PROJECT STORY
The challenge
Building a massive FIFA-compliant football stadium is nothing new but building one within 24 months must be record breaking.
King Abdullah Sports City Stadium
Teaming up to deliver
KSA’s sports city
The solution
Using our experience in working with multidisciplinary and multinational teams enabled us to sort out tasks and priorities to achieve a fast-tracked completion.
The impact
The 60,000-seat King Abdullah Sports City stadium is key to KSA’s vision of promoting health, economic and social benefits through sports.
60,000
seating capacity
25,000m²
combined support facility area
24
months to complete
The challenge
From the early days of equestrian and fencing to the popularity of football in recent decades, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has a long and established sports history. The role of sports in KSA’s development was further emphasized in 2009 when the Kingdom announced through a royal decree the development of the King Abdullah Sports City to recognize the importance of sports and its benefits to the country as a whole. Included in this project was a 60,000-seat FIFA-compliant football stadium, an engineering and construction marvel that emphasizes the importance of sustainability and functionality. Saudi Aramco appointed Arcadis to provide project and commercial management expertise for the main stadium and associated sports facilities that were expected to be completed within 24 months in time for the 2014 King’s Cup.
The solution
When we commenced our work in early 2012, it was like being in the midst of a major international football game: there were a lot of people of different nationalities. They were focused on their part of the project that needed to be completed under an accelerated program. At the peak of construction, there were more than 8,000 site operatives working two, 12-hour shifts. As project manager, we used our comprehensive understanding of stadia design, procurement processes and construction management to sort out the collaboration between different teams to make sure that we achieve the project’s objectives without sacrificing the quality of work or the welfare of everyone involved. We also leveraged our experience in working with teams composed of people from different backgrounds to address key project concerns like the management of materials shortage and design changes.
The road to delivering this project, which at times seemed insurmountable given the extremely challenging schedule and the dependence on other parties, was achieved in remarkable fashion due only to the dedication, diligence and commitment of every person involved. The scale of this monumental task while never underestimated by management put incredible pressure on those involved, and it is a testament to the capacity and professionalism of the King Abdullah Sports City Project Management Team that we are here today celebrating our success on the completion of an outstanding achievement. A truly remarkable project which we helped to complete. We added real value to the project with our experience and highly engaged team at all stages of the delivery.
The impact
Behind its façade, technological innovations and the number of manhours spent in building it, the King Abdullah Sports City stadium is an important piece to KSA’s vision of promoting health, economic and social welfare through sports. Aside from providing a venue to watch local and international sports events, the leaders of KSA hope to encourage its people to engage in sports and have a more active lifestyle through the stadium’s associated facilities including an athletics stadium, football pitches and tennis courts, to name a few. With a healthy population, the Kingdom will have the manpower to push forward with its Vision 2030.
