Stadia - Beautiful and with green credentials

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Thanks to our friends at www.aboutinteresting.com

Architects from all over the world come with a very engineered structure combined with many sustainable features, and sports stadiums are no exceptions. Lately, we’ve seen from various sports stadium will be a green city and beyond, most of the proposed new design for a sports stadium in the world of green in a way or another. Here we have a joy for all eco conscious sports fans – a list of some of the most beautiful sports stadiums and environmentally friendly in the world.

1. Garden Stage

China’s Dalian Shide Stadium will get a new life with green improvements that will get from Cox Architects. This proposal for redesigning the old stadium will bear the new and improved stadium will be known as Park Stadium. This is designed to mimic a park with green walls, which filter the air, reducing green house gasses and also provide an adequate level of isolation. Inside the walls feature giant LED panel, which is supported by wind turbines and solar cells mounted on the walls, roof and site

garden stage

2. Nationals Park

The Nationals Stadium, ballpark for the Washington Nationals is now here to make a difference with eco-friendly credentials. Dubbed as Nationals Park, U.S. $ 611 million baseball stadium, including energy-efficient lighting, low flow water features, and 6300 square feet of green roof that covers the concession area. Another interesting feature adopted water filtration system was built just below the stadium, which is made using a sand filter pollutants from water. Unique filtration system also separates the water used to clean the ballpark from rainwater that falls on the average, treating both sources before releasing all the water for sanitation and storm water systems.

Nationals Park

3. Incheon Stadium

After designing a next-gen architecture that will be sustainable futuristic residence, architects are now working on the game can be made green way. Solid and Heerim Architects and planners have come up with the master plan for the Stadium, Incheon in South Korea that will host the Asian Games to 17 in 2014. Adapted Stadium will have seating capacity of 70,000 for the Asian Games and will change to 30,000 seat stadium and a public park after the game ended. The design will be connected to the surrounding park to make it open, accessible buildings for visitors.

Incheon Stadium

4. Melbourne Rectangular Stadium

Melbourne Rectangular Stadium that combines state-of-the-art engineering with sustainability has a bubble-like façade and is expected to be completed in 2010. Designed by Cox Architects, the stadium will have enough room to accommodate about 30,000 spectators and features a unique design support, combined with the triangle panelized façade using 50% less steel than a typical cantilevered roof structure. Envelope consists of a combination of glass, metal and louvers, and the architects are planning the integration of thin film photovoltaics that will help power the LED light unit of the stadium.Dome also will feature rainwater harvesting system, natural lighting and natural ventilation to reduce dependence on the electrical structure of the network.

Melbourne Rectangular Stadium

5. Franco Sensi

Gino Zavanella recently launched a blueprint for a new stadium in Rome, who was called Franco Sensi, and entirely covered with solar panels.Here, you can see the blast message via eyelid blink the LED screen when the game is active. Catering to fans of Italian football, the Gau arena in Rome also will have a museum highlighting the integral exploitation of Roma soccer team. addition, you will see the base equipped with modern facilities such as restaurants, lounges, and bars are used to complement the seat. A highly efficient photovoltaic solar panels will depend on the peripheral membrane zinc-titanium shell. There will be water-resistant coating that 80% of all light to pass through.

Franco Sensi

6. Tokyo Olympic Stadium

While the IOC is only one of the winners announced today that the city will host the 2016 Olympics, Tokyo 2016 Bid Team has announced that the Tokyo Olympic Stadium will serve the environment, because it will be the first of its kind to be supported entirely solar energy. Bid also includes renovation of several existing sports facilities that will reduce the demand for new materials and new structures that can have negative effects on ecosystems. In addition to providing green power, the stadium also will offer a game plan of the most compact in history, with 97% of the places within an 8km radius of the Olympic Stadium and Olympic village located in downtown Tokyo.

Tokyo Olympic Stadium

7. New Meadowlands Stadium

New York Giants, New York Jets and the United States Environmental Protection Agency have joined forces to make the New Meadowlands Stadium one of the greenest sports came in 2010. A former Brownfield site will soon see a stadium that will include the use of recycled 40,000 tons of steel, concrete and environmentally friendly seating makes some of the plastics recycling and scrap metal. Special attention to aspects such as will energy efficiency and water consumption. As far as concessions plates, cups and trays worry, everything will be made from environmentally friendly materials. In order to reduce the harmful effects of carbon emissions on the environment, all vehicles used during construction will be run on clean diesel fuel.

