23 June 2008

With just 23 months to go before the soccer world descends on South Africa, Durban's new Moses Mabhida Stadium is making excellent progress. A lot of progress in the development took place during April and May, providing passers by with great views of the stadium as it grows steadily.

Julie-May Ellingson, Head of Durban's Strategic Projects Unit and 2010 Programme, says, "A number of key areas have been completed in the past two months: The slabs for levels three and four are complete, and so is just over 80% of the slab for level five. At the end of April, the first part of the slab for level six, the highest level, was poured and, since then we have completed 55% of this level."

All structural elements of the bowl continue to progress steadily, with the completion of all piling and ground beams, the footings (or foundations) for retaining walls, and the lift shafts up to level five.

Underground storm water lines are almost complete, while the parking garage structure is advancing at a good rate.

In addition, the design of the Durban stadium features many columns that perform structural and design roles. These columns went up fast, with the last raking pre-cast column having been erected in the first week of June. All columns from levels one to five are in place and the columns from levels five and six are now more than two thirds of the way to completion.

The stadium's iconic arch is growing skywards too. The foundations for the arch’s southwestern, south eastern and northern legs, consisting of capping slabs and a slanted bearing structure, were completed in April, allowing for the precise placement of the segments to take place.

Twelve of the arch's 56segments are now in place and the rungs that join the two southern legs will be assembled during June. "Many more of the arch segments have arrived and the stadium's in-field is full of them. Absolute precision is required to put each segment in place correctly, so it is a very lengthy process," says Ellingson.

At this point, over three million man-hours of work have been carried out, more than 139 000 tonnes of concrete have been poured, and almost 7000 tonnes of steel reinforcement have been used.

There are currently 2522 construction workers employed on site. Of this, 114 are women - the highest number of women involved in any of the stadium construction projects in the country. Ellingson says that, to date, over 7512 jobs have been created on the stadium project.

Source: Ethekwini.gov.za