Construction work on Protective Stadium in Birmingham, Alabama is continuing despite restrictions having been put in place in the city due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Protective Stadium will have a capacity of 55,000 and will be used during Birmingham’s staging of the World Games multi-sport event. Last week it was announced that the World Games would be held in 2022 instead of 2021 after the Tokyo Olympics were postponed by a year.
The stadium will also host American football games played by the University of Alabama at Birmingham and is due to be completed by the middle of next year.
The stadium will form part of the Birmingham Jefferson Convention Complex (BJCC), which last week announced that it had furloughed 78 of its 127 full-time employees due to COVID-19.
Local news website AL reports that work on Protective Stadium is continuing despite the complications caused by COVID-19.
Renovation work at the BJCC’s 19,000-seat Legacy Arena has also been unaffected by the pandemic. BL Harbert was awarded the contract to carry out the renovation last month, and AL reported that the deal is worth $66.9m (£54.2m/€61.3m).
The renovation of the arena, which has hosted basketball and tennis events as well as music concerts, is expected to take 18 months.
A groundbreaking ceremony for Protective Stadium was held in December 2018 but work did not officially begin until last year. Local company Brasfield & Gorrie is building Protective Stadium after it was awarded the contract in December.
In a statement to AL, company officials said: “Our safety team, together with an infectious disease expert we have engaged to advise us, has developed and shared best practices for promoting hygiene and following CDC recommendations, including those for social distancing, on our jobsites.
“Our company’s COVID-19 Response Team is meeting daily to review and update our plans based on new information, and we will adjust our plans as needed in this fluid situation to promote the safety of our people, our partners, and our clients.”
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