Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium

Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium

Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium is a 45 000 Seater Multi Purpose Stadium in Port Elizabeth South Africa.

Introduction:

Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium was the first of South Africa’s new 2010 Fifa World Cup stadiums to be completed. It has a capacity of 45 000 seats.

Facilities:

The stadium seats 45 000 in addition to 4,000 extra seats, temporarily installed for the 2010 FIFA World Cup. The seats are of different shades, from light orange to dark red. They are arranged seemingly at random, but this was done to help the stadium appear full at all times. It also means that sun damage is less of a problem and replaced seats are less noticeable. There are 23 private boxes with a planned additional 22 private boxes, including two bars, as part of the post World Cup building. The stadium also boasts 150 VIP suites, 60 business suites, a sports clothing shop, gymnasium, plus lecture and function rooms. There are also two conference rooms, which are able to accommodate 200 people, which are situated on the 5th level.

There are four ramps for easy wheelchair access, three VIP lifts, two in the West Stand and one in the East Stand, as well as six passengers’ lifts all around the stadium. Two additional lifts will be installed for the legacy phase. The stadium will have a total of 11 lifts. There are 32 turnstiles and color coded gates on level 2 for spectators to access their seats and four ramps leading up from level 2 to level 5.

Two big viewing screens (12.7m x 7.2m) were installed for live coverage of the activities on the field. There are a total of 74 toilet blocks (male and female) – 36 blocks on level 2 – 4 blocks on level 3 – 14 blocks on level 4 and 20 blocks on level 5.

Parking inside the stadium is provided only on level 1 and consists of media parking – 160 bays, broadcast – 80 bays, VVIP parking – 70 bays, special VVIP parking – 12 bays, VIP parking – 32 Bays, disabled parking – 4 bays and general parking on site – 1,280 bays.

Design:

The stadium has an eye-catching, unique roof-structure and a spectacular view, overlooking the North End Lake. The roof is made up of a series of white ‘petals’ making it look like a flower. This is the reason for the stadium’s nickname, The Sunflower. There are not many stadiums in the world that are designed and constructed overlooking a lake; this in itself is a very distinctive feature of the Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium. The stadium building is approximately 40m high and consists of six levels on the western side in addition to five on each of the north, south and east stands.The main architecture was handled by Architectural Design Associates(Pty)Ltd and Dominic Bonnesse Architects cc. The stadium has three gates for entry, located on the northern, southern and eastern sides of the stadium, the western side of the stadium leads to the North End Lake.