Product Roundup – Spectator seating

Sitting prettyAre official standards keeping up with customer and commercial requirements?Ian Drury asks industry experts about the latest thinking on spectator seating.

The success of London’s 2012 Olympic bid18 months ago has already seen somefallout, for apart from the cost recentlypredicted to rise by some £900 million,

attention has also focused on quality andconsistency in terms of audience safety at thesporting venues involved.

Citing the central role of these venues asattracting sporting fans and tourists by offeringoptimum comfort and a great view of the action,a British Standards Institution document

published in 2005 called for a comprehensiveBritish Standard for spectator seating. Written byJohn Jenkins, then Chairman of the BritishAssociation of Spectator Equipment Suppliers(BASES) – as well as Chairman of the BSI mirrorcommittee for EN 13200, a European standardfor spectator facilities – the paper drew attentionto important considerations in the provision ofseating as being strength, durability, fire rating,and a safe and comfortable layout.

In this context, a variety of guides and

regulations are currently referred to, one of themost common being the ’green guide’, the 4thedition of which was issued by the FootballLicensing Authority (FLA) in 1997 specifically fordesigners of outdoor stadia. Yet, the BSIdocument added, because of a lack ofalternative guidance it is often wrongly appliedto indoor seated environments. Similarly, otherstandards which were never intended to referto seated arenas at all, are regularly referred toby architects and contractors due to the lack ofa specific spectator seating standard. Oneexample of this covers the important area offire safety.

European updateProviding an update on this story, BASES’

new Chairman, Mark Cowley, notes that in thecontext of more recent progress in movingEN 13200 to a final draft stage, events havemoved on since the BSI paper was produced.Instead of pressing for a British Standard, BASESis now updating its own 1991 guide’Recommendations for the Specification anduse of Tiered, Telescopic and DemountableSeating’ and it’s now intended that this willoperate alongside the European standard. ”Asan Association, we represent an increasingnumber of UK seating manufacturers and areproducing a supplementary ’industry standard’to that of prEN 13200 (2000) SpectatorFacilities,” he continues.

”The feeling is that the European standardwill be too simplistic in a number of areas andas seating is a piece of safety equipment webelieve it’s important that it’s strengthened invarious ways. Other European countries, such asFrance and Germany, already have their ownnational standards that will run alongsideEN 13200, so the British ’industry standard’won’t be out of step in that respect. One

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Riga Arena (Latvia),pictured left, was builtfor the World Ice HockeyChampionships andchose to use a seatingsystem from AudienceSeating. It features theAccolade chair, which hasalso been chosen byKings Dock Arena,currently underconstruction in Liverpool.

Audience Systems will be manufacturing and installingseating for the UK’s latest arena, co-operating once againwith main contractor Bovis Lend Lease, as it did on theManchester Evening News Arena and Oberhausen Arena inGermany.To ensure that the arena’s auditorium is flexible enough toaccommodate all types of events, from rock concerts totennis and boxing, a mixture of fixed and telescopic tieringwill be installed, all of which will be equipped with theupholstered Accolade chair, which is also installed in theJubilee Sports Complex in St Petersburg, Russia and theBournemouth International Centre (pictured right) in theUK. Audience Systems will also be supplying theatre-stylechairs for Kings Dock Arena’s VIP boxes.

Kings Dock Arena chooses Accolade chair

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example of the way in which BASES’complementary document will help would bethe use of tension bracing in a chair platforminstead of using tubular steel. Now it may bethat tension bracing is merited in somecircumstances, but the more general point I’mmaking is that substituting lower qualitymaterials or methods could affect the structuralintegrity of a telescopic seating platform andthereby affect safety-critical elements. So it’s forinstances like this that we believe the ’industrystandard’ will provide additional safeguards.”

