Foyle Arena, Londonderry
The Client: Derry City Council
Our roles: Civil Engineering, Structural Engineering, CDM Services
Project Summary
Doran Consulting was appointed to provide structural and civil engineering design advice and CDM services in relation to the construction of this new-build centre of sporting excellence, offering pre-Olympic training for athletes competing in Judo, wrestling and mountaineering.
Located in the mature and landscaped surroundings of St Columb’s Park, the new sports arena features a 25m indoor swimming pool, a 4-court multi-purpose hall, a fitness suite and extensive outdoor facilities including 12 x 3rd Generation synthetic pitches and a full-size synthetic sand-dressed hockey pitch with associated sports fencing and floodlighting.
Elite facilities include a state-of-the-art Judo hall (Ireland’s first centre of excellence for Judo), a wrestling and warm-up hall, a 14m-high mountaineering hall, a strength and conditioning suite, hydrotherapy and physiotherapy facilities, coaching classrooms, indoor and outdoor changing facilities, spectator galleries and national governing body offices.
The arena is also intended to be used as an indoor events space, with a seating capacity of over 2,000 people, making it the largest permanent indoor events space in the region.
Expertise & Delivery
The new building is a steel-framed construction with traditional pad and strip foundations. The ground floor slab of the main hall uses a ground-bearing concrete slab with polypropylene fibre mesh reinforcement.
The roof of the multi-purpose hall is designed to provide a column-free zone, with mono-pitched roof trusses supported on two ridge girders. These girders also support a ‘Skyfold’ partition to separate the two zones of the hall.
The steelwork framing of the mountaineering hall is supported on reinforced concrete retaining walls. The swimming pool and undercroft areas are formed in reinforced concrete, with the roof over the main swimming pool area constructed using feature glulam wooden rafters.
