Friday 30 March 2012

Wembley stadium

Wembley Stadium (often referred to simply as
Wembley , pronounced /ˈwɛmbli/ , or
sometimes as the New Wembley ) is a football
stadium located in Wembley Park , in the
Borough of Brent, London , England . It opened
in 2007 and was built on the site of the previous
1923 Wembley Stadium . The earlier Wembley
stadium, originally called the Empire Stadium,
was often referred to as "The Twin Towers" and
was one of the world's most famous football
stadiums until its demolition in 2003. [5]
It is a UEFA category four stadium . The 90,000-
capacity venue (105,000 combined seating and
standing) is the second largest stadium in
Europe, and serves as England's national
stadium . It is the home venue of the England
national football team , and hosts the latter
stages of the top level domestic club cup
competition, the FA Cup . It is owned by English
football 's governing body, The Football
Association (The FA), through their subsidiary
Wembley National Stadium Ltd (WNSL).
Designed by Foster and Partners and Populous
(then HOK Sport), it includes a partially
retractable roof. A signature feature of the
stadium, following on from the old Wembley's
distinctive Twin Towers, is the 134 metres
(440 ft) high Wembley Arch. With a span of 317
metres (1,040 ft), this steel arch is the longest
single span roof structure in the world and,
uniquely for a stadium, requires beacons for low
flying aircraft. The stadium was built by
Australian firm Multiplex at a cost of
£798 million. The old Wembley closed in
October 2000, with demolition originally
intended for that December and the new
stadium due to open in 2003. After delays to
the project, with demolition first started in
September 2002, the old Wembley was not
completely demolished until February 2003,
with the new stadium scheduled to open in time
for the 2006 FA Cup Final . After further delays,
the stadium was delivered nearly a year late,
leading to legal disputes between WNSL and
Multiplex, who ultimately made a significant loss
on the project. The stadium was handed over
on 9 March 2007, in time to host the 2007 FA
Cup Final .
In international football, the stadium was a
central component of the failed English 2018
and 2022 FIFA World Cup bids . In 2012 it will
host the football finals of the London Olympics .
In club football, in addition to the FA Cup the
stadium also hosts the showpiece season
opening game the FA Community Shield match,
played in August between the winners of the FA
Cup and the top-level Premier League . In mid-
season it also hosts the finals of the Football
League Cup and Football League Trophy . At the
end of the domestic season the stadium also
hosts the finals of the Football League play-offs .
In European football, it hosted the 2011
Champions League Final , and will host the final
again in 2013 . In friendly tournaments, since
2009 it has been the venue of the summer
Wembley Cup. Outside of football, the stadium
also hosts major rugby league games, such as
the Challenge Cup and International Rugby
League. The stadium is also an annual regular
season venue for the American National Football
League's International Series , the first such
venue outside North America. Non-sporting
uses include large music concerts such as
Concert for Diana , Live Earth and the
Summertime Ball.
Stadium
Wembley Stadium exterior
Wembley was designed by architects Foster +
Partners and Populous (known as HOK Sport at
the time of the design phase and construction)
and with engineers Mott MacDonald , built by
Australian company Brookfield Multiplex and
funded by Sport England , WNSL (Wembley
National Stadium Limited), the Football
Association , the Department for Culture Media
and Sport and the London Development Agency .
It is one of the most expensive stadiums ever
built at a cost of £798 million (After New
Meadowlands Stadium )[6][7] and has the
largest roof-covered seating capacity in the
world. Nathaniel Lichfield and Partners was
appointed to assist Wembley National Stadium
Limited in preparing the scheme for a new
stadium and to obtain planning and listed
building permission for the development. [8]
Wembley Stadium interior
The all-seater stadium is based around a bowl
design with a capacity of 90,000, protected
from the elements by a sliding roof that does
not completely enclose it. It can also be adapted
as an athletic stadium by erecting a temporary
platform over the lowest tier of seating. [9] The
stadium's signature feature is a circular section
lattice arch of 7 m (23 ft) internal diameter with
a 315 m (1,033 ft) span, erected some 22° off
true, and rising to 133 m (436 ft). It supports all
the weight of the north roof and 60% of the
weight of the retractable roof on the southern
side. [10] The archway is the world's longest
unsupported roof structure. [11] Instead of the
39 steps climbed, in the original stadium, to
enter the Royal Box and collect a trophy, there
are now 107. [12]
A "platform system" has been designed to
convert the stadium for athletics use, but its use
would decrease the stadium's capacity to
approximately 60,000. [13] No athletics events
( track and field ) have taken place at the stadium,
and none are scheduled. [ citation needed ] The
conversion for athletics use was a condition of
part of the lottery funding the stadium received,
but to convert it would take weeks of work and
cost millions of pounds. [14]
Construction
The stadium in its very early stages of
construction c. August 2003
The initial plan for the reconstruction of
Wembley was for demolition to begin before
Christmas 2000, and for the new stadium to be
completed some time during 2003, but this
work was delayed by a succession of financial
and legal difficulties. In 2004, the London Mayor
and Brent Council also announced wider plans
for the regeneration of Wembley , taking in the
arena and the surrounding areas as well as the
stadium, to be implemented over two or three
decades.
