Qatar Football AssociationNews
30.09.2014 2:09 in :

DOHA: The Supreme Committee for Delivery & Legacy’s (SC) preparations for the 2022 FIFA World Cup Qatar™ reached another significant landmark as more than 50 staff moved into the newly completed Al Wakrah Stadium site offices.

The staff on-site includes project management consultants KEO and design consultants AECOM. Over the next 12 months the number of on-site staff will increase to 200 as the SC gains momentum towards delivering its first proposed World Cup stadium by 2018.

Ghanim Al Kuwari, the SC’s Competition Venues Director, said: “This is a very important move and highlights our organisation’s commitment to delivering stadiums.

“Our team is together now and sharing the same office. This is a clear sign that our mega project is making significant progress.”

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Construction at Al Wakrah is moving at a significant pace, with enabling works currently being conducted and a main contract for construction set to be awarded in 2015. Progress on the ground is well underway, with the bowl of the stadium currently being dug out and the precinct now visible on Google Earth.

Peter Randles, the SC’s Al Wakrah Manager, described the move as an exciting development.

“This is now the focal point for the delivery of the stadium,” said Randles. “We currently have about 50 machines on–site which are digging the bowl of the stadium. Consequently the project is moving at a fast pace – it has a dynamism and this latest move shows we are very much focussed on delivery.”

Located 15km south of Doha, Al Wakrah Stadium was designed by AECOM, in association with Zaha Hadid Architects. AECOM serves as the design consultant on the project, while KEO International Consultants is the project manager. The 40,000-seater stadium, which will also feature a precinct and a range of sporting facilities, is due to be completed in 2018.

Upon completion, the stadium will become the home of Al Wakrah Sports Club, then following the tournament in 2022 the modular upper tiers of Al Wakrah’s of 20,000 seat will be disassembled and distributed to nations in need of sporting infrastructure.

The stadium will also feature the innovative cooling technology being designed and developed by the SC for the 2022 FIFA World Cup Qatarto meet the comfort needs of spectators. The SC has already made significant steps in the research and development of this technology, having tested prototype cooling technology this summer at the Brazil 2014 Fan Zone in Doha. The open-air Fan Zone used cooling technology to create temperatures 12oC lower inside the Fan Zone when compared to outside.