The Yorkshire firms building the world’s most famous sports stadia

Sport is one of Britain’s biggest international exports and Yorkshire firms are playing an increasingly crucial role in developing some of the nation’s most iconic venues.
Sheffield engineering specialist SCX has been selected as the Retractable Pitch Supplier for the ground-breaking new stadium of Tottenham Hotspur.Sheffield engineering specialist SCX has been selected as the Retractable Pitch Supplier for the ground-breaking new stadium of Tottenham Hotspur.
Sheffield engineering specialist SCX has been selected as the Retractable Pitch Supplier for the ground-breaking new stadium of Tottenham Hotspur.

From the invention of cricket, football and rugby, to the foundation of the world’s first professional football club to a legion of sporting legends we have produced, Great Britain has been at the centre of international sport for 150 years.

The likes of football are a far cry from their initial iteration and are now international spectaculars, attracting a global audience of billions.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

And with that audience has come the transformation of sports ground from drab affairs, where the biggest luxury was a corrugated iron roof, to breathtaking feats of modern engineering excellence.

Simon Eastwood, SCX Group Managing Director.Simon Eastwood, SCX Group Managing Director.
Simon Eastwood, SCX Group Managing Director.

Over the last few years, engineering firms from Yorkshire have been at the absolute heart of designing and constructing some of the most famed stadia on the planet, spanning the likes of the All England Tennis Lawn Tennis Club at Wimbledon, Wembley Stadium and the grounds inhabited by some of the most successful and best known sporting clubs in the world.

Sheffield expertise

One such firm is Sheffield’s SCX.

Its list of projects reads like a veritable who’s who of the best known grounds in sport, having worked on Royal Ascot, Wembley, retractable roofs for both Centre and Number One Court at Wimbledon and, most recently, Tottenham Hotspur’s state-of-the-art White Hart Lane.

Play is temporarily suspended as the roof is closed on centre court during the Ladies doubles final on day Twelve of the Wimbledon Championships at the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club, Wimbledon. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Picture date: Saturday July 11, 2015.  See PA Story TENNIS Wimbledon. Photo credit should read: Andrew Matthews/PA Wire. RESTRICTIONS: Editorial use only. No commercial use without prior written consent of the AELTC. Still image use only - no moving images to emulate broadcast. No superimposing or removal of sponsor/ad logos. Call +44 (0)1158 447447 for further information.Play is temporarily suspended as the roof is closed on centre court during the Ladies doubles final on day Twelve of the Wimbledon Championships at the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club, Wimbledon. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Picture date: Saturday July 11, 2015.  See PA Story TENNIS Wimbledon. Photo credit should read: Andrew Matthews/PA Wire. RESTRICTIONS: Editorial use only. No commercial use without prior written consent of the AELTC. Still image use only - no moving images to emulate broadcast. No superimposing or removal of sponsor/ad logos. Call +44 (0)1158 447447 for further information.
Play is temporarily suspended as the roof is closed on centre court during the Ladies doubles final on day Twelve of the Wimbledon Championships at the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club, Wimbledon. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Picture date: Saturday July 11, 2015. See PA Story TENNIS Wimbledon. Photo credit should read: Andrew Matthews/PA Wire. RESTRICTIONS: Editorial use only. No commercial use without prior written consent of the AELTC. Still image use only - no moving images to emulate broadcast. No superimposing or removal of sponsor/ad logos. Call +44 (0)1158 447447 for further information.

The work at the North London ground alone is a world first in terms of what it delivers.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Its systems mean the 62,000 seat stadium’s grass surface can be rolled back to reveal a bespoke NFL pitch below.

It means the stadium can also be used for music concerts in addition to hosting matches between NFL and Premier League teams, two of the most popular leagues in the world.

Andy Whitworth, the firm’s Special Projects managing director, traces the arch of the firm’s involvement in the world of stadia back to its first commission in the sporting world.

LONDON,UNITED KINGDOM -  APRIL 3:  Work continues on Tottenham Hotspur's New Stadium at White Hart Lane on April 3, 2018 in London, England.  (Photo by Tottenham Hotspur FC/Tottenham Hotspur FC via Getty Images)LONDON,UNITED KINGDOM -  APRIL 3:  Work continues on Tottenham Hotspur's New Stadium at White Hart Lane on April 3, 2018 in London, England.  (Photo by Tottenham Hotspur FC/Tottenham Hotspur FC via Getty Images)
LONDON,UNITED KINGDOM - APRIL 3: Work continues on Tottenham Hotspur's New Stadium at White Hart Lane on April 3, 2018 in London, England. (Photo by Tottenham Hotspur FC/Tottenham Hotspur FC via Getty Images)

“We started on Wimbledon Centre Court about 13 years ago and it was on the back of a project

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

that we did for Ascot Racecourse where we developed a unique turf crossing that is still in use today.

“On the back of the huge success of Centre Court that instantly give us recognition within the stadia world as having a capability within this market. It opened many doors and lots of opportunities.

“Once you have achieved that sort of level of iconic client, it sets you apart from the competition.”

