Etihad Campus, Stadium and Collar Site Development Thread

[jrb]

Re: Etihad Campus, Stadium Development and Collar Site (cont

You deserve a birthday cake and mucho respect from us for what you are doing but don't get upset if it just a thankyou.

No probs, Rammy.

TBH I enjoy doing it. Gives me a chance to get out, stretch the legs, go around the site in peace and quiet(when there's nobody there), and take some pictures.

It's amazing how the site has changed in the last year or so.

Click on the link to see a video of the training academy site from the helicopter, interviews, etc.(from September 2012)

Rob Smith on the new Manchester City Academy development

Looking down on 80 acres of mud and rubble doesn’t sound like the most inspiring experience. Yet such a view can leave you impressed, when you know what those acres will become.

Manchester City invited journalists to fly over a changing landscape around the Ethiad Stadium. The club are creating a £100m football academy and training ground complex, out of land left contaminated by years of heavy industry.

I was one of seven people, ushered into a helicopter, on the day building work officially began. From more than 1000ft, the site looks like a mining operation. Diggers and cranes have removed tonnes of soil, giant mounds of which sit being decontaminated.

Earth that now looks brown, from the air, was purple when it was first excavated.

Joining us to stare at this huge ‘brownfield’ site is one of the club’s executives, Jon Stemp. He explains that it’s taken a year to remove what previous occupants of the land left behind - including chemicals, metals, and tar pits.

Jon points to a huge array of tubes, being buried in the ground, as part of a more environmentally conscious future for the area. He tells us they form part of giant rainwater collection system, which will irrigate the academy’s pitches. The development will change more than just the environment’s fortunes. At its peak, construction will provide jobs for hundreds of people. The club promise that 70% of those posts will go to workers from surrounding communities. After circling the site for 10 minutes, we return to the ground with our guide explaining how this once neglected area will become “a beacon”. He says it can show “what you can do, in an place where people haven’t always believed they can do things.” With £100m to spend, Manchester City can do quite a lot.

<a class="postlink" href="http://www.itv.com/news/granada/story/2012-09-14/manchester-city-academy-development/#city-academy-to-create-hundreds-of-jobs_89436" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">http://www.itv.com/news/granada/story/2 ... jobs_89436</a>

These old aerial pictures from the OS bring the change home even more. From mud to the best football training academy in the footballing World. :-)

<a class="postlink" href="http://www.mcfc.co.uk/news/club-news/2012/june/campus-site-aerial-photos" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">http://www.mcfc.co.uk/news/club-news/20 ... ial-photos</a>

 

[Chancy Termites]

Re: Etihad Campus, Stadium Development and Collar Site (cont

The delay might very well have cost BAM the stadium expansion contract.. That went to Laing O´Rourke instead?

Bad news for them. I wonder what huge reasons for the delay were. The much wetter than average weather can't have helped but I'd haves thought they would have get-outs for some causes.

 

[Rammyblues]

Re: Etihad Campus, Stadium Development and Collar Site (cont

Wasn't it down to contamination of the ground and the hidden mineshafts etc etc. Might be wrong.

 

[Chancy Termites]

Re: Etihad Campus, Stadium Development and Collar Site (cont

I don't know how these contracts work but if they discovered problems after they started that couldn't possibly have been foreseen earlier, it's a bit harsh for them to get the blame.

 

[jrb]

Re: Etihad Campus, Stadium Development and Collar Site (cont

Guessing.

Think Bam may have underestimated the size and scale of the project, and put in a tender that may have been undervalued
(in hindsight ) just to win the contract?

It must have been an absolute minefield, with numerous things cropping up on a daily basis. Did anyone else think this project would be delivered on time? I certainly didn't.

Saying that BAM may pull out all he stops and deliver it on time. If they do, fair play to them.

 

[yerwot?]

Re: Etihad Campus, Stadium Development and Collar Site (cont

spent 5 years at the Aniline, the place was an ecological nightmare, not just down to the products used, which were poweful acids and alkalis, toxic gases and highly poisonous powders, there was a ''dont give a shit'' attitude from top to bottom. There were contractors permanently on site patching up roads, filling in holes caused by pipes leaking. One leak of oleum sent a gas cloud right across Manchester. Given all that, I am amazed at the progress so far, but i do wonder what happened to all the stuff that was excavated.

