Buro Happold is leading the technical team for the design of the proposed City of Belfast Stadium at Ormeau Park in Belfast. The plans for the new City of Belfast Stadium will bring Northern Ireland's home of Northern Ireland Sport to the Ormeau Park in Belfast. This new stadium will cater for football, Gaelic Athletic Association rugby, greyhound racing, swimming, elite training, community sports, fitness training, sports administration, as well as a range of Olympic sports. It will also be used as a concert venue.
The state-of-the-art design deploys the latest engineering thinking to deliver a concept of international significance. The approach to sustainability and alternative technologies drives the design solutions, including the use of combined heating and power systems, rainwater recycling, excellent daylighting techniques and solar collectors to generate domestic hot water. BREEAM has provided excellent guidance in assisting the sustainable design process to evolve.
The structural engineering presents many challenges and delivers an efficient technical solution, based on shell design techniques. The roof is conceived as a single flowing form, floating over the stands below. A clean shell structure, doubly curved, is created from the surface of a virtual sphere. Local discontinuities are resolved through the use of light steel cable trusses. No structures protrude above the surface of the roof, reinforcing the clean architectural form.
Buro Happold is the environmental, building services and structural engineers leading the process, and will provide specialist consultancy for sustainability, fire engineering, disability access design, traffic engineering, acoustics, security, IT and audio visual design should the scheme be taken forwards.
Rod Manson, Buro Happold partner in charge of the project, comments: "The engineering design of the City of Belfast Stadium has been a culmination of our knowledge and experience gained through our extensive stadium knowledge. This is a real opportunity for the City of Belfast to be leaders in modern stadium construction and to offer comprehensive technical facilities, superior to those already in existence across Europe".
