Industry News

Qatar 2022 provides latest stadium update

Qatar’s Supreme Committee for Delivery & Legacy (SC), which is responsible for the stadia and infrastructure of football’s Fifa World Cup in 2022, has provided an update on the progress of construction at each of its venues.

Qatar’s first World Cup venue, the Khalifa International Stadium, opened last month and work is progressing at seven more sites.

The SC said the Al Wakrah Stadium would be among the next venues to be finished, with the 40,000-seat facility set to be ready by the end of next year. Over 80 per cent of concrete has been poured at the venue, with two pillars to be fitted before a retractable roof is installed.

Over 70 per cent of precast elements have been completed at the 60,000-capacity Al Bayt Stadium (pictured), which is due to host a semi-final at the World Cup. The venue will also feature a retractable roof.

The SC said that 94 per cent of stadium foundations have been fitted at the Al Rayyan Stadium, where games will take place through to the quarter-final stage of the World Cup.

The Qatar Foundation Stadium, which will also stage matches up to the quarter-final stage, is due to be ready by the end of 2019. Six tower cranes have been fitted, with foundation concrete works currently ongoing.

Work at the Lusail Stadium, which is due to host the opening game and final of the World Cup, is also moving ahead. The stadium is being built amid a new city, with constructed high-rise buildings and highways being constructed in the vicinity.

Early works are currently underway at the 40,000-seat Ras Abu Aboud Stadium in Doha. The venue will be transformed into a mixed-use urban neighbourhood after the World Cup.

Finally, the Al Thumama Stadium is currently at the main contractor stage, with work scheduled to be complete by 2020.

“We are moving ahead rapidly with construction across all of our stadium and infrastructure sites for the tournament,” Ghanim Al Kuwari, the SC’s competition venues executive director, said. “The recent opening of Khalifa International Stadium signified a major milestone and the first venue to be completed, and we are now seeing continuous construction advances across the other seven stadium sites currently underway across the country.”