Gulf Construction Online - An athlete’s paradise

Dubai Review

A night-time view of DSC cricket stadium ... showing the ‘ring of fire’.

An athlete’s paradise

01 April 2009

A VISION to host the world’s first integrated sports city in Dubai is quickly becoming a reality as each of Dubai Sports City’s (DSC) components come alive with stiff competition on the fields and the cheers of spectators.

The latest component set for a grand opening this month is the cricket stadium, which is scheduled to host its first event with the Pakistan-versus-Australia cricket series, which will be watched by up to 25,000 fans at the first one-day international ever held in Dubai.
This follows the opening of the Els Club golf course, a championship course designed by the three-time major championships winner Ernie Els, last year.
This year is expected to be an exciting one for DSC as many of the component assets within the overall development start operation, according to a spokesman for the development.
“The Els Club golf course has been open for a year and is already receiving international recognition, while the Victory Heights villas that overlook the course are currently being handed over and people are now living in Dubai Sports City,” he says.
Final preparations are on for the grand opening of the cricket stadium. Engineers are conducting final testing of the stadium infrastructure including the 365 floodlights that will create ideal playing conditions at the new venue.
The state-of-the-art lighting system has been uniquely installed into the rim of the roof of the stadium, creating what is being described as a ‘ring of fire’, which will light up the field of play. The design is such that it will prevent any distracting shadows of the players.
The cricket stadium has been designed to provide a world-class venue, ideally suited to act as a neutral venue for world cricket and has the facilities to host test matches, one-day internationals and 20-20 tournaments. The stadium is bowl-shaped, providing excellent views from every seat in the ground.
DSC is a $4-billion, 50-million-sq-ft mixed-use development which has been conceptualised as a city within a city that will house 60,000 people. The development is being built around five major sports venues designed to host international sports competition and globally-recognised music and entertainment events.
The cricket stadium is the first of four stadiums to be completed. Other stadiums include a 60,000-capacity multi-purpose stadium for football, track and field, and rugby; a field hockey stadium capable of holding up to 5,000 spectators; and an indoor arena that will house 10,000 supporters for a wide range of sports including basketball, indoor hockey, volleyball, handball, netball and ice hockey.
The fifth sports venue is the 18-hole signature world-class golf course.
The first phase of DSC included the golf course, sports academies and other facilities, as well as the opening phase of the Victory Heights residential community. The entire development is set for completion by next year.
Included within the Dubai Sports City Academies Campus is the DSC Football Academy – the home of Manchester United Soccer Schools, Dubai; the World Hockey Academy, a first-of-its-kind partnership with the International Hockey Federation; a swimming academy with a 50-m training pool; a rugby academy and the International Cricket Council’s own ICC Global Cricket Academy.
In addition, DSC is home to a David Lloyd Tennis Academy and the first Butch Harmon School of Golf outside the US.
The DSC Academies Campus comes online during this year with the Butch Harmon School of Golf having been the first to open last month. The ICC Global Cricket Academy, World Hockey Academy, and the Football, Swimming and Rugby academies will all offer coaching programmes this year as the final touches to the facility are completed.
Bradenton Preparatory Academy, the US school famous for offering an integrated programme covering education and extra-curricular activity, opens in September for the new school year and will offer a first-class academic education with a bespoke method of teaching. Students will be allowed to take part in extra curricular activities such as sport and performing arts, while simultaneously receiving an American College preparatory education.
Malcolm Thorpe, director of marketing, sports business, for DSC, says that development’s ‘city-within-a-city’ concept allows the various assets within the city to build on each other’s strengths.
“It is the integration of a mega project’s different elements which propels the whole project to completion,” says Thorpe. “There are often asset-specific time delays for various reasons, but there comes an overriding collective confidence that the project will be delivered and be a success as planned.”
“The sheer size and scale of integrated projects encourage completion and delivery despite what can be considered short-term worries. We are extremely proud of the products we are delivering within Dubai Sports City,” adds Thorpe.
This ‘sporting paradise’ has been three years in the making since the first two major construction contracts were awarded three years ago. In March 2006, DSC awarded the main contract for the construction of the Dh300 million ($81.68 million) cricket stadium at the prestigious development to Alpine-Belbadi, a joint venture between Germany-based Alpine Bau Deutschland and local Belbadi Engineering. The contract followed the award of a Dh400 million ($108.90 million) deal to the UAE-based Wade Adams Contracting in January 2006 for the project’s infrastructure construction. The deal was one of the single largest private sector infrastructure contracts to be awarded for a local development in the UAE. The contract involved the construction of 50 km of roads and installation of 70.5 km of potable water piping, 120 km of telecommunications multiple ducts, 54 km of sewerage mains, 29 km of stormwater drainage, 87 km of electrical cable and 41.5 km of irrigation ducts across the DSC and Victory Heights projects.
Commenting on the challenges faced during construction, the spokesman says: “The partners and staff at DSC have decades of experience in construction, real estate, retail and sports projects. We have ensured that every step of the process is fully-planned from conception to completion.
“We have taken the initiative to ensure the entire infrastructure within DSC, be it roads, electricity distribution or the construction of the sewage treatment plant is already in place and fully operational. All of our objectives have been met and exceeded.”
On the impact of the current global slowdown on the project, he says: “DSC is a diverse master-development which includes a variety of offerings from real estate and retail developments to sports stadiums, a fully-integrated academies campus, The Els Club championship golf course and community areas. Given the wide-ranging offering within the portfolio, DSC is well protected against the changes in the property market.”
Approximately 80 to 85 per cent of DSC’s projects are under way, and the balance will be launched in phases with prudent awareness of market situation and international global financial landscape, he says.
“We are working with some of the most experienced designers and developers who share our passion for creating the world’s first integrated sports city. Together, we are building a unique environment which will provide an ideal venue for global sporting events,”
he adds.
Some of the key players on the DSC project include Alpine (stadium construction), Arabtec Construction (stadium construction), Eastern International (Bradenton Preparatory Academy construction), GMP (stadium design), Max Bogel (stadium construction), Parsons International (masterplan consultants), Septech (The Els Club construction), and Trans Emirates (Academies Campus construction).