Alex Miller, writing for the Daily Mail at the weekend declared an exclusive story about the Olympic Stadium claiming "Hammers fans fear Olympic Stadium design flaw will ruin atmosphere” The story can be read HERE
I can reveal the source of his World exclusive was an online building forum called SkyScaperCity.com. The forum members were less than impressed with Mr Miller’s article at the weekend with one saying “this seems like a rather dishonest report to me considering most of the seats behind that gap are actually not going to be used when the stadium is in football mode!”
One forum member even suggested an alternative configuration which can be seen below.
I understand the drawings referred to in the article which were posted on the forum had been released back in March so little new has been learnt from this article beyond it has highlighted the gaps to a wider audience.There are gaps at both the North and South stands behind the goals shown in the drawings but the main contract to rebuild the stadium has not been awarded so nothing is set in stone yet. I understand the main contract will be awarded on 23rd December this year with Sir Robert McApline considered the favourite to win it. The main contractor will then work with the architects Populous after the estimated £100 million contract is awarded. With an estimated £200 million final bill to rebuild the stadium, one would hope it is in everyone’s interest to get this right.
Another forum member said “For some reason the ends don’t really bother me, it looks bad on the cross section but I reckon it’ll look fine in reality”.
Whilst I agree the gap behind the goals needs to be addressed it is a bit too early to make claims of 15 metre gaps based on an online forum post without further information.
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If you see the cross sections of the East and West stands they don’t suffer from the same gap as behind the goals. It is too early to be getting upset about the gap before the final configuration is submitted and agreed. This has been recently proved with the £41m roof contact, the main contractor Balfour Beatty is making significant changes to the roof post contract award. They say “It is proposed to amend the detailed design of the main roof, This has been influenced by a need to reduce the overall area, weight and complexity of the roof while still maintaining the acoustic performance and seating coverage” “The overall concept for the roof remains the same, the revised roof will have a solid white disc to reflect the original fabric roof and the inner roof will be a clear transparent disc. Balfour Beatty have simplified the roof design meaning the previous ridged surface will now be flat/smooth.
If you want to follow the SkyScaperCity.com forum thread on the Olympic Stadium rebuild you can follow it HERE
On the back on the Daily Mail article Stadiumdb.com published an article with more detail which can be read HERE
