Camp Nou

While working for Robert Bird Group, Mark and Alex led components of the Camp Nou redevelopment project in Barcelona, Spain. The 99,000-seat Spotify Camp Nou stadium is the largest purpose-built football stadium in Europe and an icon of the city of Barcelona.

The redevelopment project involves the partial demolition of the existing stadium, and reconstruction as a 105,000-seat stadium, which will be most innovative sports and entertainment venue in Europe. The wider project scope included the demolition and refurbishment of parts of the existing Tier 1 and Tier 2; the full demolition and reconstruction of the existing Tier 3; and the demolition of the existing basement carpark and construction of 90,000 m2 of new basement and ground floor slabs. The stadium will also have the largest cable net roof of any stadium in the world.

Alex was the project director for the design of the new Tier 3 stand structure. Supporting 30,000 new seats, Tier 3 consists of a composite steel-concrete frame with precast floor plates and seating terraces. The open portalised structural frame is designed to allow uninterrupted fan circulation, while the use of innovative seismic lock-up devices allows the Tier 3 structure to be designed as 12 separated building structures which act as one monolithic frame under earthquake actions.

Mark’s role involved technical review and support across the wider project, including overseeing the technical design of Tier 3 and the cable net roof structure. Through technical pinup sessions and documentation review, Mark was able to bring his decades of experience in the successful delivery of sports projects to bear to allow lessons learnt and best practice design and construction to be implemented across the project.

Mark worked as review and design director throughout the project (while at Ramboll) to help with the project’s technical development from concept through to completion on site.