The Etihad Stadium is the home of Manchester City Football Club. During the 2014/15 football season, the club expanded the ground by 6000 seats, also adding new hospitality spaces, improving access and covering the expansion with a new roof. The work was completed in just 16 months, without a single minute of interruption to play. The new South Stand was opened on 16 August 2015 at the first home match of the season, in front of a record crowd of 54 331.
This paper describes the structural engineering design for the South Stand expansion, which was led by BuroHappold Engineering. The main structural engineering challenges centred on the development of a new design allowing alterations to an existing clad cable-net roof. Constraints imposed by the existing structure included its complex geometry, complex roof typology, existing underground structures and site constraints. These design challenges were further complicated by a request from the club to provide continued rain protection over the existing stand throughout the season, coupled with the overall demands of a fast programme.
Part 2 of this article, to be published in December, will describe the construction activities, which were led by Laing O’Rourke and Severfield Watson.