Picture by Allan McKenzie/SWpix.com - 16/05/2019 - Rugby League - Betfred Super League - Leeds Rhinos v Castleford Tigers - Emerald Headingley Stadium, Leeds, England - The sun begins to set as Leeds play Castleford in their Super League fixture with their new North Stand completed in the background.Picture by Allan McKenzie/SWpix.com - 16/05/2019 - Rugby League - Betfred Super League - Leeds Rhinos v Castleford Tigers - Emerald Headingley Stadium, Leeds, England - The sun begins to set as Leeds play Castleford in their Super League fixture with their new North Stand completed in the background.
Picture by Allan McKenzie/SWpix.com - 16/05/2019 - Rugby League - Betfred Super League - Leeds Rhinos v Castleford Tigers - Emerald Headingley Stadium, Leeds, England - The sun begins to set as Leeds play Castleford in their Super League fixture with their new North Stand completed in the background.

Natural progression

Mr Whitworth said the transition into what is a lucrative but ultimately niche market was a natural progression from the work it had been doing in overhead cranes.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Despite the complexity of the work and the highly competitive tender process, he said the firm was confident that it had the team and skills to deliver.

“If you look at our special projects they have increased in value and complexity.

“We have virtually the same team as when we started.

“It is one of our ket USPs. You can’t deliver these iconic projects without the support. They are the backbone of our business and Sheffield and South Yorkshire is where we tap our engineers from.”

Founder and chairman Simon Eastwood also attributes the success to the region’s engineering prowess.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

“Sheffield and the North generally has been very good for us,” he said.

“When we discuss what we did with Tottenham, and Wimbledon I think it would have been nigh on impossible for a southern company to have actually tackled such a project such as those just because they don’t have the engineering background and support that we have in this part of the world.”

Next phase

SCX has no plans to rest on its laurels. It has worked in Qatar and Brazil on a number of projects and is currently talking about work for six or seven stadia around the world, projects it described as “really exciting”.

Mr Eastwood said that he hoped the fact that a Yorkshire company had delivered such world leading engineering projects would inspire and encourage more young people to take up the profession, lamenting that it is not seen as a top career option for schoolchildren.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

“If we had more engineers than the north would do better,” he said.

“Working for us is very interesting. The pay is good. And you can take this knowledge anywhere in the world and get a job within a couple of days.

“You just can’t say that with most jobs.”

Steel infrastructure

SCX does not stand alone in the pantheon of Yorkshire engineering firms delivering grand sports projects.

Severfield, Britain’s biggest constructional steelwork contractor, has worked on nearly every major stadium development in the UK over the past few decades, with the notable exception of Wembley.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

However the Thirsk-based Severfield is more than happy that it didn’t win the steel contract for Wembley Stadium, which opened in 2007 after years of delays, cost increases and accusations that the steelwork “was not fit for purpose”.

It was a lesson that other contractors learned and again Tottenham Hotspur FC turned its eyes northwards when it turned to Severfield for the steelworks at its new stadium.

Severfield’s chief executive Alan Dunsmore described the Spurs work as “extraordinary”.

“It’s a great success. Spurs played the last game at the end of the 2016/17 season and started demolishing the stadium the following week,” he said.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

“Most people thought it would be a two year build, but it was done in a one year programme.”

Mr Dunsmore said that stadium steelwork is extremely complicated and massive structures have to be built with specifications to within a fraction of a millimeter.

“We are specialists in these complex projects,” he said.

“We have the heavy engineering design expertise that is unique to stadiums. They make full use of our expertise and it’s become a real sweet spot for us.”

The stadium for Spurs was one of the most complex projects Severfield has ever undertaken.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

“It was very, very complicated. The engineering involved in the Spurs stadium was mind-blowing,” said Mr Dunsmore.

“All the steel for these stadiums was manufactured in Yorkshire and Lancashire. That gives us a real sense of pride. They are really great to be involved with.”

Severfield provided the steelwork for the main 2012 Olympic Stadium in London, the Arsenal Emirates Stadium and the expansion of Liverpool FC’s main stand.

New era for Headingley

The work done on sporting stadia from Yorkshire firms was seen far closer to home this year with the dramatic development of the Emerald Headingley Stadium.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

The £44m project to develop the rugby ground’s South and North stands, as well as the substantial redevelopment of the cricket ground, has created more than 10,000 new seats, as well as brand new top-of-the-line corporate and banqueting facilities.

The work on the rugby ground alone is the most extensive since it opened in 1890 while the work on the cricket ground will gain an international audience of millions owing to its hosting four games in 2019 Cricket World Cup and an Ashes Test later in the year - the first time the latter has happened in a decade.

For a Yorkshire institution such as Headingley it was perhaps fitting that Yorkshire engineers should carry out the work.

Caddick Construction carried out the building work for both stands while the design work was done by Leeds’s DLA Design.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

It is the only place in the UK that can stage world class rugby and cricket matches on the same site.

It also boasts a 36 bedroom hotel, public cafe and corporate spaces - which away from sporting events is attracting business and events use such as wedding receptions and funerals.

For Gary Hetherington, chief executive of Leeds Rhinos, its completion is the culmination of a three year journey that has been a joint venture between the Rugby League outfit, Yorkshire Cricket Club and Leeds City Council.