Synopsis
The Etihad Stadium was initially constructed for the Manchester Commonwealth Games of 2002, with the original stadium comprising reinforced-concrete terrace structures that supported a lightweight cable-stayed roof. The stadium underwent a planned conversion following the games to become the 48 000-seat home of Manchester City Football Club. It opened in August 2003 in time for the first home game of the season, before officially becoming the Etihad Stadium in 2008.
In 2012, following unprecedented growth and development, the club took the decision to expand the stadium to a capacity of 55 000. In contrast to the previous conversion, the design and construction teams had to extend one end of the stadium without compromising the structural integrity of the roof to the remaining three stands.
Part 1 of this paper described the engineering design led by BuroHappold Engineering. Part 2 covers the challenges faced by the fabrication and construction teams (Laing O'Rourke and Severfield). These relate to the programme sequence and construction methodology, and resulted from the key objectives of:
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completion of the works for the start of the 2015/16 season
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maintaining a roof over spectators
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no seat loss on match days during the football season
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minimal disruption to the stadium operations
The paper will describe the inventive techniques developed to resolve these challenges, including the temporary works for erection of the roof.