The structural work within the bowl of Everton Stadium has been fully completed with the installation of the final concrete terracing panel.
This week marked the completion of the final component of the large puzzle, which was lowered into the east stand. The intricate project began in August 2022 with the installation of the first concrete terrace, and has taken 18 months to finish.
All four stands of the stadium have been successfully assembled, as per the schedule, with all 1,988 double-stepped units now in place.
Gareth Jacques, Laing O’Rourke’s Project Director, confirmed:
“Structurally, that is the stadium bowl complete.
“When you consider that alongside the terracing, the team have also done the structural steel and precast concrete in the four stands, it is a fantastic achievement.
“Because we use modern methods of construction and need to fix our design to go to fabrication early, the team worked really hard in the early stages of the project.
“The rate of progress we have achieved within the stadium meant that we were nearly 40% ready to go with precast components when we took possession of the site, so it’s been a great piece of work and a great product from our supply chain partner Banagher, in Ireland.”
Over the course of 18 months, the terrace units, which have an average weight of just under 9.5 tonnes, were carefully lifted into position and then secured using a high-strength grout. Afterward, a special sealant was applied to make the units weatherproof.
Laing O’Rourke has recently installed bespoke, double-stepped units that vary from 0.73m to 14m in length. This marks the first time the company has used this type of block, as they have typically relied on more traditional single-stepped units in the past. The decision to pivot to double-stepped blocks was motivated by a combination of factors.
Jacques explained:
“The double-stepped units are something we haven’t done before. In previous stadiums we have built, it has been a single-step arrangement, but there are a few reasons for developing the new method here.
“One was that we were always aware of the exposed location of the site, and plenty of our engineered solutions have been done to reduce the risk of weather and lifting.
“The double-stepped terracing significantly reduces the amount of lifts needed and cuts down the time working on site, often at heights.
“The by-product is that when you are building a football stadium, all the internal works and fit-out are generally underneath the terracing, so getting weathertight is on the critical path.
“The infill joints are really important and here at Everton we have 33km of Mastic sealant within the bowl, so by having double-stepped units we need less of that too.”
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