NEW BEGINNINGSBristol’s ‘New’ Ashton Gate Stadium is ready for the top flight, having completed its two-year build project, as Katie McIntyre reports.

The GB£45m build has transformed Bristol City FC and Bristol Rugby’s

home ground into a state-of-the-art, 27,000-seater venue, perfectly timed for the rugby club’s return to the top flight of the Aviva Rugby Premiership.

A complex build to an incredibly tight timescale was a tough challenge, as Bristol Sport Chairman, Martin Griffiths – the man who masterminded the project – explained: “Yes, it has been an extremely complex project, especially having two codes playing at the same time and both having amazing seasons. To see the new double-tiered West Stand opened in August (just in time

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for the football season) was a huge achievement for everyone involved.

“The decision to rebuild Ashton Gate was based on the clubs achieving long term financial sustainability. This stadium should ensure that, as it will become a focal place in the South West, not just for sport but for business too.”

Sustainability is a key theme. Unsurprisingly for a city which was ‘European Green Capital’ last year, businesses have embraced ‘going green’ and Ashton Gate is no exception. Sitting in pride of place on the roof of the new West Stand sits a raft of solar panels.

Green credentialsThe 117kW Solar PV system, consisting of 460 solar panels, was supplied and installed by Nottinghamshire-based EvoEnergy and is expected to generate 95,090kWh per year. The equivalent to powering 23 average energy-use homes for a whole year. Due to the stadium’s

Mark KellyMartin Griffiths

The newly-named and newly-built Lansdown Stand at Ashton Gate Stadium.

PANSTADIA & ARENA MANAGEMENT 3RD QUARTER 2016

FEATURE

STADIUM RENOVATION

ASHTON GATEProject and Design Team

Architect KKA Architecture

Design & Build Contractor

McLaughlin & Harvey Construction

M&E Sub-Contractor

Rotary

Structural Sub-Contractor

Jacobs

Retained M&E Consultant

Hannan Associates

Project & Cost Management

Capita Property & Infrastructure

Retained Structural Consultant

Ramboll

Stadium Development

Project Manager

Peter Smith

Venue StatsLargest venue in South West England36 meeting rooms (purpose-built)Rooms with pitch-facing viewsSeat 1,000 theatre-style or 850 ban-quet-style18 executive boxes, the Directors Box and Players’ Lounge all available for private hire5,500sqm of exhibition spaceComplimentary car parkingComplimentary Wi-FiCompetitive Day Delegate rates available1.5 miles from Bristol City Centre6 miles from Bristol airport/great transport linksCivil wedding licenceSports Bar & Grill featuring largest indoor pub screen in UKCoffee shop

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www.psam.uk.com

McLaughlin & Harvey constructionMcLaughlin & Harvey Construction was invited to tender for the Ashton Gate Stadium Redevelopment Project back in January 2014, with the Company winning the contract and starting on site in June of that year.

The Project was developed in three distinct phases: 1) Demolition of the existing South Stand and floodlight masts, and construction of a new single tier seating deck and multiple levels of accommodation in the corners providing offices, shop, bar and hospitality lounges; 2) Replacement of the East Stand’s front seating deck; extension of existing roof and fit out of toilets and concessions while allowing the rear seating deck to be used on match-days; and 3) Demolition of the main West Stand and construction of a two-tier stand complete with GA concourses and facilities, 20 hospitality boxes, Director’s Suite and associated lounges, 1,000-capacity restaurant, press facilities, control room and players’ accommodation.

www.mclh.co.uk

size, all of the electricity generated is expected to be used on site and, along with a biofuel boiler, have been designed to reduce the stadium’s carbon emissions by 20%.

Griffiths added: “We’ve worked hard to design, build and operate a socially responsible venue for the city. As well as being home to the two largest sports teams in the area, we also host numerous conferences and events every day. The installation of Solar PV helps ensure we’re being environmentally-friendly, while also cutting down on operating costs.”

Indeed, with 36 purpose-built meeting rooms and 5,500m² of exhibition space, Ashton Gate is certainly making its mark on the business sector.

Mark Kelly, Chief of Stadium Operations said: “It’s been very reassuring to attract some extremely large national and international events in our first year of operation. This year promises to be even bigger with the West Stand coming online.

“Bristol has historically struggled to host large events with company’s going elsewhere, like Birmingham and Cardiff. The fact that we now have a thousand-seater restaurant, 18 corporate boxes along with the Directors Box and Players’ Lounge all available for private hire, means that we can not only cater for the largescale events but also the more intimate, smaller company events, that traditionally have been hosted by local hotels.”

Five-star experienceThe stadium design has taken significant influence from the hospitality industry. Griffiths has huge experience in the hotel sector and has brought this to bear, as he explained: “Each step of the build has been guided by trying to maximise the use of every square inch of space, just as architects would when designing a new hotel. One small detail, which illustrates this is every pillar spaced along the concourse has been deliberately placed so that it fits exhibition stand sizes perfectly. They simply slot in with no space either side.

“The fact that most of the Ashton Gate senior operations team come from the hospitality-industry is no accident. I want delegates and customers to have the same high-quality customer experience that they get from a five-star hotel.”

The look and feel of the popular coffee shop also echoes the hotel-feel. With no

sports branding in sight, it very much feels like one of the buzzing coffee shops of nearby Clifton. Next to it, is the Sports Bar & Grill, which opened last October in time for the Rugby World Cup. The bar, which boasts the largest indoor pub screen in the country, has already cemented itself as the place to watch the big sporting moments in the city. Thousands packed into the stadium to watch England compete at the EURO ’16 championships in June and take advantage of the big screen and huge fan zone in the South Stand concourse. One of the key parts of the design was to provide a horseshoe-shaped concourse that fans and delegates could walk through to connect with each other in three of the four stands.

Technology at workWhilst embracing the green theme, the stadium designers have firmly kept an eye on new technologies; with a solution to the tricky problem of accessing decent Wi-Fi in a packed stadium currently being trialled.

In partnership with Zeetta Networks, a spin-out company from the University of Bristol, an Open Networking solution for heterogeneous networks based on Software Defined Networking (SDN) has been developed. Using Ashton Gate as a ‘live lab’ to test the cutting-edge High Density Wi-Fi, both are achieving a world ‘first’ for sporting stadia.

All that remains now, is for fans to fill it! n

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