Doran Consulting was appointed to provide structural and civil engineering design advice in relation to the construction of this new-build centre of sporting excellence which will offer pre-Olympic training for athletes competing in the sports of 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 flood lighting. Elite facilities include a state-of-the-art Judo hall (which will be 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 new building is a steel framed construction with foundations of traditional pad and strip construction. The ground floor slab of the main hall will be formed using a ground bearing concrete slab with Polypropylene Fibre mesh reinforcement. The roof of the multi-purpose hall will be designed to provide a column free zone with Mono pitched roof trusses supported on two ridge girders. These girders will be support a ‘Skyfold’ partition to separate the two zones of the hall.
The steelwork framing of the mountaineering hall will be supported on reinforced concrete retaining walls. The swimming pool and undercroft areas will be formed in reinforced concrete with the roof over the main swimming pool area constructed using feature Glulam Wooden Rafters.
It is intended that the arena will be used as an indoor events space to host events with a seating capacity of over 2,000 people, which will make it the largest permanent indoor events space in the region.