Green guide changesAs reported in SAM’s October 2006 issue,

the ’green guide’ – officially titled the Guide toSafety at Sports Grounds – is also currentlybeing updated for a first draft by mid-2007 andFLA Chief Executive John de Quidt told theUKSMA this autumn that areas for potential finetuning may include seat sizes. Although theguide has no statutory force, many of itsrecommendations are given force of law atindividual grounds through their inclusion insafety certificates. Moreover, the guide’s leadingadvice has seen a number of its elementsadopted around the world.

The current 4th edition states that for newconstruction a minimum seat width (asmeasured between seat centres) should be460mm (40mm more if fitted with armrests)and a 700mm seating row depth. However, forcomfort and accessibility it’s recommended thatthese measurements are increased to at least500mm and 760mm respectively, especially incircumstances where for example venuemanagers hope to facilitate easy movement toand from seats during an event – such as forpurchasing refreshments.

Separate guidance, as part of the guide’ssection on spectator accommodation for thosewith disabilities, states for example that thedesign of wheelchair spaces should ensure a1.4m depth with minimum width of 900mm.The green guide additionally addressestemporary demountable structures such asgrandstands and makes reference to a separatedocument on this topic produced by TheInstitution of Structural Engineers.

Dr John Littler, Technical Manager at theInstitution, points out that Temporarydemountable structures – guidance on design,procurement and use is also currently beingrevised, with a 3rd edition due for publication in2007. The Foreword to the 2nd edition remindsreaders of the potential dangers, such as the1100 spectators involved in the collapse of ademountable structure a minute into theopening number of a Pink Floyd concert atLondon’s Earls Court in October 1994.

Common issuesAway from the area of standards

development and guidance updates, what elseis happening in the seating sector? BASES’Chairman Mark Cowley, whose ’day job’ is SalesDirector at Audience Systems, comments thatseveral issues spring to mind. Firstly, hebelieves that manufacturers such as his are notinvolved at an early enough stage in terms ofbeing able to positively influence operationalconsiderations at new-build venues orrefurbishment exercises. Providing somepractical examples, he refers to the question ofspectator sightlines, where it is possible to useseating geometry to vary the row rise toprovide enhancements. By effectively pushingthe spectators’ backs forward their eyeline will

be inclined downwards towards the pitch,rather than a more reclined position wherevision tends towards the opposite.

Other areas where he feels seatingsuppliers can assist include ’squaring the circle’in terms of meeting the effective workingcompromise between legal requirements forminimum distances between closed, or foldedseats and the row in front, as well asergonomics/comfort factors and the overallseating capacity requirements of each venue.

From a day-to-day operational viewpoint,Cowley refers to flexible seating configurationsand the turnaround times involved: this meanschoosing between powered systems and themanual labour involved to achieve the sameresult. In addition, legislation affecting thedisabled has changed in recent years. The

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Unusual configurations should be viewed as opportunities to supply unique spectator

viewpoints. Phoenix University Stadium, home of the Arizona Cardinals, has seating above

the channel in which the turf field moves in and out of the stadium in a huge tray.

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Disability Discrimination Act in the UK hasaffected design in terms of leading to moreintegration of disabled people within a venue.Venue managers must now considerrequirements for disabled fans to be able to sit,for example, on the fifth row of a telescopicseating bank rather than a traditional slot onthe floor of the venue – as would probably havehappened only a few years ago.

Michael Burnett, MD of Ferco Seating,underlines the importance of seating beingmulti-functional so as to assist in revenuegeneration. Illustrating the point, he refers tothe green guide’s advice about assistingambulatory movement among spectators. Ifthere’s no space there will be fewer concessionsales because fans will be a lot less inclined toget up and move around. But besides thefinancial considerations, there is an importantpoint to bear in mind regarding the proportionof women in the crowd.

Interesting research now available looks athow seating space restrictions discouragewomen from attending, which in turn can leadto greater levels of disturbance among male-predominated audiences. This relates to the

fight or flight experience in which, faced byconfrontation scenarios, women are moreinclined to flee a situation. So if they find theseating configuration does not easily allowthem to rapidly exit they are less likely toattend future events.