New Meadowlands Stadium

8. 2014 Winter Olympic Stadium

The main stadium for the 2014 Winter Olympic and Paralympic Games to be held in Sochi, Russia will be designed by the populous. Stadium with a seating capacity of 40,000 is expected to incorporate sustainable features such as skin glistening crystals, which will pass in the day and comes alive at night with colors and scenes games. Eco-stadium is expected to include features such as technology advanced materials, lightweight structure, day lighting and natural ventilation. Will turn into one of the most fascinating eco-stadium in the world.

Winter Olympic Stadium

9. London 2012 Olympic stadium

Designed by HOK Sport and Peter Cook, in the 2012 London Olympic Stadium will create a wave of sustainable design. The material will have low impact on the planet will go into the construction. A slim, compact and lightweight stadium façade will include environmentally friendly jute wrapped. Materials that will go into the making of this fascinating eco-stadium recycling-based polymers and hemp cloth.

London 2012 Olympic stadium

If you think we have missed some important stadia with environmentally friendly attributes please leave a comment.

Smart Stadia Ltd provide specialist consultancy on the design and deployment of Smart Cards and NFC technologies in sports stadia, arenas and multi purpose venues. For more information on how we can help your organisation and your customers realise the full benefits of Smart Cards and NFC please see www.smart stadia.com or email us at info@smartstadia.com

Proposal for Liverpool and Everton to share ‘Siamese Stadia’

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Liverpool and Everton could build back-to-back new stadiums, according to amazing new proposals.

Mersey Stadia-Connex group, who are behind the idea, claim the design could save the clubs between £180m-£220m, while allowing them their own separate new grounds.

The blueprint proposes a 60,000-seater ground for Liverpool and a 50,000 capacity for Everton, to be completed as soon as 2013. The clubs would share a 10-story spine that includes a 300-bed hotel, hospitality facilities, 150 executive boxes and a huge underground car park with 1,350 spaces. The central spine entrance features an atrium and hotel tower extending four storeys above the stadium roof. Around 200 of the 300 hotel bedrooms face the pitch, and also twins as excutive boxes with balconies.

A spokesman from Mersey Stadia-Connex said: "We need to reach the prospective new owners of Liverpool FC to inform them about this sensational investment opportunity.

"Most fans will understand the many advantages and financial implications. This scheme differs from all previous concepts during the last decade in that we believe it manages to achieve all the clubs objectives."

Liverpool recently announced a £55 million annual loss and have identified a move to a larger stadium as a key requirement to improve the club's finances. Their plans for a new ground in Stanley Park are on hold while co-owners George Gillett and Tom Hicks attempt to sell the club.

Various proposals have put the stadium's capacity between 55,000 and 73,000. Anfield's current capacity is 45,362.

A club spokesman said: “We remain committed to building our new stadium in Stanley Park.”.

In fact Everton believe there is significant potential in re-opening discussions with Liverpool City Council after the recent general election saw the election of a new Labour Council Leader.

Everton Chief Executive, Robert Elstone, commented in his official blog on 13th May 2010 “Hopefully, discussions with Liverpool City Council and the newly-elected Labour leader will also be exciting. The truth is, as I said on Terrace Talk, the City Council does hold the key to a new stadium; a new stadium that’s so important to us to keep pace at the top of the Premier League. Going over old ground, but Goodison redevelopment has an uncertain time frame, an uncertain cost, restricted funding streams and no guarantee, ultimately, of success.”

What is very evident, to bring a stadium to life is a Kirkby-type funding model with substantial private sector support facilitated by a supportive and progressive City Council. ‘Being supportive’, in my view, needs the Council to fully appreciate the significance and contribution made by Everton Football Club to the City and its communities; an indisputable fact that all too often seems to be overlooked. We look forward to fresh and progressive dialogue which centres on the delivery of a funding model and an affordable stadium.”

He then went of to say of the Siamese Stadia proposal “Well-intentioned as they might be plans such as the so-called ‘Siamese Stadium’ don’t really take us anywhere.”

Another local commentator held a similar view and added “It seems clear that the Kirkby Option was, and remains, our only realistic option for a new stadium and a genuine opportunity to compete at the very highest level.”

Qatar's 2022 bid includes recycling stadia

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By Steve Beecroft

Anyone who has been monitoring the progress of the various bid entries to become the host of the FIFA World Cup in 2022 can fail to have been impressed by the innovation of Qatar's approach. I certainly have been and thus pose the question, "Is Qatar's bid for 2022 FIFA World Cup the most technically advanced to date?

