After the roaring success of the London Olympic Games in 2012, it is now the turn of Glasgow to show the world that the UK is still at the top of the list when it comes to hosting major sporting events. The Olympic stadium in London will be remembered forever as the iconic backdrop of a spectacular event, which captured the imagination of people the world over. The aforementioned Olympic stadium was built specifically for the games, but I have decided to take a different look at the venues chosen for the Glasgow Games. I felt it would be interesting to discover how stadiums and buildings can be transformed, renovated and refurbished to make them suitable for hosting massive events, and what type of work goes into this.
Rather than build a brand new stadium at massive cost, the centerpiece of the 2014 Commonwealth games will be the Scotland national football stadium, Hampden Park. But what types of works go into transforming a legendary football stadium into a world class athletics venue? Firstly, a running track must be installed. To do this the stadiums surface was raised almost two metres, giving it the required width and length for a standard running track, whilst 8 rows of seats were removed to accommodate the track. The stadium will be able to accommodate 40,000 spectators.
Another building that has been extensively refurbished for the games is the Tollcross International Swimming Centre. This £13.8million project includes a new look 10 lane competition pool with a brand new 50 metre warm up pool, creating one of the most unique and largest facilities of its kind in Europe. 1,000 spectator seats have also been installed, transforming a standard leisure centre into a world class swimming veune.
To see how part of this transformation took place check out this case study
One of the most important refurbishment projects required for the Commonwealth games is that of the Tontine building. Extensive internal works, including plastering, new partitions and paintwork ensured this building will be the nerve centre for the duration of the games. The building will house Glasgow 2014, the event organisers, and a workforce of 1000. The reason this project is so important is that not only will it play a major role for the duration of the games; it will also serve as a lasting economic legacy for the city. As a result of the works, the building is now a high quality, high profile office space in a prime location.
It is an honour for any city to be selected to host a major event. As the above projects show, it is not always necessary to build new super stadiums and structures to ensure a successful event. Sometimes a bit of TLC to the grand buildings already there will be more than enough.
