Al Wakrah stadium due to complete in 2018
The Qatari charged with delivering the Zaha Hadid and Aecom-designed Al Wakrah stadium for the 2022 World Cup has vowed to realise the late architect鈥檚 鈥渋mpact鈥� design for the tournament.
Main construction works start next month on the 40,000-seat stadium 鈥� which is a potential World Cup quarter final venue 鈥� being delivered by Qatari-Australian contracting joint venture Midmac and Porr.
Enabling works and the foundations for the spectator stands are already complete.
Thani Al Zarraa, the scheme鈥檚 project manager, told 黑洞社区 during a site tour of the stadium on Tuesday that Hadid鈥檚 legacy on the 2022 tournament would be significant.
He said: 鈥淲e wish for her to be here. We are fortunate to have her impact but unfortunate not to have her when it鈥檚 ready. We were shocked to hear this news. Everyone who knows about architecture knows Zaha Hadid. She was always very supportive of this project.
鈥淲e are continuing with her team. We still have a contract [with Zaha Hadid Architects].鈥�
Al Wakrah鈥檚 distinctive design includes a billowing white roof inspired by the sails of the Arabian pearl fishing boat, the Dhow.
The stadium features a demountable top tier of seating, which will allow the capacity to be reduced to 20,000 in legacy mode, with the removed seating shipped to help build stadiums in developing countries. Construction is slated to complete by November 2018.
Al Zarraa also addressed the workers鈥� welfare concerns that have dogged Qatar鈥檚 preparations for hosting the tournament.
Al Zarraa, who works for World Cup organisers the Supreme Committee for Delivery and Legacy, said processes were in place to prevent abuses on Al Wakrah, including a contractually binding workers鈥� welfare charter.
He said: 鈥淲e have a dedicated worker welfare team and we have worker welfare regulation that is binding on contractors.
鈥淭here are various inspections, from our project management team, from our team, and overall for the country from the Ministry of Labour.鈥�
Last month human rights campaign group Amnesty International produced a hard-hitting report alleging workers on a separate World Cup stadium project 鈥� Doha鈥檚 Khalifa International Stadium 鈥� faced systematic abuses.
The Supreme Committee responded by saying it was 鈥渃ommitted to ensuring the health, safety and well-being of every worker鈥�.
The committee said the conditions identified by Amnesty were 鈥渘ot representative鈥� of the whole workforce on the project and many of the issues raised by Amnesty had been addressed by June 2015, after the bulk of Amnesty鈥檚 research had taken place.
No comments yet