Dubai Sports City has awarded Japanese Taiyo Kogyo Corporation a US $11 million (AED40 million) contract for the membrane roof of the Cricket Stadium under construction in Dubai Sports City.
The structure will shade 20,000m2 of area with Titanium Dioxide (Tio2) fiberglass membrane protecting spectators from direct sunlight. The 25,000 seat stadium is expandable to 30,000 and will have facilities to accommodate players, match officials, VIPs, spectators and the media.
Taiyo Group has designed, fabricated and constructed membrane roofs worldwide including the Millennium Dome (85,500m2) and the Haj Terminal (418,000m2) and has a total capacity to fabricate 1,200,000m2 of fabric per year.
Taiyo is also currently building the retractable membrane roof for the Dubai Mall, which will be the world’s largest shopping mall. Taiyo Kogyo, Japan has built more than 90% of all membrane roof of stadiums in the past 30 years in Japan which includes the air-supported Tokyo Dome. Taiyo BirdAir, USA has undertaken roof structure for several other famous GCC projects such as Sheikh Al Jaber Stadium, Kuwait, King Fahd Stadium, Saudi Arabia and Marina Mall, Abu Dhabi.
Nobutake Kihara, general manager of Taiyo Middle East (TME), said: “Dubai Sports City is an incredible project and it is a great honour for us to receive this contract. Taiyo group has formed the best project team to execute this prestigious project. Taiyo Group relies on the international expertise building more than 60 stadiums in countries like USA, Japan, Australia, Germany, Italy, China, Qatar, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia.
The Cricket Stadium will be the first stadium in the world to use the self-cleaning Titanium Dioxide treated fiberglass membrane.
The TiO
2
coating greatly enhances the performance of the membrane.
Mike Lester, director of engineering of TME explains: “The TiO
2
helps decompose dirt on the membrane surface. The reaction of Titanium Dioxide generates active oxygen on the surface of the membrane using radiation from the UV rays in sunshine and the organic matter (dirt) that is built up on the surface. Nitrogen oxides are then decomposed through natural oxidation reduction and the decomposed dirt is then washed off by the rain”.
The use of membrane roofs for sporting arenas has been ever increasing worldwide. The beneifts of membrane in this application include fast installation, low maintenance, ample natural light transmittance, as well as the flexability to allow designers to create a truly unique venue.
The main contractor on the job is Alpine Bau Deutschland and Belbadi Engineering (Alpine-Belbadi).
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