Delays to the construction project started as far
back as 2003. In December 2003, the
constructors of the arch, subcontractors
Cleveland Bridge, warned Multiplex about rising
costs and a delay on the steel job of almost a
year due to Multiplex design changes which
Multiplex rejected. Cleveland Bridge withdrew
from the project and replaced by Dutch firm
Hollandia with all the attendant problems of
starting over. 2004 also saw errors, most
notably a fatal accident involving carpenter
Patrick O'Sullivan for which construction firm PC
Harrington Contractors were fined £150,000 in
relation to breaches of health and safety laws.
[15]
In October 2005, Sports Minister Richard
Caborn announced: "They say the Cup Final will
be there, barring six feet of snow or something
like that". By November 2005, WNSL were still
hopeful of a handover date of 31 March, in time
for the cup final on 13 May. However in
December 2005, the builders admitted that
there was a "material risk" that the stadium
might not be ready in time for the final. [16][17]
In February 2006 these worries were confirmed,
with the FA moving the game to Cardiff 's
Millennium Stadium .
Construction of the new Wembley, looking
east, taken January 2006
On 20 March 2006, a steel rafter in the roof of
the new development fell by a foot and a half,
forcing 3,000 workers to evacuate the stadium
and raising further doubts over the completion
date which was already behind schedule. [18]
On 23 March 2006, sewers beneath the stadium
buckled due to ground movement. [19] GMB
Union leader Steve Kelly said that the problem
had been caused by the pipes not being properly
laid, and that the repair would take months.
Rumours circulated that the reason for the
blockage was due to Multiplex failing to pay the
contractors who laid the pipes who then filled in
the pipes with concrete. A spokesman for
developers Multiplex said that they did not
believe this would "have any impact on the
completion of the stadium", which was then
scheduled to be completed on 31 March 2006.
On 30 March 2006, the developers announced
that Wembley Stadium would not be ready until
2007. [20] All competitions and concerts
planned were to be moved to suitable locations.
On 19 June 2006 it was announced that the turf
had been laid. On 19 October 2006 it was
announced that the venue was now set to open
in early 2007 after the dispute between The
Football Association and Multiplex had finally
been settled. WNSL was expected to pay around
£36m to Multiplex, on top of the amount of the
original fixed-price contract. The total cost of
the project (including local transport
infrastructure redevelopment and the cost of
financing) was estimated to be £1 billion
(roughly US$1.97 billion).
Handover and opening
The Bobby Moore Sculpture stands outside
the stadium entrance, looking down
Wembley Way
The new stadium was completed and handed
over to the FA on 9 March 2007. The official
Wembley Stadium website had announced that
the stadium would be open for public viewing
for local residents of Brent on 3 March 2007,
however this was delayed by two weeks and
instead happened on 17 March.
While the stadium had hosted football matches
since the handover in March, the stadium was
officially opened on Saturday 19 May, with the
staging of the 2007 FA Cup Final . Eight days
before that on Friday 11 May, the Bobby Moore
Sculpture had been unveiled by Sir Bobby
Charlton outside the stadium entrance, as the
"finishing touch" to the completion of the
stadium. The twice life-size bronze statue,
sculpted by Philip Jackson , depicts England's
1966 World Cup winning captain Bobby Moore,
looking down Olympic Way . [21][22][23]
Structure
The stadium contains 2,618 toilets, more
than any other venue in the world. [24]
The stadium has a circumference of 1 km
(0.62 mi). [25]
The bowl volume is listed at 1,139,100 m 3 ,
somewhat smaller than the Millennium
Stadium in Cardiff, but with a greater seating
capacity. [26]
At its peak, there were more than 3,500
construction workers on site. [27]
4,000 separate piles form the foundations
of the new stadium, [25] the deepest of
which is 35 m (115 ft). [25]
There are 56 km (35 mi) of heavy-duty
power cables in the stadium. [25]
90,000 m 3 (120,000 yd 3 ) of concrete and
23,000 tonnes (25,000 short tons) of steel
were used in the construction of the new
stadium. [25]
The total length of the escalators is 400 m
(¼ mi). [25]
The Wembley Arch has a cross-sectional
diameter greater than that of a cross-
channel Eurostar train . [28][29]
Pitch
Aerial of the Wembley Stadium pitch
The new pitch is 13 ft (4.0 m) lower than the
previous pitch. The pitch size, as lined for
association football, is 115 yd (105 m) long by
75 yd (69 m) wide, slightly narrower than the
old Wembley, as required by the UEFA stadium
categories for a category four stadium, the top
category.
