FRENCH CONNOISSEURS: Terraplas chosen to secure the turf at Racing 92’s famous U Arena
The brand new 32,000-seat U Arena boasts one of the greatest indoor capacities in Europe. home to French Rugby Union side, Racing 92, Terraplas’ terratrak plus® turf protection system is now hard at work protecting the venue’s man-made turf pitch.
U Arena is the famous new facility built by Racing 92 in the heart of the ‘French Manhattan’. located in the La Défense area, to the west of Paris, the doors to this breath-taking venue opened on October 19, 2017, to the familiar strains of legendary rockers, the Rolling Stones.
The brand new and already iconic, U Arena. image courtesy: Christian De Portzamparc
Leading the way
This special facility has transformed the way a sporting venue considers its operations. As the Rugby Union season is relatively short, the best way to finance a spectacular facility like this was to ‘flip’ the thought process.
Accordingly, U Arena has been created mostly to host a multitude of events, from concerts and conventions, to live performances, with rugby matches supplementing the continuous use. This technique allows for the generation of considerable and regular additional profits streams.
The Arena is also very flexible, being able to accommodate audiences of 10,000 to 40,000 for all types of activities.
This new concept started to progress over five years ago, with the Client, Racing Arena, committing the needed resources to undertake significant due diligence, to achieve their goal of ensuring they utilised the very best materials Camiseta Tottenham Hotspur and products possible.
As an indoor facility, it was clear U Arena would need to have man-made turf and imperatively, a cover system that would not only secure the quality man-made grass, but also be strong enough to stand up to the extreme rigours of the production trucks, forklifts, cranes, and hundreds of tons of equipment required for their intensive calendar of events plus, of course, thousands of people.
In addition, the cover system would need to be in place continuously for months at a time, as it would only be taken up for rugby matches, and replaced as soon as the game was over. Protecting the Tarkett sports playing surface for Racing 92 was as a result absolutely imperative, and so it was made a decision that the Club’s due diligence needed to include intensive testing of various cover systems on top of the chosen man-made turf.
The responsibility of figuring out the best turf protection products for Racing 92’s exacting requirements was given to the French Government-owned organisation, Institute for science and technology for carry (IFSTTAR), based in Nantes, France, who have a rig created specifically for accelerated testing to simulate lots of years of high intensity use condensed into a short period.
Accordingly, IFSTTAR requested samples from a number of the turf protection market’s top companies including Terraplas’ terratrak plus®.
IFSTTAR testing rig
terratrak plus before lifting: This photograph shows terratrak plus® at the end of the overall test cycle. It can clearly be seen that, besides the tyre marks, there is absolutely no damage to, or distortion of, the tiles whatsoever. all of the camlocks and joining pins are intact and the tiles have not moved
Winner alright!
In September 2016, the results were presented to the Camiseta Atletico Mineiro Stakeholders of U Arena, which identified an overwhelming winner: terratrak plus®; and thus, Racing 92’s product selection was determined.
As the terratrak plus® will only be used on top of man-made turf at the U Arena, it does not need to be translucent (as is the case with natural lawn pitches, where light rays need to be able to filter through to make sure a healthy lawn plant), so the next big decision was ‘colour’. many samples were made in various shades of grey and sent for evaluation. Then, Terraplas production Manager, Steve Reszke, had a terrific Camiseta Leicester City idea: “Why don’t we make it in metallic grey?”
New samples were made, and everyone agreed that this was a outstanding option. added to this, as the ‘icing on the cake’, Terraplas agreed to emboss the U Arena’s corporate logo on top of the tiles. This attention to detail created an appropriately distinctive quality for this prestigious venue, as was demonstrated at its first fit in early October 2017.
This image shows the metallic grey top of the tiles, with the U Arena logo embossed into them
The first fitting of the terratrak plus, ready for the Rolling Stones
U Arena joins Stade de France, Stade des Alpes and Stade de Lille as French connoisseurs of the very best turf protection systems available in the world today! This exciting project was coordinated by means of Terraplas’ French Distributor, FSAE, headed up by Eric Freville, who was also instrumental in negotiating the aforementioned contracts.
As is common with all Terraplas clients, the crucial first fit and training programme was supervised by the company’s own in-house expert, Steve Tingley, who was previously Head Groundsman at Wembley Stadium.
For additionally information, visit: www.terraplas.com
NB: A version of this post appears in the current issue of PanStadia & Arena management magazine:
About U Arena
U Arena uses an optimised space for the greatest international shows in a special atmosphere. It has been created to revolutionise the sports and enjoyment experience, with its ultra-modern infrastructure and enjoyment systems using a platform created to multiply and magnify the emotions that will be lived by the arena’s spectators and fans.
Located in the heart of Paris’ La Défense service district, U Arena is the largest and a lot of innovative performance venue ever built in Europe. created by architect Christian de Portzamparc, the arena uses a multi-functional, modular space with a capacity that can be optimised to welcome anywhere from 10,000 to 40,000 spectators.
The space can be reconfigured to serve live concerts, corporate and special events, as well as a host of local and international sporting events, including those of citizen rugby club, Racing 92.
This extraordinary platform, which has already been announced as an official venue for the Paris 2024 summer Olympics, was inaugurated October 19 by rock legends, the Rolling Stones.
Racing 92 will take to the field for their first game on December 23, when they will meet Toulouse in a top 14 fixture.
U Arena makes ready for the Rolling stones to take to the stage
Program/Project Team
Tenant/Uses: Rugby stadium / enjoyment Hall / Offices
Capacity: 32,000 seats
Arena’s variable capacity: 10,000 to 40,000 seats
Client: Racing Arena
Architect: Christian de Portzamparc
Lighting: Light it be
Acoustics: Avel Acoustique
Multimedia: moment Factory
Total surface area: 117,000sqm
Main image (top): Copyright © U Arena
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