The bid includes 12 stadia in all three of which are brand new stadia and a two that will be extensively refurbished. Two of the new stadia are in the north and 1 in the south of the country. All will have a capacity of around 45.000 and most notably all will be cooled using a new and innovative carbon neutral cooling system that will keep the temperature under 27 degree celsius for both players and spectators.

The public transport system of a brand new metro system linking the host cities and efficient shuttle buses to the grounds will enable spectators to have the same accommodation throughout the tournament and still see two games a day. This is not only cost efficient and convenient but will deliver a customer experience that will not be forgotten for all the right reasons.

A Qatari bid official confirmed that there will be over 90,000 hotel rooms and services apartments that will be dedicated for use by visitors to the 2022 FIFA world Cup should the bid be successful.

One of the refurbished stadia, Al Rayyan northwest of Doha, will even have a huge screen as part of the new upper tier, to keep the spectators outside the stadium entertained with flash footage of previous games and tournament statistics

Most impressively all three new stadia and the top tiers of the two refurbished stadia can be deconstructed to better serve the local community needs without becoming the White Elephant previous host cities of major sporting events have been left with. It will even be possible to move any of the three new stadia to another country and reconstruct them for another temporary use or as a permanent structure. In a world of waste and "single use only" disposable everything this is recycling on a monumental scale.

The stadia construction plans are:-

New Stadia

• Al Shamal - a 45,120 capacity stadium located in the north of Qatar, on the edge of the Arabian Gulf. The stadium's bowl shape design is derived from the "traditional dhows" - the local fishing boats of the Gulf. Around 10% of spectators for Al-Shamal are expected to arrive via the Qatar-Bahrain Friendship Bridge, which will be the longest free-standing bridge in the world.

• Al Khor - a 45,330 capacity stadium located in the north east of Qatar, set in its own park setting and designed as a stunning asymmetrical seashell motif. Some spectators will be able to see the Gulf from their seats while players will benefit from a flexible roof providing shade over the pitch.

• Al Wakrah - a 45,000 capacity stadium located in the south of Qatar, set in a park setting that includes a themed swimming pool, spa zone, spots facilities and shopping mall. The main stadium entrance will face onto a beautiful plaza that will create a sense of one large extended park.

Existing Refurbished Stadia

• Al Rayyan - located 20km northwest of Doha, its current capacity will double to 44,740 via a modular upper tier stand. A special membrane will double as a giant screen on the side of the stadium projecting flash match updates and tournament information.

• Al Gharafa - located close to Doha, its current capacity will also double to 44,740 via a modular upper tier stand. The stadium facade will be made up of the colours of all the countries qualifying for Qatar 2022, symbolising the friendship, mutual tolerance and respect of the FIFA World Cup and Qatar.

Liberal Democrats back return of 'safe' standing in Premier League stadia

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By Zack Wilson

22 Apr 2010

As the build-up to the General Election continues, Don Foster, the Liberal Democrat spokesman for culture, media and sport, has revealed that the party would look at reintroducing safe standing areas to English stadia 21 years after the Hillsborough disaster seemed to signal the end of an era.

The Lib Dems would investigate an issue they admit is sensitive, but many football fans would see it as a popular move, with many perceiving all-seater stadia as atmospherically sterile and over-priced venues.

"The Liberal Democrats are committed to exploring options for introducing safe standing at football grounds in consultation with fans, clubs and safety experts, and have passed a motion at our party conference to this effect," Foster told The Independent.

"The evidence from countries like Germany shows that safe standing can operate effectively and safely to give fans more choice about how they enjoy the game.

"This is a sensitive issue. But we cannot ignore the large numbers of fans who want to stand."

Standing was not seen as intrinsically at fault for the Hillsborough disaster, rather the design of the stadium, poor sign posting and policing errors were to blame for 96 people losing their lives.

Standing is still popular at many grounds in Germany and Austria, whilst the Colorado Rapids, owned by Arsenal shareholder Stan Kroenke, are the first team in a major American sports league to open a specific standing area for 2,500 people at the Dick's Sporting Goods Park stadium.

The Football Supporters Federation (FSF), a group with 176,000 members, has campaigned for the return of terracing at English grounds for years.

"Standing isn't a nostalgic 20th century throwback. It's the future," Steve Powell, FSF director of policy, said.

