APPENDIX 9
Memorandum submitted by the World Stadium
Team
The World Stadium Team is dismayed that the
Government has taken the decision not to stage athletics at Wembley
Stadium and that Wembley cannot therefore become the centrepiece
for a future Olympic bid.
We believe that this decision cannot be based
on any technical reason regarding the design of the multi-purpose
stadium. We completely refute the suggestion that "the proposed
stadium is not the ideal for athletics".
Our design has evolved over the past 18 months.
We have been in constant consultation with athletics bodies throughout
the design process, including regular meetings with the 2005 World
Athletics Championships Bid committee. The design, which has exceeded
its brief in terms of spectator capacity, has gained the full
backing of the athletics bodies including David Moorcroft, Chairman
of UK Athletics. Juan Antonio Samaranch, head of the International
Olympic Committee (IOC), has stated on record that the capacity
for the stadium is more than adequate for Olympic events. The
design has also won the strong support of the Commission for Architecture
and the Built Environment (CABE). The Commisison "are confident
that it will meet the aspiration for a world-class stadium".
HOK+LOBB Sports Architecture and FOSTER and
PARTNERS, architects of Wembley Stadium, have designed and built
many of the top stadia worldwide as well as Olympic master plans.
Our experience in this field is undisputed.
Having been given the opportunity to examine
the independent report commissioned by the Government, criticising
the stadium, we have been able to satisfactorily refute all issues
raised by it.
The robustness of the design has been proved,
even when the rules are changed. We have shown that with an athletics
deck in place with suitable modification to lower seating tiers,
it is possible to accommodate up to 80,000 spectators, maintaining
superb sightlines that are equal to or better than those at the
Stade de France for athletics, rugby or football. The spectator
sightlines proposed for Wembley for all three sports were agreed
with all parties, including Sport England and UK Athletics, at
the beginning of the design process in May 1999. In the design
proposed they are even better than those agreed.
The pre-fabricated athletics deck is easy and
quick to implement and low in cost. It fully meets the design
criteria and has been approved in principle by the IAAF.
Although outside our remit, we have been able
to demonstrate the feasibility of introducing a warm-up track
alongside Wembley Stadium on four possible locations, a requirement
if the Olympics were to be held at Wembley and consistent with
the policy of redeveloping "brownfield sites".
We can thus only conclude that this decision
by the Government is not to do with design but with investment
implications in the event of an Olympics being held at Wembley.
It is disappointing that the arguments over
the last few weeks have dominated what would in normal circumstances
be a great celebration for a world-class stadium for football,
rugby and athletics.
January 2000
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