Once again, SIGNAL IDUNA PARK was a construction site over the summer. Large amounts of money - a low eight-figure sum - has gone into the reconstruction of the Kitchen Tower, where from April 2024 onwards the provision of food and drinks for all stadium attendees will be managed. Of the ten construction works which were undertaken, the most visible is the renovation of the roof girders. 

Over the summer months, 60-year-old Dr. Christian Hockenjos could regularly be seen patrolling the stadium in a fluorescent work jacket and safety helmet. Borussia Dortmund's organisational director has been at the club for 30 years now. He knows every nook and cranny of SIGNAL IDUNA PARK. Regarding the ongoing work, he speaks of "investments in substance maintenance" and explains: "Our stadium will be 50 years old next April. After the financially challenging decade at the beginning of the millennium, in 2010 we started to tackle not only the things that urgently needed to be done - we have always remedied safety deficiencies, including in 2004 - but also started more general works by renovating the concrete of the four lower tiers of the stands over four summer breaks. When that was done, we refurbished the support structures over two summers."

Now it's the turn of the roof crossbeams. "Then the stadium's load-bearing components will have undergone a general overhaul," says Hockenjos: "Rust is one thing, but load-bearing parts have to be safe. It's like a big church: when you're done on one side, then you can start on the other..." He has announced further extensive measures for the coming years: "When the renovation of the substance is completed, we will tackle the issue of energy efficiency.''

Renovation of the roof beams

Work on the roof beams is visible from afar. They have already been completed above the north and south stands, and work on the suspension of the roof of the west stand has been underway since the spring. By autumn of this year, the girders in the east will also be sandblasted and any corrosion removed. This will be followed by a new coating to protect against rust and the final coat of grey paint. Cost: about 1.5 million euros.

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New construction of the "Kitchen Tower"

Plans for one of the biggest investments in the stadium infrastructure go back to 2018, but were initially halted by the pandemic and have now been in progress since the beginning of the year: the construction of a new five-storey building in front of the West Stand. "It's the first time we've gone underground with a construction project at SIGNAL IDUNA PARK, if you disregard the media bay and the mast service rooms," says Hockenjos. Special challenges had to be mastered during the new construction because, as with the renovation of the playing surface at the Rote Erde stadium, damages to the soil from mining hindered the work. Many cubic metres of concrete had to be pumped into the ground to backfill and grout old, unsealed coal shafts from the early days of mining. "It's nice to see that it's now growing upwards," says Hockenjos, looking at the construction site.

The lower three floors, including the basement, will be used for catering logistics from April 2024. The existing refrigerated containers in the car park can then be removed. Only the two upper floors will offer 150 additional seats for hospitality guests in addition to the kitchen extension. The result is a usable area of around 500 square metres per floor. Including the technology, the total costs are estimated at over ten million euros. "The catering demands have reached a new peak, the kitchen logistics are at their limit. Once the work is completed, we will be able to better meet spectators' demands for drinks and food," explains Hockenjos.

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Multimedia screens

In addition to the four large new video walls already put into operation at the beginning of the year, three more will be added to the exterior of the north façade and the ramp leading to the "Luftbad" car park.

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Grass renewal

Since 2015, SIGNAL IDUNA PARK has been home to a hybrid turf with 16 per cent synthetic content, which has to be worked on extensively every summer break. Of the approximately 300 million blades of grass on the 68 by 105 metre playing surface, around 50 million are artificial. Three days after the last game of the season, the machines arrived and removed the old grass. Only the plastic blades remained, which then had to be erected again. From 1 June, the pitch was filled with sand, sown, covered with a tarpaulin and kept moist. Just four weeks later, the pitch was a lush green. By the time the match against 1. FC Köln comes around, it will have time to grow further and consolidate itself ahead of twelve home matches in the Bundesliga and UEFA Champions League as well as up to two more in the DFB-Pokal within the space of just four months. During the winter break, the turf can then recover under UV light for a good five weeks.

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Modernisation of interiors

SIGNAL IDUNA PARK has various facilities for catering at BVB home matches, which in turn create the perfect setting for events of all kinds on all other days. These are called "Stammtisch", "Borussia Park", "Rote-Erde-Club", "Borsigplatz", "Weiße Wiese", "Alter Markt", "Friedensplatz" and "Hansaplatz". The latter was not only showing its age, it also lacked the facilities required for modern events. BVB put the project out to tender and awarded it to a Frankfurt office. "The ceiling remains open and is painted black. The whole thing gets a darker, cool touch and still offers the flexibility of being able to hold a conference during the week, for example," says an enthusiastic Hockenjos.

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Text: Boris Rupert
Photos: Christopher Neundorf 

The text comes from the member's magazine BORUSSIA. BVB members receive a free copy of BORUSSIA each month. Click here to apply for club membership.