Since the completion of the new Wembley, the
pitch has come into disrepute since it was
described as being "no good" and "not in the
condition that Wembley used to be known for"
by Slaven Bilić before the game between
England and the team he managed, Croatia . [30]
It was confirmed when the pitch was terribly cut
up during the game, which was blamed by some
[31] as the reason England did not qualify for
UEFA Euro 2008 . [32] The Football Association
admitted in April 2009 after the FA Cup semi-
finals that improvements are needed to the
Wembley pitch after criticism of the surface by
Sir Alex Ferguson, Arsène Wenger and David
Moyes . The grass has been relaid ten times since
the stadium re-opened in 2007 and was relaid
again in the summer of 2009, ahead of the
2009 Community Shield. [33][34]
In March 2010, the surface was relaid for the
10th time since 2007, when the stadium was
built. In April 2010, the pitch was again
criticised following the FA Cup semi-finals ,
during which the players found it difficult to
keep their footing and the surface cut up despite
the dry conditions. Tottenham Hotspur boss
Harry Redknapp labelled it a "disgrace" after his
side's semi-final defeat to Portsmouth. [35]
After the 2010 FA Cup Final , Chelsea captain
John Terry said, "The pitch ruined the final. It’s
probably the worst pitch we’ve played on all
year. It was not good enough for a Wembley
pitch." [36] It was relaid with Desso semi-
artificial pitch, ahead of the 2010 community
shield game between Chelsea and Manchester
United . Michael Owen , who previously criticized
the pitch for causing him injury, said that it was
much improved. [37]
Covering
Close-Up of the Arch
The stadium roof has an area of 40,000 m 2 , of
which 13,722 m 2 is movable. [26] The primary
reason for the sliding roof was to avoid shading
the pitch, as grass demands direct sunlight to
grow effectively. [38] The sliding roof design
minimises the shadow by having the roof pulled
back on the east, west and south. [39] Angus
Campbell, chief architect, also said that an aim
was for the pitch to be in sunlight during the
match between the beginning of May and the
end of June, between 3pm and 5pm, which is
when the FA and World cups would be played.
However it was mentioned during live
commentary of the FA Cup Final in 2007 that
the pitch was in partial shade at the start at 3
pm and also during the match. [40]
The stadium roof rises to 52 metres above the
pitch and is supported by an arch rising 133
metres above the level of the external
concourse. With a span of 315 metres, the arch
is the longest single span roof structure in the
world. [25]
Litigation
The Australian firm Multiplex, which was the
main contractor on Wembley Stadium, made
significant losses on the project. [41][42] In an
attempt to recoup some of those losses, the
firm has initiated a number of legal cases
against its sub-contractors and consultants. [43]
The largest of these - the largest legal claim in
UK legal history - is a claim for £253 million
against the structural engineering consultants
Mott Macdonald . [44] In preliminary hearings
the two architecture practices which worked for
Multiplex on the project have been ordered to
allow Multiplex access to their records in order
for them to build a case. The practices, Foster +
Partners and Populous , estimate the costs of
providing access and answering Multiplex's
queries at £5 million. [45] The case is not due to
be heard until January 2011. [46] Mott
Macdonald has issued a counter-claim for
unpaid fees of £250,000. [44]
Multiplex has also taken the original steel
contractor, Cleveland Bridge, to court in order to
claim up to £38 million [47] compensation for
costs resulting from Cleveland Bridge walking
away from the job. Cleveland Bridge, in turn,
claimed up to £15 million from Multiplex. The
case was finally resolved in September 2008
with Cleveland Bridge ordered to pay
£6.1 million in damages and 20% of Multiplex's
costs after the court found Cleveland Bridge was
in the wrong to walk off site. The judge criticised
both sides for allowing the case to reach court,
pointing out that total costs were £22 million,
including £1 million for photocopying. [48]
Multiplex's ultimate bill is estimated to be over
£10 million.
