Dubai Stadia Among the World’s Most Advanced
Relevance to Wider Community is Key to Raising Profile of Sport;
‘Building for User Experience Always Top Priority,’
Says Dubai Sports City Founding Partner
Building the world’s most advanced stadia within easily-accessed communities is the key to raising awareness of the role of sport in the Middle East, one of the region’s top sports activists told an audience of professionals in Dubai today.
Abdul Rahman Falaknaz, a founding partner of Dubai Sports City, the world’s first integrated sports city, was a keynote speaker today at the Stadium and Venue Design and Development MENA conference which brought together leading developers, architects, and sporting associations from around the world.
“Building stadia with the user in mind is fundamental to the approach Dubai Sports City has taken in designing its stadia. Both players and spectators are comprehensively catered for, from lighting and pitch surfaces to seating and parking,” said Falaknaz.
The Dubai Sports City development is built around four key sports facilities: a 60,000 capacity multi-purpose outdoor stadium for football, rugby, track and field and other sports and non-sports events; a 10,000 seat multi-purpose indoor arena suitable for all hard court sports, as well as concerts and other events and also including a removable ice rink; a 25,000 capacity cricket stadium, expandable to 30,000, with state-of-the-art facilities for players, match officials, VIPs, spectators and the media; and a 5,000 seat field hockey stadium.
The cricket stadium is scheduled for completion and opening in early 2009, while construction progresses on the two other stadia and indoor arena.
Falaknaz added: “It is the integration of the stadia with the wider residential, commercial, retail, and lifestyle components which bring sport to life within Dubai Sports City. It is the combined effect which produces our differentiating dynamic.”
In addition to the stadia, Dubai Sports City will feature a series of major sports academy facilities including: the Dubai Sports City Football Academy, the home of Manchester United Soccer Schools, Dubai; a David Lloyd Tennis Academy; a Butch Harmon School of Golf, the first such facility outside the United States; the International Cricket Council’s own ICC Global Cricket Academy; the WorldHockey Academy, a first of its kind partnership with the International Hockey Federation; a Swimming Academy based around a 50 metre swimming pool with a retractable boom allowing simultaneous use by multiple users; a Rugby Academy; a high performance gymnasium; and a world-renowned sports medicine and rehabilitation centre.
Designed to offer residents and visitors an active, dynamic, and integrated community experience, Dubai Sports City will include a comprehensive range of facilities including: retail shops, offices, hotels, schools, a medical center, community centers, and a Next Generation.country club.
Falaknaz is President of the Dubai Cricket Council, Vice-President of the UAE Emirates Cricket Board, Vice-President of the UAE Tennis Association, Board Member of the UAE National Olympic Association, Director of Finance of the UAE National Olympic Association, and Honored Board Member of the UAE Fencing Association.
