Emirates Stadium

Project

The Emirates Stadium (known as Ashburton Grove prior to sponsorship, and as Arsenal Stadium for UEFA competitions) is a football stadium in Holloway, London, England and the home of Arsenal Football Club. With a capacity of over 60,000, it is the third-largest football stadium in England after Wembley and Old Trafford.

In 1997, Arsenal explored the possibility of relocating to a new stadium. After considering various options (including purchasing Wembley Stadium), the club bought an industrial and waste disposal estate in Ashburton Grove in 2000. Emirates Airlines was later announced as the main sponsor for the stadium. The whole stadium project was completed in 2006 at a cost of £390 million.

Construction

Actual construction of the stadium began in February 2004. Arsenal appointed Sir Robert McAlpine in January 2002 to carry out building work and the stadium was designed by HOK Sport (known as Populous since 2009).

The first phase of demolition was completed in March 2004 and two months later stand piling on the West, East and North stands had been concluded. The stadium topped out in August 2005 and external glazing, power and water tank installation was completed by December 2005.The first seat in the new stadium was ceremonially installed on 13 March 2006 by Arsenal midfielder Abou Diaby.

The upper (26,646) and lower (24,425) parts of the stadium feature standard seating. The stadium has two levels below ground that house its support facilities. There are 7,139 seats at this level.

Each of 60,000 seats was anchored to the substrate of the stand using Rawlplug R-DCL M10 Lipped Wedge Anchors

The Emirates Stadium was officially opened by Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh on 26 October 2006,