Stadium and Surrounding Area Re-Development

Survey Hub were approached by a major architectural practice alongside Nottingham Forest Football Club to undertake a multi-disciplinary survey at The City Ground, located just off the historic Trent Bridge in West Bridgford, Nottingham. A Topographical survey, Underground Utility Survey and a Laser Scanned survey were commissioned for the existing stadium and the area surrounding the City Ground and the neighbouring properties.

The commission was to accompany a planning application to aid redevelopment and expansion of the City Ground, which has remained in its current form since 1996 when the last works took place as part of Euro 96.  it is currently envisaged that the existing Main Stand (Peter Taylor Stand) be replaced, improvements to the Trentside area and expansion of the Brian Clough & Bridgford Stands, adding 38,000 to the capacity after completion and making it the largest stadium in the East Midlands.

The site works were carried out using a combination of Leica TS16 Total Stations, Leica P series terrestrial laser scanners alongside Leica DS2000 ground penetrating radar (GPR) and a Cat & Genny.

We first installed a closed loop control traverse across the site using one second accuracy total stations, creating a traversed control network to form the base of all survey works undertaken on site. The topographical survey was undertaken to locate all ground features on site including current parking provisions and access routes for spectators, the site encompassed a range of detail from hardstanding features, data on the River Trent that runs alongside the stadium and surrounding highways and buildings. Traditional surveying methods were used for this aspect of works as the works were being carried out during the football season and the site was very busy. This method of survey enabled surveyors to record points themselves and transfer their understanding of the site to the processing and ultimately the detail and accuracy of the finished product.

The Laser Scanning requirements were undertaken using similar methods, Leica P30 scanners were used on the ground and controlled to tripod mounted targets correlated to the fixed control network and Leica P50 scanners were used at roof level due the structural elements involved. Surveyors implemented heath and safety practises as part of these works due to working at height being involved with the survey works. 360 degree photographs were taken to accompany the scanning locations both at ground and high level using a NCTech iSTAR camera. The Laser Scanning works were undertaken to enable detailed elevational drawings to be produced of the existing facades of the stadium and the seating areas. Using terrestrial scanners enabled us to position the scans around the stadium to capture the required level of detail at the specified tolerances, traversing the scans to the Total Station installed control network meant maximum accuracy was achieved.

The underground utilities survey was conducted to locate all underground utilities and drainage networks, including the identity of utilities such as; electric, lighting cables, communications etc. Drainage information was collected using cobra tracing reel and CAT receiver. Health and safety measures were enforced to ensure no open covers were left unattended and covers were safely reset once surveyed. All electromagnetic (EML) features such as power cables were located using CAT and signal transmitter techniques. The survey area was also surveyed using GPR techniques to identify the location of non-metallic features such as plastic gas & water, and also any other change in ground conditions which may have been identified; for example, voids, drainage storage tanks, buried covers etc. Our findings were marked up on site and surveyed using the control established by our topographical team.

The Laser Scanning outputs were 2D dwg plans of the façade and seating areas, these were produced using Leica Cyclone & Cloud Worx to utilise the high detail point cloud data, slicing through the data to allow our CAD Technicians to produce high detail 2D drawings of the stadium. The resulting point cloud data was also issued to the client along with 2D & 3D topographical files.

The underground utilities survey was issued in 2D dwg & pdf formats, along with desktop asset searches from utility providers. The asset searches were reviewed alongside our site findings, and asset information merged to our survey to produce a complete survey displaying all information in one drawing.

All drawings and outputs were checked by our Quality control team at various stages of the works as well as final checks before they were issued to the client.