Seventy-five years after his first contract to work at the Tennessee Neyland University Stadium in Knoxville, based in Michigan, The Christman Co., addresses a program of updates to equip the installation over the coming decades. Football.
The current field of work began in 2018, then described as a $ 120 million project to complete for 34 months, according to Nick Lawrence, vice president of the contractor. Administrative changes and fan entry extended the reach and cost, increasing it in general to a $ 260 million $ 260 million project.
Lawrence has worked in Christman for almost 20 years and has worked at the stadium since the beginning of the current project. But the story of the firm, with almost 102,000 places in the stadium dates to a design project in 1947.
While Lawrence says the current project of risk construction responsible has a slight decrease in the count of official stadium seats, adds the capacity of the standing room and other places that will not change the state of Neyland as a of the highest schools in the country of football.
With 101,915 seats, it ranks sixth, according to the website of Ncaa.com, just ahead of 101,821 places of the University of 101,821 places Bryant Denny Stadium of Tuscaloosa and just behind 102,321 Seavil of the Tiger Stadium of Tiger Stadium The State University of Louisiana, at the stadium of 102,321 places of the Louisiana University State of the University of Louisiana. The University of Tennessee says that the football team matches during the 2024 season were exhausted, with the 101,915 seats occupied for each of the seven games at home.
From the low season of 2020 with the addition and replacement of speakers and sound systems at the stadium, the current renewal project has included a new video board for its north side, which was added in 2021 , as well as a new bar and social cover below.
Later work included the replacement of original seats of the 1920’s by luxury chairs behind the house team line and an interior space of 16,000 square meters.
The features of flights at the top of the stadium, in reference to the name of the Tennessee Volunteer School team, which was a starting point from 1966-2009, but then eliminated, added in 2021. In 2022, Christman completed an area of premium club seats and began working with important infrastructure, including infrastructure, including infrastructure, including a new steam and condensed loop and Wi -Fi system of $ 12.5 million .
The ongoing work includes the reconstruction of old bedroom structures on the south side of the stadium in a larger place with new baths, first aid areas and concessions that will be open for the 2025 season.
Replacing favorite flights letters for Neyland Stadium fans was a first part of the project.
Photo courtesy Bruce McCamish/The Christman Co.
Campus complexities
The construction of the campus is one of the most difficult environments, according to Lawrence. “Working inside and around an active campus, this is something, but working on an active campus and then on a stage is another challenge.”
This challenge comes from the preparatory activities that must happen before each day of the game, event, concert or another function if the work continues safely, he says.
The construction of the stadium that has to navigate the game schedules will require several shifts and this project is not different, according to Lawrence.
With a 253 -person Christman labor force at the place to maximum activity, transferring workers in and out and maintaining productive work in the compressed period presented several challenges.
“Working inside and around an active campus, this is something, but working on an active campus and then on a stage is another challenge.”
—Nnick Lawrence, vice president, Christman Construction
“Ensure that there is a perfect delivery between the shifts is very involved. This requires a lot of teamwork, a lot of good communication, “says Lawrence, especially with the technically complex nature of work and coordination with the operation of the space owner, everything that must work perfectly together to complete the project a Compressed calendar.
It also requires a complete understanding of the stadium infrastructure that cannot be altered between games or events and the need for various changes to complete the maximum work during the low season.
The project is divided into accelerated work packages that are fundamental in a multifase effort like this, according to Lawrence. In this case, work on elements such as utility clippings can make or break the impulse of a project to this size.
Christman worked with the owner and the designer Cope Architecture to be prepared for any useful conflict with the existing facilities, such as a 42-in.-Day. Storm sewerage that works diagonally under the field. The project team aligned it with an epoxy coating to help it manage the added flow of other lines that were diverted for the work of improving the stadium. The new lines of steam, domestic water and fire water added to the stage also created redundancy.
With the new
Among the most interesting aspects of the project, especially from a technical perspective, has been the level of the field club in the West Side of the Stadium, according to Lawrence.
The crews first removed an old section of the stadium, cutting a trapezoidal form of the concrete of the goal line on the goal line, almost the entire length of the field, before building a new structure to house the space Under the Field Club seats, and then building new seats at the top. Other works include the expansion of the southern concourse of several years, which is almost completed and aims to improve pedestrian flow and staff to give them more space and access the amenities that are, according to Lawrence.
Christman perfected the boxes of the east and west sky and added wide backdates, including a new loading dock and a new production kitchen, which is the first for Neyland’s stadium.
Lawrence says that the most elaborate additions for the project are the new founding suites on the west side, where six rows of situations existing below the terrace level for the construction of the new donor spaces that will be “the great lift of d ‘This certain season goes down. “
Today, as he continues to work on the stadium’s renewals, Lawrence has a piece of receiving Square Old, a heavy weight for the project’s senior superintendent.
“It’s not great,” he said during an interview last year. “It’s something that reminds us where we were in 1947, and here we are working just in the same area and at the same stage. It is only a constant reminder that things have a complete circle.”
