2024 Glasgow World Indoor Athletics Championships
upgrading a 12-year old track venue to meet modern media requirements
The challenge?
Upgrade the iconic hydraulic track at the Glasgow Emirates Arena with a new surface, without blowing the budget.
Early attempts to remove and replace the old track material at the venue proved futile. The material couldn’t be prised off without damaging the floor surface. For a moment it looked as if the cost of the revamp (and the time needed to see it through) would double.
Cue SPORTS PROJECTS CONSULTANTS with a proposal to re-top the surface rather than replace it - a revolutionary concept for solid rubber Mondo tracks. The success of SPC’s cost-cutting, time-saving proposal was reflected in the event’s avalanche of world records, national records and personal bests.
screeding existing track
new track material 90% laid
LED perimeter advertising
the result!
2018 Gold Coast Commonwealth Games
conversion of an Australian football stadium to a world-class athletics arena
The challenge?
Create a world-class athletics arena for the 2018 Commonwealth Games without disrupting the football season.
The Metricon Australian Football Stadium in Brisbane was temporarily converted to an athletics arena for the 2018 Commonwealth Games with a 9-lane running track from MONDO.
To speed up construction and keep disruption of the football season to a minimum, SPORTS PROJECTS CONSULTANTS suggested using compacted sand for the base.
SPC had pioneered this system for the 2006 Commonwealth Games, when the Melbourne Cricket Grounds were also temporarily converted to athletics use.
This innovative proposal halved construction time, so the football season could go ahead without interruption.
removing the pitch
preparing to install asphalt over sand
finished asphalt course on sand
the completed arena
2018 Tottenham Hotspurs Football Stadium
re-development of the soccer stadium to accommodate NFL American football under a retractable soccer pitch
The challenge?
Install synthetic grass and track material on a hydraulically adjustable touchline in tandem with more than a thousand other tradesmen.
The revolutionary soccer pitch at the Tottenham Hotspurs Stadium is designed to slide-away when not needed so NFL American football can be played on the lower-level pitch.
SPORTS PROJECTS CONSULTANTS assisted HEWITTS SPORTSTURF with the installation of synthetic grass on the hydraulically adjustable touchline and safety zones. Logistics and work schedules had to be constantly revised to accommodate other builders and contractors, who could number 1200 on any given day.
movable carriage for natural grass
panels for natural grass during planting
natural grass sections before they are pushed together
the natural grass pitch
2017 West Ham Soccer Stadium
re-instatement of the Olympic Stadium athletics track after the conversion of the stadium
The challenge?
Combine an athletics track with a football pitch without compromising either
A soccer pitch is bigger than an athletics infield if you take the area outside the touch-and goal-lines into account. Facilities that combine athletics and soccer solve this problem by using part of the track for the outside area, forcing players to run on the synthetic material when they take a corner kick.
Working together with HEWITTS SPORTSTURF on reinstating the MONDO athletics track at West Ham soccer stadium, SPORTS PROJECTS CONSULTANTS drew on its exhaustive knowledge of IAAF rules to find a better way. Knowing the IAAF allows the infield to be higher than the track, SPC recommended letting the pitch overlap the track. Hewitts then designed removable trays for the overlapping grass sections which could be removed for the athletics season. In this way, players taking a corner kick were not faced with a change of surface in the run-up to the kick.
in football mode, with the pitch overlapping the track, part of which is covered by retractable seating
corner sections of the pitch removed and seating partially retracted to expose the track
track protection exposed
2017 IAAF World Championships
2014 Glasgow Commonwealth Games
temporary conversion of Hampden Park soccer stadium to a world-class athletics arena
The challenge?
Temporarily convert the iconic Hampden Park soccer stadium to an athletics arena without interfering with the soccer season.
In fact, there were two challenges: first, enlarge the field-of-play to accommodate an athletics arena; second, get it all done between two soccer seasons, in a Scottish winter.
SPORTS PROJECTS CONSULTANTS, together with the consultants, PROFESSIONAL SPORTSTURF DESIGN, came up with the concept of a raised platform, engineered to withstand the load stresses of an asphalt foundation with an athletics track and infield installed on it.
Getting it all put in and taken out again, between the 2013 and 2014 soccer seasons, meant laying part of the track in a tent, an idea developed by SPORTS PROJECTS CONSULTANTS and made possible with MONDO SpA’s prefabricated material.
A platform panel
Working nights to keep to the deadline
The platform partially constructed
Using a tent to beat the Scottish winter
2012 London Olympic Games
installation of multiple sports flooring surfaces in numerous dedicated and temporary venues
The challenge?
Manage the sheer size and logistics of an Olympic track, 2 warm-up tracks and 14 different sport flooring surfaces in 17 different venues
Sports venues for the London Olympics were dispersed all over the city, so that, in addition to the 3 MONDO running tracks, temporary pedestrian bridge and athlete walkways at the Olympic Park, SPORTS PROJECTS CONSULTANTS was involved in installing sport flooring in venues as diverse as the beach volleyball courts at the Horse Guards Parade and the run-up track for J.J. Jegede’s iconic jump over 3 minis at Potters Field.
Many of the flooring installations were temporary, such as the multiple portable courts at the London Exhibition Centre, and most had to be installed twice: first for the trials and then again for the Games.
Together with the flooring, there was the equivalent of a warehouse of sport equipment to be assembled and put in place.
The job was completed in 18-months, working to a tight schedule and in close cooperation with other contractors.
athletics track in the olympic stadium
portable beach volleyball court at the horse guards parade
sprung wood sub-floor at the london exhibition centre
j.j. jegede’s 3-mini long-jump challenge at potters field