The Al Bayt Stadium in Qatar, which is scheduled to be used as a semi-final venue at the 2022 FIFA World Cup, has marked a major milestone in its construction after installation of the venue’s retractable roof began.
One of the seven brand new stadia to be built for the tournament the venue has been designed in the style of a Bedouin tent with a roof structure that is built to offer flexibility and use all year round, with a system that can be opened or closed in 20 minutes.
Each truss, which was fabricated into eight pieces at a workshop, transported to site and welded back together create a 94m piece of the roof’s puzzle. They have begun to be lowered in place via cranes; however the logistics of the build means this can only be done when there is little or no wind, and takes approximately three hours, and can be carried out every two to three days. Once fully assembled, the roof will weigh around 1,600 tons and retract in a three-phase movement.
“This structure will allow more flexibility in lighting and climate conditions within the stadium, making it fit for purpose all year round,” said Dr Al Hajeri, project director for Al Bayt Stadium.
“Installing the roof structure is a significant milestone as it completes the major lifting required on-site and means the big cranes can soon be removed.”
The 60,000-seat venue will also feature demountable seating, which will reduce capacity to 30,000 following the tournament, and the upper concourse will be converted into a hotel.
CREDIT: Supreme Committee for Delivery and Legacy.
The organizers of the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar announced that following the tournament, it will donate 170,000 seats from its new-build stadia to countries in need of developing its own sporting infrastructure, which not only are a charitable cause, but also help to avoid legacy issues of unnecessarily large stadia after the event.
“Qatar will donate 170,000 seats to countries in need of sporting infrastructure after the 2022 FIFA World Cup, in coordination with FIFA. The Ras Abu Aboud Stadium, the first ever fully demountable World Cup stadium, will have 40,000 seats,” stated the Supreme Committee for Delivery & Legacy.
“Many of the 2022 FIFA World Cup Qatar stadia will have demountable seats, which will be removed and donated to countries in need of sporting infrastructure after the tournament has concluded. Ras Abu Aboud Stadium will be removed entirely after 2022 and repurposed into a variety of smaller sports and cultural venues.”
September 14, 2018
