Raising the floor for the Commonwealth Games
The Commonwealth Games 2014 are underway, and Joseph Ash Galvanizing and The Structure Group – one of our customers – are not only taking an interest in the sports, but in the behind the scenes building work that has led to Hampden Park being the main stadium for the opening ceremony and the athletics. Why? Because we were involved!
In 2013, Glasgow 2014’s head of development, Ian McKenzie made the decision to temporarily convert Hampden Park from a football stadium to an athletics venue, ahead of the Commonwealth Games in Scotland. His decision was driven by the desire to make use of the excellent stadiums that Glasgow already had, rather than build a new one especially for the Games.
In order to convert Hampden Park into an athletics stadium, he hired The Structure Group to make a temporary floor, more suitable to running and long jump rather than football.
The Structure Group have a great reputation for building temporary structures for major sporting events in the UK – the Goodwood Festival of Speed, the Great North Run for example – and so they were the natural choice.
How the temporary floor was built…
In order to construct a floor to meet the size requirements of the Commonwealth Games and the International Association of Athletics Federations, The Structure Group knew they would have to build a platform 1.9m above the existing pitch level. The diggers were sent in towards the end of 2013 to remove the turf, and steel beams and posts were then put into place, which were covered with special decking and then a suitable athletics track.
It was a huge project with over 18,000sqm of heavy deck, over 6000 steel stilts, and 2000 tons of steel components. It took nine months to complete and was ready well ahead of schedule, ready for the Commonwealth Games to open last week.
Joseph Ash Galvanizing are proud that The Structure Group asked us to galvanize the jack heads that sit on top of the steel stilts and therefore to be a part of this project. We have hot dip galvanized steel components for The Structure Group for a number of years and it’s great to work on projects that contribute to events such as the Commonwealth Games.
Watch this great video to show the making of the raised floor.
The Structure Group is a world leader in the supply of temporary elevated decks and structures. The company was forged around its leading product, the TSG HeavyDeck system. This steel framed, panel system boasts a weight loading capacity of up to20kN / sqm. and allows TSG to specialise in the provision of temporary stadium conversions, sporting arenas, showrooms, grandstands and temporary structures.
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