In this context, says Burnett, he’d welcomea change in the green guide recommendations.A 460mm centre-to-centre minimum seatwidth is also increasingly unrealistic in thecontext of today’s population trend towardslarger body masses, he adds.

Meanwhile, providing an update on Ferco’sprovision of Box seating to Arsenal FC’s EmiratesStadium, Michael Burnett reports thatcompared with the average 150-200 seatsdamaged at the club’s former Highbury stadiumper match (which equated to some 8-10% ofthe venue’s 38,000 capacity seating each year)only three seats have been broken in theEmirates Stadium’s first 12 matches.

Riding on the back of this success, Ferco hasalso now won an order to supply the 30,000-seater MK Stadium in Milton Keynes with itsBox seat – installation is planned forDecember/January.

Raising the gameReferencing Emirates’ experience, Restall

Seating Systems’ Stadium Seating Manager,Barry Cooper, states his company’s belief thatthere’s a market for a new standard of stadiumseat. As a result, he adds, Restall is looking atthe potential for modern plastics in terms ofnegating the traditional problems of steel framerusting, as well as wider and deeper seats.

Following the company’s takeover byMillstream (Production Engineering), Restallaims to build on its traditional strengths in theprovision of fixed, permanent seating forfacilities such as cricket (including nextsummer’s World Cup), rugby and footballgrounds, as well as racecourses and othervenues. It’s also examining the potential forretractable seating for sports halls, exhibitionand conference centres.

American feedbackOver in Arizona, Senior Vice President Steve

Luttazi, of portable seating specialist ClarinSeating, points to an interesting application it’sbeen involved with at the Arizona CardinalsStadium, where the pitch rolls in under thestand. Pointing out that under naming rightsthe 7000-seat venue has since been called theUniversity of Phoenix Stadium, he explains thatClarin’s 4400 chair was supplied with an upliftcushion and specially pitched seat back with asteeper angle for the aisle passage betweenrows to meet local fire regulations.

A covered roof allows the use of airconditioning, so to ensure air and light reachesthe pitch surface a three-foot deep platformcontaining the pitch can be rolled out of what’scalled the red zone and back into the stadiumagain later. Clarin can configure seating to meetthe varying requirements for events such ascollege football, professional football gamesinvolving the Arizona Cardinals and theSuperbowl in 2007. This is said to be easy tomove using ’interbracket ganging’, whichmakes the seating portable but solid.

The 4400 chair has a solid steel x-framewith a double tube channel that allows flexingto ensure it rests on an even surface. Highdensity foam is attached to a plastic seat andback board and covered by waterproof marinegrade vinyl using rot-proof thread. The frameitself is dipped in an ’E’ coating for outside useweather protection and these measures allowClarin to offer a five-year warranty against rustand a 12-year warranty on the chair.

All models in Clarin’s range meet CAL 117and 133 fire burn tests, adds Luttazi, the latterinvolving the entire component to test forgas/smoke emissions.

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Qatar brought theAsian Games to theGulf Region for thefirst time for the 15thedition duringDecember 2006.Seating was a majorelement in venueupgrades as well asthe requirements ofKhalifa Stadium, theall-new mainstadium.

Figueras International Seatingsupplied spectator seating to KhalifaStadium (pictured right), Doha Racing& Equestrian Club, Qatar Sports Club(pictured above), Al-Sadd Sports Club,Doha Women´s Club, Khalifa Tennis &Squash Stadiums, Aspire Academy,Al-Arabi Sports CLub, Al-Khor SportsClub and Al-Wakra Sports Club. The facilities, all of them with highend finishes, have different areas forthe different purposes. The VIP areasare equipped with leather armchairs,the press area with padded seats andwriting tables, the main area withresistant outdoor seats and for theindoor tribunes upholsteredarmchairs.

Qatar venues fitted out with a range of seating

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