Arsenal FC - Emirates Stadium

Emirates Stadium is the new home for Arsenal Football Club in North London and opened in 2006 it is at the heart of the Islington regeneration project. The stadium is the focal point for the redevelopment for the entire area and has enhanced the appearance and attraction for the local residents as well as providing a stadium fit for the 21st Century. The new stadium is a stones throw from the previous Highbury site and by virtue of bridges across the main Drayton Park rail-line has excellent access for spectators to all routes into and out of the stadium.

Until 2004 the area was an industrial site with warehouses, industrial units and a household tip. All of these were demolished to provide for the new stadium and the waste transfer site was relocated to brand new premises built locally. The overall regeneration scheme will transform the area into a desirable neighbourhood in London with the development of new apartments, shops and upmarket restaurants.

MJN Colston Ltd were a key part of the Emirates Stadium project as the mechanical trade contractor working with Sir Robert McAlpine and provided a dedicated site based engineering team. MJN Colston Ltd trade package included the pipework services for the heating, cooling, hot and cold water and gas, as well as the supply and installation of Boilers, Radiators, Chillers, Fan coil units and Sanitary-ware. To ensure an unhindered view of the pitch and to meet planning constraints, the stadium was provided with an inward sloping roof with rainwater pumped from front to rear ensuring a view unimpeded by rainwater pipes.

To maximise spectator numbers the size of the plant room areas were kept to a minimum, and divided two per stand they comprise of all the equipment expected of a modern entertainment venue. This provided MJN Colston Ltd with the spatial planning challenge of fully coordinating the services with the concrete superstructure. These plant room areas contain the chillers and air handling plant which provide conditioned air to the executive boxes, restaurants and kitchens and the boiler equipment to provide heat via radiators and fan coils throughout the stadium.

As a result of the corporate areas, the high catering heat loads and future concession area fit outs, MJN Colston Ltd provided chillers with a cooling capacity of nearly 5 Mega Watts, and boilers with a heating capacity of over 9 MW. This put huge demands on the service routes and MJN Colston Ltd as lead coordinator, provided fully detailed working drawings. The use of 3D drawings received from the consultants Buro Happold assisted in this development as MJN Colston took them to the next stage.

MJN Colston specialises in delivering successful high profile projects to the satisfaction of the client and main contractor and Emirates Stadium should be no different.

(Special thanks to David Price/Arsenal Football Club)

Project Team

  • Client - Arsenal Football Club
  • Main Contractor - Sir Robert McAlpine Ltd
  • Consultants - Buro Happold
  • Architects - HOK
  • Services Engineers - Buro Happold.
  • Quantity Surveyors - Sir Robert McAlpine
  • Services Value - £13m