Sport
NSC 17
July/Aug 18
FACT FILE
York Community
Stadium
Main client:
York City Council
Architect:
Holmes Miller
Main contractor:
Buckingham Group
Structural engineer:
Arup
Steelwork contractor:
Caunton Engineering
Steel tonnage: 3,000t
A series of transfer beams is installed
at first floor level to support the more
numerous columns of the cinema. Caunton
used plate girders, as these could be
fabricated in a slender form to the maximum
permitted depth of 950mm.
“The depth of the beams was important
as the retail floor below them needed to
have a 7m floor-to-ceiling height to allow
a mezzanine level to be installed if it was
needed in the future,” adds Mr Beesley.
A movement joint and acoustically treated
walls divide the cinema from the south
stand’s terracing, but the final four bays
in the south-east corner are structurally
connected. This area houses the ‘fans zone’
a large covered area where supporters can
gather for refreshments, before and during a
game. It was important to have no intrusive
columns in this zone, and so to help create
this open-plan zone the structures are linked
via perimeter columns and roof beams.
Erected at the same time as the cinema,
the project’s leisure block is a large wedgeshaped
building containing two open-plan
zones, accommodating an aquatics zone
and a sports hall, sandwiched either side of
a two-storey section containing changing
rooms, a gym, offices and dance and
spinning studios.
The sports hall, which has a spectator
terrace along one perimeter wall, will be
used for netball, basketball and badminton.
A series of 25.5m-long roof rafters, spliced
at midpoint, creates this large column-free
space.
Similarly, the aquatics zone, which houses
a six-lane 25m-long main swimming pool,
a smaller learner pool and a further splash
pool, is spanned by a series of 18m-long
beams.
Sat between the leisure centre and the
cinema is the east stand structure. As
well as being the stadium’s main stand,
housing changing and pre-match facilities
on the ground floor beneath the seating,
it also houses, at the rear of the structure,
restaurants on the lowest floor, an NHS
drop-in centre on the first floor and
corporate facilities on the second level.
Like all the other three stands, the
east stand features a single tier of terrace
seating, formed with raking steel members
supporting precast flooring terrace units.
The east stand is slightly larger than the
other stands, at 19m-deep, and features the
largest of the four cantilevering roofs. The
south and west stands both have 13m-deep
cantilevering roofs, while the north, which is
the stadium’s smallest stand, has a 6.5m-deep
cantilevering roof. The Eurocode design of
the stadium included full dynamic checks
on the roof and terracing, undertaken by
Caunton Engineering.
Mr Domville says: “This is the final
scheme in the Vanguard development, and
brings with it a host of sporting and leisure
facilities to add to the existing retail offering.
As well as giving the local population an
array of things to do, the Community
Stadium will hopefully be the catalyst to
revitalise the city’s football and rugby league
teams.”
Summing up, Wrenbridge Sport Project
Manager Peter Baird says: “We’ve been part
of the consortium with leisure operators
Greenwich Leisure (GLL) for the past five
years that has worked very closely with the
Council to make the scheme a reality.
“We are the developers for the enabling
commercial elements of the project that
has been funded by Legal & General and
includes a 13-screen state-of-the-art IMAX
cinema, five restaurants as well as retail and
leisure uses.
“With the construction works now well
under way we are delighted with the progress
being made by Buckingham and we looking
forward to seeing the scheme continue
to rise out of the ground. We believe that
whole scheme will be a fantastic new leisure
destination for the whole community of York
and will offer something for everyone.”
The sports hall has
specatator terracing
Work progresses on the
cinema block
/Steel_construction_products#Plate_girders
/Single_storey_industrial_buildings#Mezzanines
/Acoustic_performance_of_walls
/Acoustic_performance_of_walls
/Leisure_buildings#Sightlines_and_seating
/Leisure_buildings#Sightlines_and_seating
/Design_codes_and_standards#Introduction_to_Eurocodes
/Floor_vibrations