Mannwan: The expansion of the North Stand of Etihad Stadium enters a new stage, and the existing roof begins to be demolished next week

May 14th The Manchester Evening News wrote an article talking about the progress of the expansion of the North Stand of the Etihad Stadium.

It is reported that the expansion of the North Stand of Manchester City's Etihad Stadium is about to enter a new stage, and work to demolish the existing roof will begin next week. Earlier this month, the club celebrated the "top cap" ceremony for the North Stand construction project, marking the completion of the project's highest point and the inauguration of the last piece of steel structure. The new third-level roof has been built on top of the existing roof to ensure North Stands will remain in service throughout the 2024-25 season.

With the last home game of the season, the match against Bournemouth is about to be held, and Manchester City plans to remove the old roof in the offseason and complete the construction of the new structure by the second half of the 2025-26 season. From the match against Bournemouth to the start of the new Premier League season, the demolition of the old roof, the fixing of the new roof and the repaving of the lawn must be completed. According to relevant media reports, the project is time-consuming. Ian Kasher, project manager for contractor Sisk, said the summer schedule is very compact and it is necessary to ensure that all necessary work is done on time. After the game, an aluminum platform will be laid on the court so that cranes can operate and protect the site and drainage system from damage to heavy vehicles. The process of removing the old roof is expected to take four weeks, with little room for postponement.

In response, Ian Kasher said: "We will be very difficult in the next few weeks. The old roof needs to be removed within four weeks before the new roof can be fully installed and the exterior panels and floodlights are added. The site staff will need four more weeks to re-lay the turf, so we only have six weeks to build on the site and then the site staff will take over."

The new roof needs to be waterproofed for six weeks before the old roof is removed, and the work has been carried out in the past few months. During the construction of the new roof, two iconic masts supporting the roof needed to be removed, which posed a challenge for Kasher and his team.

Kasher said: "This is a complex project. The roof of the entire court is supported by masts and steel cables. To build the North Stand, we had to remove two large masts. We needed to build a sufficient steel structure to transfer the roof load and then remove the masts."

To solve this problem, Sisk invited experts from Portugal to guide how to reduce the pressure on the steel cables and prevent the entire roof from collapsing. "Everything is well-designed, nothing surprised us. This kind of project has never been done before, and the hardest part is load transfer. I believe we can complete it by August 15, and the worst case scenario is this date. Once the season is over, we will start working immediately to ensure that the venue staff have enough time to complete their tasks." The mystery zones, museums and other year-round attractions are expected to be completed next year.