 

[gh_mcfc]

Re: Etihad Campus, Stadium Development and Collar Site (cont

Not much new in this. Other than a suggested opening date

http://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/sport/football/manchester-city-etihad-campus-training-7170040

City's new £200m football academy could be open in October, MEN Sport has learned.

The finishing touches are currently being made to the sprawling, state-of-the-art complex across the road from the Etihad Stadium.

Blues officials have been guarded over setting a date for the opening of the site, which will be known as the City Football Academy.

But it is understood they are hopeful that the blue ribbon will be cut in October.

Work is nearing completion on a bridge over Ashton New Road which links the stadium with the campus.

The vast project kicked off in September 2012 and will see the club move from their Carrington training ground, up the road from rivals United.

It will include classrooms to cater for 200 students and on-site accommodation for both junior and senior players.

Sixteen football pitches will feature, along with half a pitch to be used by the goalkeepers.

A 7,000-capacity stadium, at the side of the main road, also appears to be near completion. That will host home matches for City’s Women’s Team who kicked off in the Super League this season and are currently playing at the Regional Athletics Arena at the side of the Etihad.

Reserve and youth team matches will also be played there.

A first-team building will house changing rooms, a gym, refectory and cutting-edge medical centre while staff offices and a media centre will also be located on site while a sixth form college and sports centre for the community continues.

Groundwork has also begun on the first phase of plans to extend the stadium itself from a capacity of 48,000 to an eventual 60,000. Around 6,250 seats will be added to the South Stand initially with more to come in the North Stand

.

Well Done MEN. . Maybe you should have read thread from 1st May. On the ball as ever.

<a class="postlink-local" href="http://forums.bluemoon-mcfc.co.uk/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=299783&p=7762740&hilit=October#p7762740" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">viewtopic.php?f=1&t=299783&p=7762740&hilit=October#p7762740</a>

(5th post down)

 

[Chancy Termites]

Re: Etihad Campus, Stadium Development and Collar Site (cont

Guessing.

Think Bam may have underestimated the size and scale of the project, and put in a tender that may have been undervalued
(in hindsight ) just to win the contract?

It must have been an absolute minefield, with numerous things cropping up on a daily basis. Did anyone else think this project would be delivered on time? I certainly didn't.

Saying that BAM may pull out all he stops and deliver it on time. If they do, fair play to them.

Fair point about the possibility of pitching too low - I'm sure that goes on all the time. And yes it wouldn't surprise me in the least to find that major building projects often overrun. All in all, a lot of work has been done in a relatively short time, and the end result is looking very good indeed.

 

[fbloke]

Re: Etihad Campus, Stadium Development and Collar Site (cont

Guessing.

Think Bam may have underestimated the size and scale of the project, and put in a tender that may have been undervalued
(in hindsight ) just to win the contract?

It must have been an absolute minefield, with numerous things cropping up on a daily basis. Did anyone else think this project would be delivered on time? I certainly didn't.

Saying that BAM may pull out all he stops and deliver it on time. If they do, fair play to them.

Fair point about the possibility of pitching too low - I'm sure that goes on all the time. And yes it wouldn't surprise me in the least to find that major building projects often overrun. All in all, a lot of work has been done in a relatively short time, and the end result is looking very good indeed.

The need to win certain contracts at a time when construction was at a low ebb might explain why BAM bid low?

 

[CheethamHillBlue]

Re: Etihad Campus, Stadium Development and Collar Site (cont

spent 5 years at the Aniline, the place was an ecological nightmare, not just down to the products used, which were poweful acids and alkalis, toxic gases and highly poisonous powders, there was a ''dont give a shit'' attitude from top to bottom. There were contractors permanently on site patching up roads, filling in holes caused by pipes leaking. One leak of oleum sent a gas cloud right across Manchester. Given all that, I am amazed at the progress so far, but i do wonder what happened to all the stuff that was excavated.

Let's hope it was sprayed on the pitch at The Stretford Comedy Club.