VIACOR/PORPLASTIC is on the advance to revolutionize tennis in America: the enthusiasm for the innovative PORPLASTIC RedClay Pro® tennis court sys tems from the manufacturer VIACOR, respectively PORPLAS TIC, has now spilled over from Florida, Texas, Michigan, Nevada, also to California. The tennis court system, which in spired the women's tennis elite at the WTA Porsche Tennis Grand Prix in Stuttgart for the 6th time in 2022, is currently enjoying particular attention in the USA.
Sean Henagan, Owner and Director of Tennis at The Tennis Reserve (private exclusive tennis academy in Florida, USA), ex plains his switch from green to red clay tennis courts: "The 300+ man hours annually that we will be saving with mainte nance, the virtually zero down time after rains, and the amaz ing feeling of playing on traditional red clay was an instant sell for me! PORPLASTIC RedClay Pro® played great, you can slide like on a traditional clay court, the bounce is extremely "pure", and no issues ever with lines... thank you to Fast Dry Courts and RedClay USA!"
Brian Osterberg, Managing Director of RedClay USA adds why, especially in times of water scarcity, the PORPLASTIC RedClay Pro® tennis court system is the only practical solu tion for clay courts in regions with water restrictions: “With the clever technology of the PORPLASTIC RedClay Pro® tennis court system, compared to conventional clay courts, a lot less water is needed; only quick surface moistening for play. This saves up to 90 % water." New Jersey has also already reached the PORPLASTIC RedClay Pro® fever: the completion of the largest "Red Clay" tennis complex to date in the USA is ex pected in early 2023.
Porplastic Sportbau von Cramm GmbH www.porplastic.de
OUTSTANDING PERFORMANCES
August 22 saw the European Athletics Championships in Mu nich draw to a close after seven days of exciting competition, with Europe's best athletes competing for glory and 50 sets of medals. All athletics events in the Olympic Stadium were held on a new synthetic running track, provided by the sports flooring manufacturer REGUPOL. It was installed in May this year and received Class 1 certification from World Athletics. With the construction of the track, REGUPOL became the Official Track Supplier of the European Championships Munich 2022.
REGUPOL brings high-tech to the Olympic Stadium What makes REGUPOL an internationally renowned name in the sports industry is their expertise and decades of experi ence in sports floor construction. And that’s precisely what tipped the scales in favour of REGUPOL constructing the running track in Munich. The base layer is prefabricated in the factory and bonded on site where it’s given a coating of poly urethane, interspersed with granulate. The track strikes just the right balance between sports function and provid ing protection for athletes’ bodies. Special designs and solu tions are also possible: for example, the javelin run-up was given a special base layer and the last eight metres of the syn thetic surface were additionally refined to prevent the throw er’s front foot slipping. This is a high-tech track that promised great successes and was able to deliver. And not for the first time: at the 2008 World Athletics Championships in the Ber lin Olympic Stadium, Usain Bolt set two world records - also on a REGUPOL track.
Both athletes and spectators witnessed numerous highlights on the REGUPOL track; whether outstanding performances or exceptional sportsmanship.
REGUPOL BSW GmbH www.regupol.com
CARBON NEUTRAL RENOVATION
Whether PVC, Lino or wooden sports floor, even a tiled changing room: when a renewal is due, operators often shy away from the high costs, the extreme exposure to noise and dirt as well as the long down time. Fortunately, the trend is in creasingly towards sustainability and preservation of the floors in place.
In the vast majority of cases, this is possible with a clever per manent coating application: With its full range of renovation systems for wood, resilient and tile floors, Dr. Schutz restores the full functionality to old floors in just a few days, creates long-term durability and offers so many possibilities in terms of design that it is no longer necessary to replace the existing floor covering.
A report by the German Institute for Sustainability & Econom ics confirms: A renovation by Dr. Schutz saves 98 % of CO2 emissions compared to a new installation. Many tons of waste, of new materials and unnecessary transport costs are thus avoided. Dr. Schutz products and raw materials are produced exclusively in Europe. A photovoltaic system on the roof of the plant covers almost the entire electricity requirement. The company compensates for the remaining 2 % of CO2 with a tree planting project in the Harz Mountains, which allows it to offer certified carbon-neutral renovation.
The system is also beneficial in the long term in terms of sus tainability: Due to the very resilient coating, easy maintenance with suitable cleaners is completely sufficient. This not only saves many liters of water and cleaning chemicals. Even the microplastic washed out of conventional polish layers can no longer get into the water cycle.
