All you want to know about the venue the Bulls will use if they make it to the top 2 positions in this years Super 14 competition. Information Only.
Orlando Stadium
THE new Orlando Stadium, in Orlando East, Soweto, is earmarked to be one of the training venues for the 2010 FIFA World Cup™.
The other World Cup training venues in Joburg are Dobsonville Stadium, also in Soweto, and Rand Stadium, in Rosettenville, a suburb in southern Johannesburg.
Orlando Stadium, by any standard, will be a world-class football venue when it is completed by October 2008. The R280-million venue is being rebuilt, after the original stadium was demolished in 2006 to make way for a brand-new, 40 000-seat structure.
Construction started on 3 May 2006 and involved the construction company, Grinaker-LTA, casting 3 000 pre-cast raked beams and 284 piles driven to find bedrock. Under a separate contract, Protech Khuthele demolished the old stadium, and handled the earthworks and the platforms.
About two years later, on 30 July 2008, Executive Mayor Amos Masondo visited the stadium and was impressed by the progress. He said the stadium represented a change in Soweto’s skyline.
“On 3 May 2006, a day after Orlando Stadium celebrated its 47th anniversary, we stood at almost this exact spot when we handed her – the ‘old lady’ – to the contractors. On that day we marked the City of Johannesburg’s ground-breaking movement towards the first 2010 project to be initiated by the City.”
The new stadium boasts 120 suites that can be turned into hospitality venues, conference facilities, meeting rooms, a gymnasium, a fan shop and offices. In addition, it has two VIP and one VVIP suites, a 200-seat auditorium and 60 concession kiosks. A new underground parking facility will accommodate 2 500 cars and a parking area for buses will be built at an open area at the north end.
Designed by Platinum Sports Consulting, Afro Architectural and WMS Architects, the stadium has a contemporary design with an encircling roof that covers 70 percent of spectators. The 272 floodlights, located on the roof, will provide lighting.
The three seating tiers will comprise 40 000 blue seats; the VIP and VVIP suites will be serviced by two lifts.
According to Greg Weber, the contracts manager at Grinaker-LTA, the pitch grass, which is already in place, was planted in situ and already looked lush.
Two generators will provide back-up electricity in the case of power failure. To support this development, the nearby Orlando train station is being upgraded to handle the large number of people expected to use it once the stadium is complete.
Well-lit footpaths from Orlando and Mlamlankunzi train stations, located about 500 metres away, will be built, while surveillance cameras will improve safety.
The City’s Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) system, a project to improve public transport in Joburg, will run to the east of the stadium and rail and transport will complement the BRT on the western side.
The community at large has benefited from the construction, especially those living near it. Sid Clark, the City’s director of project management, says 2 205 jobs have been created and training is being provided in the fields of carpentry, bricklaying, plastering and painting.
Clark says training is being provided by certified local skills education and training authorities, or Setas, and more than 150 workers have received certificates in various competencies.
Of the 2 205 people working on the stadium, 50 percent hail from the townships of Orlando, Mzimhlophe, Diepkloof and surrounding areas, and half of the total are women and youth.
Besides the big contractors working on big projects like installing the roof, there are 28 sub-contracting companies on site; of these 23 are small, medium and micro enterprises.