The drive for year-round revenue generation has
seen the rise of multi-use venues and buildings that are
more able to serve other sports, entertainment, and be
used by the local and wider community, offering
amenities or spaces for the public to use on nongamedays.
This adds another layer to the
masterplanning process and also brings more parties
to the table.
“Masterplanning is more important than ever,” says
Jeff Sawarynski, senior principal and managing
director at ME Engineers. “Now it involves cost and
legacy, plus hospitality and retail around the area of
the stadium.”
A good example of a multi-layered project is the
National Western Center in Denver, Colorado, a new
mixed-used development under construction, which
ME Engineers has been involved with. “It was master
planned to be a year-round destination focused on
entertainment, education, food and agricultural
science, both locally and internationally. Founding
partners, the City and County of Denver, Colorado
State University, Denver Museum of Nature and
Science, and History Colorado together took the lead
and initiated the master planning efforts, which led
to placemaking, all of which informed the design of
each element within the new National Western Center
campus,” explains Sawarynski.
Good to talk
With stadia, it is clear a big piece of the picture is
people and an important part of the process is
engagement with others. Speaking with stakeholders
in the masterplanning phases ensures that the design
or solution is acceptable to the maximum amount
of interested parties. The client of the stadium is
The National Western
Center in Denver,
Colorado, is a multi-use
facility that was informed
from the input of many
different parties and
founding partners
WAITING GAME
Timeframes can vary quite a lot on each project and works can often continue
years after the actual stadium has been built, explains reveals Buro Happold’s
director of sports, Rob Amphlett.
“If you look at Arsenal FC’s Emirates Stadium, we were on site three or four
years building the stadium, but had residential elements around that, which
took a number of years longer to build. The most recent of them, completed
a few years ago. It might take 10 years to get all those things built out. With
Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, there are residential and other buildings planned
on that site and those are going to take another four to six years to complete,
and the wider masterplan could take another 20 years to build out, so there
are plans for big urban regeneration there right from the High Road all the way
down to the reservoir.”
Credit: Populous Credit: MIG, Inc, courtesy of the City and County of Denver
MASTERPLANNING
26 www.stadia-magazine.com June 2020
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