The Gelredome

Arnhem: where the customer is king

In the 1980s, two events in the east of the Netherlands led to a groundbreaking technological breakthrough. The local first division football team, Vitesse Arnhem, needed a new stadium as their fan base grew along with the club’s success. At the same time, the local council – the City of Arnhem – wanted a concert venue in the east of Holland, as all the main events (such as the U2 and Madonna tours) were held in the west of the country - in Amsterdam and Rotterdam.

Local football team Vitesse play their home matches
at the Gelredome

The result was a multi-functional stadium, the Gelredome, which broke new ground and led the way for constructions such as the Veltins Arena in Gelsenkirchen, Germany. Host City met with the Gelredome’s managing director Jasper van Amstel, a man who believes in putting the customer first – all of the time.
           
The necessity to provide a home for soccer matches and events of all kinds (motocross, tennis, concerts, corporate facilities) meant that innovative solutions were required. Although ideas were first put forward in 1986, it was not until 1996 that building work commenced on the Gelredome. One idea was to create a pitch that floated on water. That’s no surprise as much of the Netherlands is below sea level and the Dutch are second-to-none when it comes to utilising the power of water. However, this proposal was rejected as it proved to be too complex.

The chosen solution was actually a spin-off idea from the design of a traditional wharf (where ships are loaded and unloaded). The pitch was designed to be in a concrete box linked to computer-controlled hydraulic machines. In this way the pitch can be removed – and put back in place – within five hours. 

One of van Amstel’s biggest challenges came when he scheduled a Metallica concert on a Saturday night – a hard-rock event that attracted “a lot of beer-drinking and noisy fans”. This was to be followed on the Sunday afternoon by a first division soccer match for Vitesse Arnhem. That was no problem, the pitch was moved during the early hours of the Sunday morning and the stadium handed over to the football club – in pristine condition – ready for the match.

A motocross event held at the Gelredome

Van Amstel is the managing director of a management company that rents the facility from the local city council. He believes that the use of public funds is the only way forward for such stadiums. In return, his company rents out the facilities to various commercial operators and takes the risk of success or failure. Obviously van Amstel’s aim is to have the stadium in use all the year round, but he sees the Gelredome as a kind of aircraft carrier – “with quiet times and busy times”.

The months between October and December are particularly busy, with the Gelredome hosting a multitude of events – from soccer matches to gospel concerts, and from corporate functions to the “Monster Jam”. The latter features “monster” trucks that battle against each other – an incredibly popular sport in the US. In line with van Amstel’s philosophy of always saying yes, hosting “Monster Jam” involves moving 3,000 cubic metres of soil into the arena and laying it on a concrete floor. The soil is stored permanently outside and is brought into the stadium when it is required for motocross and other “extreme events”.

One theme underpinning the construction of the Gelredome was the use of environmentally-friendly techniques. The NUON organisation – specialists in renewable energy – were heavily involved in many facets of the stadium design.

A heating and cooling system has been employed, using groundwater extracted from aquifers. This water is used to generate 70 per cent of the required heating, with the rest coming from solar-assisted gas-fired boilers. Solar panels produce hot water for a range of uses and all of the seats in the stadium are made from recycled plastic. Because of NUON’s range of renewable energy sources used at the stadium, the project received a grant from the European Commission. 

In addition, the stadium is soundproofed which means the Gelredome can be used for “raves” – dance music events which last all night and into the early hours of the morning. At such times, the city council provides buses that take the “ravers” from car parks outside of the city into the stadium.

When asked for advice, van Amstel focuses on the spectator. The Gelredome has received many visits from companies thinking of developing similar facilities. On those occasions, van Amstel noticed that they tended to focus on the construction and project development sides of the equation. He favours an approach that starts with defining what the customer wants. This includes the level of comfort required, the catering facilities to be provided – everything, in fact, that will make a visit to the Gelredome “the best experience the customer has ever had”. But “comfort” does not end with the spectator, the Gelredome is home to many different types of functions, and each one has different needs.

That is van Amstel’s biggest problem. The requirements of each event operator are becoming more demanding all the time. The catering facilities have to be as good as the best restaurants, the comfort has to be as good as the top hotels, the infrastructure has to allow for any eventuality and be designed so that set-up times can be reduced to a minimum, there has to be electronic access facilities and the maximum number of opportunities for advertising. And no one expects to pay more for the use of “improved” facilities – that’s the challenge.