Stadium Facilities and the Environment - Essay Example

Facilities Stadia and the Environment Introduction The Emirates Stadium is operational since the year 2006. It is the third largest stadium of London. It was inaugurated on 22 July 2006 with much fanfare and media coverage. It is situated in Ashburton Grove, Islington, north London, England. One of the best architects have designed this stadium. Needless to say, the construction of this stadium has made the area in which it is located very posh and attractive. The stadium is built for the Arsenal club. Arsenal had a stadium located in Highbury, but its capacity was much lower when compared to other similar statured football clubs. Expansion of the existing stadium of the Arsenal club was not possible because of the space crunch. Due to this there was a loss of total revenue. Hence construction of a much larger stadium was extremely required. Since Islington was very close to Highbury, Arsenal decided to move on to this location, which could afford around 60, 400 seats. The club had to first buy different lands to relocate Islington Council's recycling plant and Royal Mail Holloway Delivery Office earlier situated in the chosen location (Islington). This was a very expensive move for the club. The Emirates Airlines has signed a 100m sponsorship deal with the club. This is the reason why the stadium has been named Emirates Stadium. The name of the stadium will remain the same for at least 15 years because of this sponsorship. The club had arranged for loan from the stadium facilities banking group. The group consists of the biggest names of the banking sector of UK. Geographic Importance of the stadium One of the reasons why the club chose to build the stadium in this location is that it is geographically well located. A number of London Underground stations are within easy reach of the stadium. Holloway Road tube station is very close to the southern part of the stadium whereas the Arsenal Tube Station is situated close to the northern part of the stadium. Islington, Highbury and Finsbury Park are also nearby and they are served by underground services as well as First Capital Connect services. There are also a number of bus routes well connected to this place. The club had the option to choose from a number of sites but this location's geographic importance was most attractive for them because it was in an area with which the club has been associated since the past 91 years. So there was an emotional attachment to Islington, which worked in its favour. Arsenal's reputation is of having world's best playing surface. Islington's land statistics were attractive which was yet another geographic reason for choosing this area for the reputed stadium. Emirates - a multiple purpose stadium Apart from sports the Emirates Stadium is also involved in various other activities like organizing different top-level meetings, forums, seminars, conferences etc. at the stadium premises. The stadium has the planning permission to organise several single day events and up to 3 musical concerts in its premises. Government Policy The UK government's regeneration policies have changed the face of London. The construction of the Emirates Stadium can be related to these policies of the government. All efforts have been made to carry forward the regeneration work in accordance to the policies set by the government. Sports have always been a favourite activity of the people of United Kingdom. In comparison to all the sports, football (soccer) is the most popular game among the people of UK. The government policies are always directed to promote this game. The government's support in this project is an example of its pro sports policies. With the present government and its policies there is no doubt about the fact that sports will prosper even more in London. The construction of the Emirates Stadium is a fresh example of this. The stadium has been announced - no smoking zone, in the light of the no smoking policy in public places of the government of Great Britain. Through this the people are not allowed to smoke anywhere inside the stadium premises. Not even in the toilets of the stadium. The policy to preserve the greenery has also been taken account of in the construction of this project. All care has been taken to preserve the natural sanctity of the place. Partnerships The Arsenal club, Islington Strategic Partnership and London Development Agency have worked in close partnership to chalk out maximum community benefits from this project. Their collective efforts are visible to the world now. Their partnership has been successful in the areas such as regeneration, economy and employment, improved transport facilities, community welfare programmes, environment preservation and housing sector. Social benefits "There are improved standards of noise, dust and odour control for the Waste Transfer Station which will serve Islington and parts of Hackney and Camden." (ANR.UK.COM, para8) Waste management has received extensive attention by the constructors. All demolition waste was recycled and reused at the time of construction.. About 70 % of ferrous and concrete waste landfill was reduced. For irrigation and toilet flushing rainwater was made good use of. The architects have used recycled and energy sufficient materials as much as possible during the construction of the stadium. "Heat from the stadium is to be recycled via vacuum. There's plenty of natural ventilation - a passive and mixed mode ventilation system to minimize the use of air conditioning. The design of the roof will help the sunlight disperse through the stadium. Daylight will be maximized through the use of skylights, and high levels of fenestration and photovoltaic solar power will be used throughout. At least it will be energy and environmentally conscious, unlike that of another club founded on climate changing oil money and censured over their energy use by the local council for heating their stands excessively on match days. And the sound engineers have made sure the sound won't be dispersed." (ANR.UK.COM, para 16-18) Social Impact on the community The local people and businesses surrounding this location had initially protested the building of this stadium. Some people had even taken legal actions against the club. But all their actions were hugely unsuccessful. The club is funding 2000 plus home facilities for the local community. There were protests to this too. But when the