Preparation work has begun ahead of construction on Qatar’s Lusail Stadium, home of the World Cup finals in 2022, the local organizing committee has said.
The flagship stadium is being built from scratch in time for the global football tournament, and will host the opening ceremony and final match of the World Cup. When completed, it will sit on a 1 million square meter site in Lusail City.
While work progresses on five other World Cup stadiums, the Lusail site has seen little activity so far.
In March, the Supreme Committee for Delivery & Legacy announced that British architects Foster + Partners had won the bid to design the 80,000 capacity venue.
In an update on the stadium issued yesterday, the SCDL said that the design concept had been approved, but the final design is not expected to be officially revealed until next year.
The SCDL said it worked with the designers “hand-in-hand to capture a sense of local and regional architecture, reflecting the aesthetics of Qatar.”
What’s happening
Early works are now underway to prepare the site for the start of construction. Some 5km of hoarding has gone up on the perimeter of what will be the stadium grounds, and site offices that will serve as the hub for stadium technical team during the works have been erected, the committee said.
Contractors have also investigated the site, providing information about the soil quality and groundwater levels, which will help determine designs for the stadium foundation and substructure.
The investigation “has also generated information about site levels, and the grading and leveling work required to achieve the finished site profile,” the SCDL added.
Mubarak Al-Khulaifi, SCDL Project Director at Lusail Stadium, said in a statement that work to fully prepare the ground ahead of actual construction would begin soon:
“Following the timely conclusion of the early works phase, we aim to shortly commence enabling works. The scope for this phase will be comprised of the heavy civil works required to facilitate the construction of the stadium structure.”
Other venues
Lusail Stadium is the sixth World Cup venue under construction in Qatar. Work is already underway on venues in Al Wakrah, Al Khor, Khalifa Stadium in Al Waab, Education City and Al Rayyan, to the west of Doha.
Last November, an SCDL official was reported as saying that stadiums would be built on two more venues – on the site of Qatar Sports Club in Dafna/West Bay and another near Hamad International Airport.
The committee’s Competition Venues director Ghanim Al Kuwari revealed the locations of the arenas while speaking at the stadiums and arenas international conference Fourth Coliseum MENA ConfEx in Doha, Doha Stadium Plus Qatar reported.
However, a spokesperson for the SCDL told Doha News today that these locations have not been officially confirmed.
Qatar submitted its hosting bid on the basis of having 12 stadiums, though analysts predict that number will be pared. FIFA requires at least eight venues to be used to host the 64 matches during the international tournament.
A final decision on the venue numbers is expected by the end of this year.
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