With the Euro 2016 tournament now in full swing, UK Construction Online takes a look back at the construction of the the final’s venue – Stade de France.
The 80,000 capacity stadium is situated in Saint-Denis, 1.5km from Paris and is the home of the French national football team. It was built ahead of the 1998 FIFA World Cup and the venue for the final as hosts France beat favourites Brazil 3-0.
The Stade de France also has painful memories for the English, as it was the venue for their defeat in the Rugby World Cup Final in 2007 as South Africa ran out 15-6 winners.
This gives the stadium the unique honour of hosting both football and Rugby World Cup finals.
It has played host not just to Les Bleus home games but also to other major events in football such as two UEFA Champions League finals. The first occasion in 2000 saw real Madrid beat Valencia 3-0 and the second resulted in more English heartache with Barcelona beating 10-man Arsenal 2-1 in 2006.
The Stade of France is able to be reconfigured to cater for athletics meets with the lower stands being able to be slid back to uncover the running track and other track and field areas.
It is not just the world of sports to take advantage of the Stade de France’s facilities; super group U2 held three dates of their 360° Tour there in 2009 and 2010 attracting a combined attendance of 283,084. Other notable artists to have played there include Beyonce, the Rolling Stones and Justin Timberlake.
When France was selected as the hosts for the 1998 FIFA World Cup in 1992, one of the reasons behind the choice was France’s plans to build a new stadium with a combined open-air and covered seating capacity of 80,000.
In 1994, MZRC were selected as architects on the projects after being backed by Bouygues-Dumez-SGE consortium and a submission for a building permit was lodged in December 1994 and approved on 30 April 1995.
The following month work began on the site. November saw the installation of 18 steel masts placed at 40m intervals, each with a maximum diameter of 274m and a minimum diameter of 234m to support the roof of the stadium.
The rood was designed to withstand 90mph winds, which exceeded the highest recorded wind speeds in Paris.
The roof size is six hectares, five of which are covered and one glazed. Due to the extreme weight of the roof sections, one of the strongest cranes available was used to raise the 36 sections, each one weighing in at 350 tonnes and suspended at a height of 42 metres.
The stands and seating construction was finished in March 1997, with the roof completed in October 1997.
The total capacity for football and rugby matches is 80,000, dropping to 65,000 for athletics. The standing capacity on the field for music concerts is around 23,000.
In addition to the Stade de France, a neighbouring stadium was constructed, along with two underground car parks on three levels with enough room for 4,000 vehicles and an above ground car park with 2,000 parking spaces.
The stadium was officially completed on November 30 1997 after a 31 months at a total cost of €299M.
It officially opened on 28th of January 1998 with a friendly match between France and Spain. Zinedine Zidane scoring the only goal of the match.
The Stade de France will host the final of Euro 2016 as well as being the venue for four first round group matches, one round of 16 match, and one quarter final.
Images (c) Frederic Legrand – COMEO / Shutterstock.com
The post Euro 2016: A look back at the construction of the Stade de France appeared first on UK Construction Online.
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