Special features

To give spectators a 360° unobstructed view of the field of play and the boundary line from any given location on the podium required much detailing and precision in space planning and engineering. The appointed architects, Populous, developed an innovative design to accomplish this. “As you climb to the upper seating bowl, you experience a panoramic view of the field of play, gradually offering a vista experience,” informs Satish.

The stadium has many interesting features:

Each aspect of the stadium, like ease of entry and seamless movement of 1,10,000 spectators, positioning of each tier and placement of the pillars, has been meticulously planned.
The 30 m cantilevered roof gives the stadium an impressive and aesthetic look that has been designed on a spoked wheel concept, comprising a steel truss outer compression ring and radial and circumferential cables with a fabric cover.
It is the first Indian stadium to have as many as 11 different pitches with the same soil used for both the playing and practice pitches.
It is the first stadium with four sets of dressing rooms for the players, each with an in-built gymnasium and other facilities.
It is the first stadium in India with LED lights that are uniquely designed and placed in clusters to eliminate shadows of players on the ground.
The stadium’s state-of-the-art drainage system can remove rainwater within 30 minutes of the rain stopping.

The stadium has the distinction of being the only cricket stadium in the country to be awarded the Gold Green Building rating by the Indian Green Building Council (IGBC). The award recognises the various green features of the stadium, like the 100 per cent LED lighting to reduce energy consumption, rainwater harvesting capacity of 3.2 million litre per day, potable water saving of 1.2 million litre every year and onsite sewage treatment plant of 1 mld capacity to treat and reuse 100 per cent wastewater for landscaping and flushing requirements.

Machinery and materials used

“Without equipment, lifting tools and tackles, precast and structural erection was a dream!” says Satish. Some major equipment used included self-propelled modular trailers, crawler cranes in various sizes and 52 hydraulic jacks to lift the cable net structure for the roof (all at a time).

Specially designed self- compacted concrete (SSC) was used to avoid the use of vibrators and to assure quality. A special type of cable net was used on the roof that did not have any mechanical cantilever structure; the PTFE fabric was placed in a 30 m cantilever.

Safety measures

At peak time, L&T had almost 4,500 workmen onsite in addition to over 150 engineers, designers and architects. To ensure the safety of workmen and employees while working at heights and in precariously positioned spaces and safe crane movement along the high-tension line, the following measures were taken:

A safety height simulation with BIM 360 modelling was developed to monitor and control the height at which work was happening at the upper bowl.
Fall protection at a height of 30 m with CCTV monitoring was installed.
Fire load calculations were done at all facilities with independent assessment and fire-fighting equipment installed as per the fire load.
The entire site was monitored using CCTV cameras and the footage helped the team to monitor safety measures by zooming into certain sections to check safety railings, safety nets on the staging and other aspects.

How technology helped with the construction challenge!

The elliptical or oval shape of the stadium posed certain engineering challenges as the precast erection had two radii. Coordination of the MEP (mechanical, electrical and plumbing) works with the civil and structural works was a huge task to address. The team used building information modelling (BIM) software, SYNCRO, to execute this successfully.

- PRAHARSHI SAXENA

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