Buckingham Group completes hat-trick of sporting venues
New stadium for Brighton football club follows Olympic handball and Silverstone completions
Buckingham Group has completed a hat-trick of major sporting venues in a month, after handing over the 22,500 capacity AmEx stadium to Brighton Hove Albion football club.
The stadium hand-over comes less than a month after the Midlands contractor completed the new paddock complex at Silverstone race track and the London 2012 handball arena.
The combined value of all the sporting venues completed was £130m.
The £75.5m American Express Community Stadium will be home to newly-promoted Brighton Hove Albion, who will play Championship football after clinching the League One title last month.
Brighton will play their first match in the new stadium on the 30th July, when they will host Tottenham Hotspurs in a pre-season friendly match.
The stadium, designed by architects KSS, has scope for future expansion by extending the venue’s east stand to increase its capacity to 30,000 seats.
It incorporates hospitality and banqueting facilities and is expected to host other sporting events and music concerts.
The £28m Make Architects-designed Olympic handball arena was handed over to the Olympic Delivery Authority last month.
The 6,500 capacity arena will host handball and modern pentathlon during the games and will provide a multi-use sports centre after the games. It features a unique naturally lit roof with 88 rooftop sun pipes.
The £27m Silverstone paddock complex – featuring a wing-shaped main building designed by architects Populous – was also handed over last month.
Paul Wheeler, chairman of Buckingham Group, said: “This period will go down as one of the proudest in our history as we successfully complete and handover three major sporting venues.
“It makes us all proud to be associated with the successful delivery of three unique and iconic buildings. We can all look forward to more of the same in future.”
Martin Perry, chief executive of Brighton Hove Albion football club, said: “They have done a superb job and given us a first-class stadium, which I believe is unrivalled in the UK and one the club and fans can rightly be extremely proud to call home.”
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Article source: http://www.building.co.uk/news/breaking-news/buckingham-group-completes-hat-trick-of-sporting-venues/5019188.article
Atkins boss Keith Clarke to step down
After eight years Clarke will be replaced by Dr Uwe Krueger
Keith Clarke, chief executive of the UK’s largest engineer, Atkins, will step down on 31 July after almost eight years in the role.
He will be replaced by Dr Uwe Krueger, 46, a trained physicist who will join from Texas Pacific Group, a private equity investment firm based in London and San Francisco.
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He also works for Cleantech Switzerland, a sustainability trade promotion organisation for the Swiss government, and has worked for A T Kearney and Hochtief.
Atkins said: “He has spent the majority of his career leading engineering and consulting organisations in North America, Europe, the Middle East and Asia Pacific. He has a proven ability to drive and implement operational success in very large international organisations.”
Clarke will continue as director of sustainability to help develop the company’s Middle East business.
Allan Cook, chairman said: “Keith is retiring as chief executive, having steered the group back to being a high performing business, successfully navigated a world recession and charted the course for growth. This is a natural time for him to hand the baton over to Uwe Krueger to continue the group’s development as a multi-national organisation.
“He leaves the group with an excellent track record and a low carbon legacy. The board is delighted that Keith will remain with the group as director of sustainability and to assist with the development of our Middle East business. On behalf of the board, I am delighted to welcome a businessman of Uwe’s calibre to lead the group,” Cook said.
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Article source: http://www.building.co.uk/news/atkins-boss-keith-clarke-to-step-down/5019172.article