Africa's wildest stadium

The eyes of the world will be on the Mbombela Stadium this summer as it hosts key games in the football World Cup in South Africa. Project secured exclusive interviews with its designer, Mike Bell, and UK-based project manager Paul Officer of Mott MacDonald responsible for the stadiums giant roof. Neil Kennett reports.

The architect - Mike Bell

The sporting event of the year, the 19th Fdration Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) World Cup, kicks off in Johannesburg on 11 June.

While most people are looking forward to watching the silky skills of Brazil and Spain, Mike Bell, a partner at R&L Architects in Cape Town, cannot wait for the Honduras vs Chile match on 16 June. It may not be a glamour tie but this will be the first competitive match at the state-of-the-art arena he designed the Mbombela Stadium in Nelspruit.

Back in 2004, eyebrows were raised when it was announced that South Africa was to host the World Cup. The existing infrastructure was clearly inadequate, at least five new stadiums needed building, and lucrative contracts were up for grabs.

Purpose-built

R&L entered the tendering process knowing they faced stiff competition from heavyweight international consortia. It was no surprise when four of the five projects went abroad three to German company GMP and the other to AFL of Manchester but R&L beat some big names to secure the Mbombela Stadium design.

The arena in the North-East of South Africa is therefore the only purpose-built World Cup stadium to be conceived entirely in the host country.

Mike, who studied architecture in Johannesburg, had only recently returned to South Africa from America, where he worked on prestigious university theatres and a planetarium. We were in the right place at the right time and were lucky enough to be appointed, he says modestly. We wanted it to be unmistakably African and I believe we have been very successful in that.

R&L Architects took inspiration from the nearby Kruger Park game reserve, a stones throw from the stadium. The 18 roof supports have been sculpted to resemble giraffes, the black and white seats feature zebra-like stripes, and bold African colours and graphics round off the wildlife theme.

 From the start we took inspiration from the surrounding landscape and there are references to Africa everywhere, says Mike. The giraffe design was especially well received. Structural requirements gave the supports four legs and a tall, slender form, so it was screaming out to be done. It is something all the locals can relate to.

Powerful

The three-tiered stadium has 43,500 seats, including 3,500 for the media and VIPs, 196 wheelchair spaces, 28 suites and five large lounges. It is the most intimate and compact of all the World Cup venues, topped by a striking floating roof, designed by Mott MacDonald, which covers 95 per cent of the seats.

The stands are very close to the pitch, ensuring perfect sightlines, and we have had lots of compliments on the feel of the stadium, says Mike. It generates a powerful atmosphere and the gap to the roof gives amazing views of the sky and surrounding hills. It also helps to keep the stadium well ventilated. The Mbombela Stadium boasts all the modern facilities you would expect plenty of easily accessible toilets and sales kiosks, impressive players and officials dressing rooms, and well-equipped medical rooms.

As for the pitch, things did not exactly go to plan, but it will be alright on the night. Mike explains: We originally wanted to use rye grass but that does not plant too well in the summer so we had to use another grass. It recently had to be replanted but this turned out to be a blessing in disguise. We took the opportunity to use rye grass this time and it looks absolutely stunning. I saw it yesterday and I really think it will be the best pitch of all the new stadiums.

He continues: We are also very proud of the fact that the Mbombela Stadium is the most cost-effective of all the 2010 stadiums in terms of per-seat cost, coming in at a total of around 90 million euros. We kept things simple and used local products wherever possible, which meant we did not get hammered by import tax. For example, the roof is 100 per cent fabricated in South Africa. We have all the necessary technical skills here and, as it is taxpayers money, we felt it made sense to spend it in South Africa.

Security was always going to be a major issue and the gun attack on the Togo team bus at the recent Africa Cup of Nations only highlighted the risks three people died and several players were seriously injured.

That sort of security is more of a national issue we do not have any direct involvement in those plans, says Mike. We follow all the best practice in terms of crowd safety getting people in and out, what happens in the event of crowd violence. However, in terms of the tragic occurrence in Angola, we do not have the same groupings looking for independence, so that just would not happen here.

In terms of legacy, the stadium will continue to play an important part in the community long after the World Cup circus has moved on.

There was a very detailed consultation with the organizing committee and FIFA to make sure we satisfied all of the requirements, says Mr Bell. This region does not have a rugby or a soccer team, largely because there was no suitable stadium. Now they will have a world-class facility. As well as the arena itself there will be a sporting centre of excellence and buildings suitable for conferences, political rallies, music concerts, weddings and product launches. 

Reflecting on his achievement, Mike says: I think we benefited from not being part of a consortium of architects. We did not get stuck in the politics and complexities of a big team. All the local people think the stadium is fantastic and I cannot wait for the World Cup."

The project manager - Paul Officer

Delivering the project on time has taken a mammoth effort. Construction started in February 2007 and the stadium was completed in November 2009.

The final access roads are just being finished now, with months to spare! The building phase alone took a massive 5.5 million man-hours, with up to 1,400 workers on site at any one time. It is a measure of the expert management that the most serious injury was a broken ankle. This is despite a violent electrical storm, which sent a crane crashing into the stadium roof. Fortunately the site was closed at the time and the Mott MacDonald roof stood up to it very well.

Mott MacDonalds project manager, Paul Officer, describes the roof project as a tough brief on a restricted budget. The lightweight structure is composed of steel trusses with primary trusses cantilevering 40m from concrete piers surrounding the stadium. With world steel prices soaring, the structural engineers set out to control costs by minimising the amount of steel used.

Paul says: We went through a number of design iterations with R&L, each time refining the design to increase efficiency.

The result is a roof weighing less than half as much as the average trussed stadium roof just 55kg per square metre.

Dynamic

It was cleverly designed so that relatively large modules could be built up on the ground. These were then lifted into position and supported on temporary scaffolding towers while bolted connections were made. We wanted a structure that was easy, safe and quick to put up, says Paul.

Mott MacDonald also advised local structural engineer Goba on the stadiums dynamic performance under crowd loading. Mike Bell from R&L comments: This is quite complicated in sporting stadiums where the whole crowd can jump up in an instant. It is a unique challenge but Mott MacDonald brought the experience of working on the new Wembley Stadium.

Paul adds: What you dont want is terracing that starts bouncing when the crowd jumps up and down if theres too much movement people can think the stadium is going to collapse and they panic. All structures vibrate a bit, so what youre aiming to create is terracing where the natural frequency wont synchronise with a crowd leaping around, and that damps movement quickly.

Award-winning

Paul sums up the project, saying: It feels good to have been involved in realising a structure that is iconic, that is really well suited to its location, and that people like weve had a great public reaction and the quality of our work has already won awards.

Mbombela Stadium was recently named Sports, Leisure and Tourism Project of the Year at the 2009 British Expertise International Awards.

He concludes: It was great to work alongside Mike and his team at R&L, and with the engineers at Goba. With our focus on keeping the stadium quintessentially African, I believe we have really created something special.

Timeline

May 2004 - South Africa awarded 2010 FIFA World Cup
Feb 2007 - Work on stadium gets underway
Nov 2009 - Construction work ends
Jan 2009 - Tower crane collapses through roof during a freak storm
June 2009 - The FIFA Confederations Cup takes place in South Africa. The World Cup draw takes place.
March 2010 - Final stadium inspection tour ends
June 2010 - World Cup kick-off