Construction World March 2021

BUILDING

NEW SUITES AT CAPE TOWN STADIUM ON SCHEDULE

The construction and fitting out of 168 new suites at the Cape Town Stadium by main contractor Grinaker-LTA is on schedule for handover at the end of March. By Blake Wilkins

T he R250-m contract awarded on 5 February last year was extended as a result of 33 days lost due to the imposition by the government of a COVID-19 Level 5 lockdown. Construction work was resumed on 11 May last year when the restrictions were relaxed. The total number of hospitality seats will increase to 7 329 from the previous 4 532. The stadium’s total capacity will rise to 57 367. The stadium will boast a total of 236 suites of which 206 will be field viewing and 26 will be scenic suites. Four pods have been added to provide additional corporate space. An expansive business lounge will be used as a shared premium hospitality facility for corporates and the general public. It will cater for a further 2 132 hospitality guests. The work includes upgrades to existing suites to bring them into line with the standard of the new suites. “The finalisation of stadium naming rights is imminent,” says stadium CEO Lesley de Reuck. “It is more than likely to be Western Province Rugby who will become the primary tenant for a period of 99 years. The stadium upgrade project came after a long drawn-out legislative and regulatory process to secure business rights that allow the stadium to embrace commercialisation. The building project comprised the construction of two additional suite levels above the existing four levels on the east and west ends of the R4-bn stadium. Louw Visagie, chief operating officer of the Cape Town Stadium, described elements of the construction project as unique.

”We wanted to continue holding events during the construction period. The most suitable option was to use an ‘outside-in’ approach for construction. Two construction sites were strategically placed outside on the east and west sides of the stadium to facilitate this. “Materials are lifted into position by crane as construction is taking place at a height of 40 m or higher. Two sections of the stadiums façade were removed to allow entry into the stadium directly from the outside.” Visagie says the thickness of the slab between levels 4 and 5 meant that engineers were unable to scan the exact position of tension cables in the slab. “To mitigate risk the engineers decided to revert to the use of hammer and chisel to partially chop out each of the 110 services holes in the existing slab before reverting to core drilling. The holes were needed to allow access of services to the newly constructed areas above level 5. “We also found there were slight variances between the ‘as-built’ drawings and the actual building structure. This was not unusual considering the technical nature of the existing structure. Shop drawings had to be redone to include specific variances before various elements could be manufactured. “An intricate challenge that has been successfully achieved is the integration of the newly installed high technology systems with the existing systems. These include the building management (BMI), CCTV camera, fire detection and protection, access control and building monitoring (HMI) systems,” Visagie says. ▄

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