Dr. Schutz GmbH www.dr-schutz-sportboeden.comGROWING ACTIVITIES IN SPAIN
As a recent highlight of our Iberian success, we have recently supplied our materials for a POLTRACK SPRAYCOAT running track retopping project of 4,000 m2 at Polideportivo Universi dad Alcalá de Henares, Madrid in Spain. Retopping and new running track projects are due to be done in Spain as part of a general upgrade, and our POLTRACK SPRAYCOAT and POLTRACK SANDWICH running track systems are shortlisted for the task.
We have been growing rapidly in the Iberian peninsula, in parallel consolidating our presence in Latin America as well, where we are very active lately.
KDF is one of the most dynamic and export-oriented Greek companies (currently active in more than 60 countries in five continents), with our main factory in Greece and affiliated branches, full production facilities and warehouses for acrylic and polyurethane materials plus EPDM granules in the United Arab Emirates.
Our manufacturing in two different continents brings the whole world close to us and ensures fast, reliable and com petitive solutions practically everywhere. This is what makes KDF totally unique and continues to draw attention in diverse markets.
KDF - Kataskeves Dapedon Ltd. www.kdf.gr
SPACE SAVING SAFETY AT DIZZY HEIGHTS
Ball catching nets are becoming increasingly popular. A play able sports area on the roof is not only a highlight, but also saves space. It is often impossible to have playgrounds and sports fields in towns and cities due to the lack of space. Carefree and safe play at any height is possible with X-TEND stainless steel mesh. Schools and day-care centres in particu lar make use of this space advantage. The playing field can not only be surrounded with the stainless steel mesh, but also covered horizontally so that there is no risk of losing the ball when playing at dizzy heights. Both the nature of the mesh and the use of small mesh sizes stop children from climbing the structure.
Carl Stahl ARC X-TEND is a protective element which, at the same time, is a design feature. It is made entirely of stainless steel of the V4a family. In a specially developed procedure, the stainless steel cables are pressed with stainless steel ferrules to form a resilient and flexible mesh structure. X-TEND moulds itself to the desired shape of the area to be protected and adapts individually – for two- or three-dimensional applica tions.
Stainless steel safety mesh is compelling due to its stability, durability and flexibility, and has the additional advantage of being non-flammable. At the same time it is absolutely UV-re sistant. The spectators and also the athletes enjoy a perfect view. Balls fly silently into the mesh without deforming or dam aging it. It has a low self weight in relation to its load-bearing capacity and can thus be used in large expanses.
MANY RECORDS ON OUR CONIPUR VMAX
Before the Diamond League finals in Zurich 7-8 September 2022, athletes have been competing for the last tickets to the finals in three preliminary events in Monaco, Brussels and Lau sanne. The competition in Monaco took place on August 10th in Stade Louis II, the center for competitive sports in the Prin cipality. Great results were achieved at the hard-fought Her culis meeting, partially due to the CONIPUR Vmax surface. Four new annual world bests as well as a wave of meeting records, seasonal and personal bests were broken during this competition.
The running track was renewed in 2020. The architects at ARCH Monaco chose our CONIPUR Vmax. The full pure track for top athletic performance was developed in close coopera tion with the Cologne Sports University, meets the require ments of EN 14877, DIN V 18035-6, ASTM F2157-02 as well as those of World Athletics, and has the World Athletics prod uct certificate.
CONIPUR Vmax offers top running performance through the combination of an energy-recovering base layer and a strength-stabilizing top layer. The top layer ensures fast and precise forward motion. The lower energy consumption in the start, sprint and run phases enables maximum running per formance all the way to the finish line.
The air cells entrapped in a special manner in the base layer returns the energy induced by the athlete after compression. The system features an excellent stability with low deforma tion. This reduces the load on the joints and provides greater stability. The top layer is also highly durable, giving it maxi mum resistance and toughness.
Carl Stahl ARC GmbH www.carlstahl-architektur.comBUCHTAL
Steinzeug Keramik GmbH 92521 Schwarzenfeld, Germany agrob-buchtal@deutsche-steinzeug.de www.agrob-buchtal.de
Gotthilf Benz
Metall- und Bäderbau GmbH 2560 Berndorf, Austria office@berndorf-baederbau.com www.berndorf-baederbau.com
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International magazine for sports, leisure and recreational facilities
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UPCOMING ISSUES
Issue 6/2022 – Active communities
Date of publication: 16.12.2022
Issue 1/2023 – Sports halls and arenas
Date of publication: 28.02.2023
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THE GREEN REVOLUTION OF ARTIFICIAL TURF