Multiplex is also contesting a claim from its
concrete contractor, PC Harrington, that
Multiplex owes £13.4 million to PC Harrington.
[49]
The dispute between Multiplex (now known as
Brookfield) and Mott Macdonald was settled out
of court in June 2010, the judge having warned
that costs were likely to be more than
£74 million. [50]
Tenants
Wembley Stadium during the 2007 Race of
Champions
The English national football team is a major
user of Wembley Stadium. Given the ownership
by The Football Association as of 10 March
2007, the League Cup final moved back to
Wembley from Cardiff following the FA Cup final
and FA Community Shield . Other showpiece
football matches that were previously staged at
Wembley, such as the Football League
promotion play-offs and the Football League
Trophy final, have returned to the stadium, as
has the Football Conference play-off final.
Additionally, the Rugby League Challenge Cup
final returned to Wembley Stadium in 2007. The
new Wembley is a significant part of the plan for
the 2012 Summer Olympics in London; the
stadium will be the site of several games in both
the men's and women's football tournaments,
with the finals planned to be held there. [51]
Additionally, Wembley is one of the 12 2015
Rugby World Cup venues, for which pitch
changes will have to be made.
The Race of Champions staged their 2007 and
2008 events at the stadium.
Wembley has had a long association with
American Football . A USFL game was staged
there in 1984, and between 1986 and 1993 the
old Wembley stadium hosted eight NFL
exhibition games featuring 13 different NFL
teams. [52] Since the new Wembley Stadium
opened in 2007 Wembley has hosted games
during the NFL regular season. As a result of
this, NFL commissioner Roger Goodell stated in
October 2009 that "he expects the NFL will start
playing multiple regular-season games in Britain
in the next few years, an expansion that could
lead to putting a franchise in London." [53] In
2012, the league announced that the St. Louis
Rams would become a permanent tenant of
Wembley Stadium, playing an annual game at
the stadium every year from 2012 to 2014; part
of the reason the Rams were chosen was the
fact that the team is owned by Stan Kroenke ,
who also is majority shareholder in a local
Premier League team, Arsenal .
Music
The stage at the Live Earth concert held at
Wembley on 7 July 2007.
Besides football, Wembley can be configured to
hold many other events, particularly major
concerts.
The first concert at the new stadium was given
by George Michael on 9 June 2007. [54] Bon Jovi
were scheduled to be the first artists to perform
at the new Wembley but the late completion of
the stadium saw the concerts relocated to the
National Bowl and the KC Stadium .
Muse became the first band to sell out the new
stadium on 16 and 17 June 2007, and released
a live DVD of the performance.
Other acts to have performed at the stadium are
Metallica, Foo Fighters, Madonna, Coldplay ,
Oasis , Take That and AC/DC . [55]
Wembley stadium hosted Take That Present:
The Circus Live for 4 nights in summer 2009.
The tour became the fastest selling tour in UK in
history [56] before that record was broken by
Take That two years later with their Progress
Live tour.
Two large charity concerts have been held at the
new Wembley stadium, the Concert for Diana , a
memorial concert to commemorate ten years
after the Death of Princess Diana , and Live
Earth, a concert hosted at Wembley as part of
the Live Earth Foundation, committed to
combating climate change .
Take That concert
95.8 Capital FM 's Summertime Ball, which was
previously hosted with 55,000 spectators at the
Arsenal Emirates Stadium and slightly less in
Hyde Park (as Party in the Park ), was hosted at
Wembley Stadium on 6 June 2010, and was
headlined by Rihanna and Usher . The move to
Wembley allowed many more fans to watch the
annual music event which has previously lasted
over 5 hours with more than 15 performers. It
is thought to be the biggest commercial music
event held at the stadium. It will return to the
Stadium in 2011, with an even larger concert.
American punk rock band Green Day continued
their world tour, playing at Wembley on 19 June
2010. The gig was Green Day's biggest audience
yet. [57]
Muse returned to Wembley Stadium on 10 and
11 September 2010 as part of their Resistance
Tour to a sell-out crowd, having previously
played there in June 2007.
Madonna played Wembley in 2008 during her
Sticky and Sweet Tour , to a sold-out audience of
74,000. The event has surpassed all gross
revenue for a single concert at Wembley,
grossing nearly $12 million USD.

Watch the construction video on the below link.

Watch "EC: Wembley Stadium 1/5" on YouTube




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