As was the case when building the grandstand in 1961, the arena is located in Zug once again. It is twice as large this time around however. Working together with the organizing committee of ESAF Zug 2019, NUSSLI managed to optimize the grandstands in order to accommodate more seats on the same surface area. As was the case 58 years ago, the complex infrastructures will be completely dismantled afterwards. The project thus nicely fits in with the sustainability concept of ESAF 2019. All construction parts will be used again in various projects repeatedly in the future.
Long preparation, quick setup
The preparatory work for the event infrastructures in Zug began years ago with feasibility studies and rough planning for the applying cities. More detailed, concrete plans and quotes followed later. And finally, the project and building site teams constructed the entire arena within ten weeks with the help of the Swiss Army and the civil defense force.
This naturally required a lot of materials. 'A project with dimensions like those of the arena is always a challenge in many respects,' says Peter Tanner, COO NUSSLI Event Structures AG and expounds: 'In Zug, the materials logistics was the crux of the matter in particular. A large portion of the grandstand materials came directly from other Swiss projects in Zug. However, a lot of material was already in use at one of the many open-air festivals, sports events and of course at the Fête des Vignerons in Vevey and thus not available at all or only a late. That is why we decided early on to retrieve certain critical components from our warehouses abroad for the summer season.'
Tricky materials logistics
So for example, a total of 3,000 tons' worth of grandstand material were supplied from the NUSSLI branches in Germany and Spain. Bit by bit, 300,000 single parts arrived in 150, precisely coordinated transports over the course of weeks until, finally, the 50,000 seats also arrived and were installed shortly before the wrestling festival.
