The development of the 38,000-seater stadium opened for the XVII Commonwealth Games was the culmination of four years’ work in the heart of the Sportcity development in Manchester.

Once the Commonwealth Games in 2002 were over, essential changes to the stadium were needed to transform it from athletics track to football pitch. The key challenge was to remove the running track and lower the ground level by 5 metres to allow for the installation of the football pitch and to increase the capacity to 48,000.

This transformation resulted in 40,000 m2 of surplus earth being disposed of in the three main car parking areas to the north of the stadium, which raised them by up to 2 metres. The main challenge of the project was therefore to identify a suitable system of drainage. It was essential that the chosen drainage was versatile and able to deal effectively with such a vast surface area.

Marshalls’ specialists were involved in the project from the early design stage, offering initial design advice and working closely with engineers to produce a tailored solution.

A combination of Marshalls’ paving products were also used for the development. The high quality Tescina and Saxon Concrete Paving were selected for their aesthetic qualities, which complemented the contemporary look of the stadium. Tactile Paving in traditional blister, hazard warning and platform edge was used within the car parking areas along with Marshalls’ high visibility Steel Bollards.

Marshalls supplied 2,000 m of Beany Block Combined Kerb and Drainage System around the perimeter of the car parking areas, together with approximately 1,000 m of Marshalls Max-E-Channel high capacity linear drainage to drain the centre of the car parking areas. The system was able to deal with such a large surface area as it was designed to accommodate flows of up to 150 litres/second.

“Marshalls Beany Block system was the only solution that satisfied all our requirements. Although Marshalls’ role was primarily as a supplier, we were able to make good use of their expertise and knowledge of their products to make sure the final solution was the right one". Richard Saint, MEDC