"Look at Germany, Austria, the US and Canada. It's a choice that fans want, including those who prefer to sit. It's safe and it's inclusive. To maintain the ban in the face of the evidence is illogical, arrogant and perverse."

Gerry Sutcliffe, the current Labour minister for sport and tourism, insisted that there were no current plans to reintroduce terracing.

"There have been dramatic improvements in safety and Germany is a case in point but the practicalities of re-profiling new stadiums plus the cost would be a huge issue," he said.

"It would need a dramatic shift in football authority opinion backed by clear evidence before government would look at supporting any change to existing policy."

For more information on Smart Stadia please click here

Southend United go cashless

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Tuesday 6th April was the first time Southend United's cashless payment took place in the West Stand.

Season Card Holders and ticket purchasers in blocks S, T, U and V were able to purchase items from the catering unit and bar using smartcard technology.

The pilot will once again be taking place against Brighton and Hove Albion on Saturday afternoon.

It is important that supporters in the above areas bring their cashless card with them as otherwise they will not be able to purchase anything at the catering unit or in the bar.

No cash payments will be accepted at either of these locations and only cashless cards will be taken.

These cards will need to be topped up in advanced of visiting the catering outlets by seeing one of our Top-up Stewards to exchange cash for credit on your card.

Alternatively you can top up now by visiting the Blues Box Office at any time and top up with one of our ticketing staff.

For a full FAQ on cashless payment at Southend United Click Here

Southend United Ticket to Text

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by Steve Beecroft

Southend United Football Club claim to be the only Football Club to have a mobile ticketing facility offered to fans.....

"Southend United is currently the only Football Club offering the sale of match tickets by text message direct to your mobile phone." http://www.southendunited.co.uk/page/TicketNewsDetail/0,,10444~1976500,00.html

At Smart Stadia Ltd we believe that at least one Premiership Club, Everton FC, adopted the same technology in September 2008, and who also claim to be the first....

"

Txt2Ticket is the first service of its kind in football and offers fans the flexibility to choose a preferred seating area with no booking fees."

http://www.evertonfc.com/news/archive/everton-launch-txt2ticket.html?mode=text

Then there was the Manchester United v's Portsmouth pre-season tournament meeting in July 2008 at the Abuja Stadium, Nigeria claiming....

"This match in Abuja Stadium Nigeria was the first football match in the world to offer mobile ticketing to fans."

http://www.mobiqa.com/live/files/ManchesterUnitedcasestudy.pdf

We haven't even began our research in the Far East where mobile phones are regularly used for other methods of ticketing, or indeed elsewhere in Europe such as Spain where we understand this technology is very popular.

Regardless of whether Southend United's claim to be global leaders of this technology in the football world is accurate or not one thing is for certain, they are ambitious an ambitious organisation and back that ambition up with board level support and more importantly, action.

We have been very proud to have been associated, in a very small way, with Southend United's planning of new technology not only for Roots Hall but also in preparation for the mover to Fossetts Farm. During our short engagement with the Chief Executive, Geoffrey King, that not only was the club ambitious and embraced technology that they also recognised the need to blend different technologies to achieve greater revenue generation and cost savings.

Case Study - Southend United and Mobile Ticketing

The club first piloted the mobile ticketing in the 2006/7 season when the club issued some complimentary tickets that were valid in 2 dedicated gates. This pilot was SMS based and stand alone i.e. not electronically connected to the clubs ticketing system.

Then in April 2008 the pilot was made "Live" and extended to all gates except for visitors. Ticket delivery was automated with the inclusion of MMS and email2mobile as delivery methods.

A review was conducted in late 2008 with following results:-

• High take-up = mobile tickets per game = 9.2% of total matchday sales

• Customers from all age groups used the service

System Features

• Enables scheduled delivery of tickets (e.g. 24 hours before kick-off)

• Available to UK networks

• Full reporting of delivery status and usage

• of mobile tickets

• Multiple tickets per order

• Pre-match push

• Pre-match text

• Post match analysis / text

The Benefits

• Fast and easy delivery

• Controllable delivery

• No additional identifier required

• Clear readability compared to print-at-home

• Addressing non-regular supporters with special promotions

• Collecting new profile data, also of supporters who have not registered in CRM so far

• Enabling more interaction with the supporter on a very personal and responsive media

• Reduced line at Box Office on match day

• New sponsorship opportunities

• More direct interaction before the event

For more information about this post or to understand how your club can realise these and other benefits contact Smart Stadia Ltd or email Steve Beecroft