www.psam.uk.com FEATURE world cup
rugby league
Langtree Park is typical of the stadium developments that have been spurred on by standards set by Superleague.
league structure that results in terms of numbers of teams in Superleague (12 from 2015), a Superleague second division and promotion/relegation, there is no doubt that club licences will continue to drive improved spectator accommodation.
Transformation touchdown
Typical of the new breed of Superleague stadiums is Langtree Park. In the 1800s, it was an industrial site for coal mining, chemical works and glass production. Today it’s St Helen’s Rugby Football Club’s new 18,000 capacity stadium and a superstore. “The £25 million creation of Langtree Park is a remarkable story of transformation, completely regenerating a large area of poor quality brownfield land,” says Kevin Onions SiLC, Technical Director, Wardell Armstrong.
When the site was bought by the Langtree Group – a commercial property development company specialising in regeneration – there was a serious legacy of spoil waste, instability and contamination risks to be overcome. These included the dilapidated remains of an old bottle factory, a backfilled opencast site, mine workings, shafts and old structures.
Engineering and environmental consultancy Wardell Armstrong was commissioned to design the site investigation works, identify a remediation strategy and act as checking engineers.
Coal workings at thirty metres or less were drilled and grouted to stabilise
voids. All the main coal mining shafts were capped. Contamination risks were closely examined. Some material was removed, with any remaining contamination largely dealt with through risk assessment and breaking pathways to vulnerable receptors.
Much of the material from the site was reclaimed and reused as sub-grade for hard standing and car parks. A major gas pipe line was diverted to avoid building constraints. After investigation and recording, the above-ground structure of the scheduled ancient monument was fenced off and protected as an important historical relic.
Wardell Armstrong was also involved in the tendering process to appoint a design and build contractor – won by Barr Construction, a specialist in sports stadiums and arenas. The consultancy provided environmental and engineering support throughout the construction programme and twelve month defects period. The new St Helens RFC stadium was completed in October 2011 and the stadium recently added a LED screen at the entrance prior to the World Cup.
Southern hemisphere league
Australia and New Zealand are the major rugby league playing countries in the southern hemisphere, with Fiji, Tonga and Samoa also hotbeds of the game. The Rugby League International Federation (RLIF) has recently approved a proposal from Australia and New Zealand to jointly host the 2017 Rugby League World Cup, as well as an expression of interest from South
Africa. Formal bids are now to be submitted in the coming weeks with a decision is expected in January.
In Australia state funding of stadiums and the popularity of the National Rugby League (NRL) is driving venue development. The NRL, whose recent Member Summit emphasised encouraging club membership to fans, is open to expansion and the criteria are: viability, stadiums, media and grassroots development. Some bidding regions or cities have an existing, albeit older, NRL-compliant stadium to back up the bid of an expansion team. Central Queensland (CQ) NRL Bid is linking its NRL expansion bid to a proposed publicly-owned CQ stadium that will be available within a few years. The Federal Government recently allocated $500,000 to proceed with the licensing and approvals stage of the stadium project.
CQ NRL Bid CEO Denis Keeffe dismisses Brisbane-based bids that claim they will share Suncorp with the other three anchor tenants as unrealistic and other west of Brisbane stadium proposals as longer-term.
The New South Wales Federal Government has pledged AU$10m ($8.94m) to redevelop Manly Sea Eagle’s Brookvale Oval. The commitment is part of the AU$30m ($26.8m) first stage of the Sydney venue’s four-stage concept plan. The redevelopment project will include a purpose-built grandstand with 4,350-seat capacity in addition to new f&b outlets, corporate hospitality areas and community meeting spaces.
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