residents realised that this is being done for their own betterment, they did not disturb the construction and proper functioning of the stadium. Though the community surrounding the area feels bad to have to vacate from the place they were living at for so long, the success of the stadium makes them feel that the construction of such a huge landmark has contributed to the up gradation of the area. They feel that their locality has risen to one of the most prized places of London. This has left a positive impact on the community. All the major football matches are being held here. Fans from all over London and even outside London have to cover a long distance to watch the game but the local communities are the one's for whom commuting is not a headache so much. This benefit has also left a positive impact on their psyche. They have started considering life in this area very fulfilling and worthy as there has not only been housing arrangements but also employment opportunities for them. The community has got well connected to other parts of London. During the construction of the stadium over the Northern City railway line, two bridges connecting Drayton Park to the stadium were constructed so that the place gets easily accessible to the spectators. This is a major benefit not only to the spectators but also to the community surrounding the stadium. Another benefit is that there are huge plans in the pipeline to improve the transport facility around the stadium to make it more accessible. All this indirectly has a great positive impact on the community located near the stadium. Urban Regeneration The project has impressively worked towards the urban regeneration. Not only the transport system is being improved but also various housing arrangements are being made at an accelerated pace. The roads are also being built to make the stadium accessible. The regeneration of Lough Road has been undertaken by Arsenal. A replacement sealed waste and recycling plant is being built too. In addition to the flats for people relocating to the surrounding areas, around 450 flats in the earlier stadium situated in Highbury is being constructed. The pitch of the Highbury stadium being designed as garden area for the flat members whereas the Art Dec stands is being designed into flats. Some of the stands are being reserved for social housing too. Arsenal intends to undertake other community development work like building of health centers at the Drayton Park, Queensland Road, Lough road and the Stadium. Also, there are plans to build nurseries at the Stadium and Lough road. The recent 'Best Mixed Use Regeneration Project' award that the club has won is a testament of high quality regeneration work that it is engaged in. It has been also awarded the 'Mayor's Award for planning Excellence' and the 'Best Built Project Contributing To London's Future'. All this proves how well it is working for the benefit of the society. The club is taking every possible step to ensure that the people and businesses in the surrounding areas of the club do not have to suffer any negative environmental impacts of the stadium. Employment opportunities For the construction work thousands of workers have been involved for a couple of years. This has generated a huge employment opportunity to the workers of the construction sector. Not only this, the club's plans of urban regeneration has also employed a number of workers and created a great amount of jobs. Since the Emirates stadium is larger than the original stadium situated in Highbury, the requirement of workers for the upkeep and proper functioning of the stadium also increased. Fresh recruitments have been done to fill up the vacancy. This again generated many employment opportunities in the stadium premises. There were thousands of new recruitments due to all this. Economic impacts of the stadium The Emirates stadium is a major cash cow of UK and has economically proven to be very advantageous as it hosts games, which is not about a few people kicking a ball but about a sport, which is being watched globally. It has given a great boost to the UK's economy. The UK government has got lots of revenues and is economically satisfied with this landmark's performance. From an economist's point of view from the construction of this stadium there is great opportunity of perfect exploitation of a monopoly. There would be visitors from all over the world to this area, which is economically very fruitful for the country and tourism sector in particular. Sports and regeneration have positive economic impact on the economy. Both from the micro economic and macro economic point of views the above mentioned statement has been proved true in the Emirates Stadium case. Since its inauguration, it success rate promises maximum economic returns. The cost recovery of the project will not be a problem. This project has not only generated high revenues but also contributed towards employment generating commercial space in the form of leisure and health centers, restaurants, retail and business centers. From the macro economic angle different government policies related to this project has helped in economic boosting up of this project and the economy as a whole. This angle also brings forward the fact that certain adjustments made by the government has also contributed towards this project's fruitfulness. From the micro economic angle the positive externalities outnumber negative externalities of the project and it is already heading towards economic profits. There is no scope of market failure in this case. Hence both the branches of economics point towards the advantages related to the Arsenal Club's new stadium - Emirates. Conclusion The construction of the Emirates Stadium, London is a success story worth looking upon for taking lessons in future development works. It has given London a fresh breath of air in all spheres. The sports lovers are not the only ones rejoicing at the construction of this stadium but all the publics of this project, which includes of government, grassroots level people and the community in general are equally satisfied. Word count: 2061 References ANR.UK.COM., 2005. Emirates Stadium, Ashburton, Grove! Available from http://www.soccerpulse.com/forum/lofiversion/index.php/t34800.html [cited 6 February 2007]. Wikipedia.,2007.EmiratesStadium.Availablefrom:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emirates_Stadium[cited 5 February 2007]. . Read More