Joint Press Conference on the new Karaiskakis football ground
The modern football ground of Olympiakos FC will be ready in July 2004 following a contract signed between Karaiskaki SA, IntraDevelopment SA and construction firm J&P-AVAX SA. At a joint press conference held on Thursday June 19, 2003, Socrates Kokkalis and Dakis Joannou said the new ground will be used during the Athens Olympic Games for the football tournament in August 2004.
The project was presented in the press conference, attended by a large audience of politicians, sports and financial correspondents, as well as participating bankers.
Stelios Agiostratitis’ aa Associates SA is coordinating the design of the new ground, whereas sports operations will be managed by Petros Synadinos’ Dekathlon SA. Telemahos Tsiknias is in charge of the civil engineering study and the concept design and construction study for the roof comes from Italy’s Μαssimo Majowiecki in association with F.Zoulas. Electric & mechanical issues are handled by Triedros Studies Ltd and A.Pantazis & Associates SA.
Demolition works have been completed by Kyromitis Bros SA on June 10 and foundation works have been assigned to Edrasi-Psallidas SA. Superstructure involves the use of around 32,000 cubic meters of concrete, 4,500 tons of steel and tens of kilometers of ‘smart networks’. The roof weighs some 3,000 tons and final design and installation involves wind tunnel testing.
Construction will be carried out by J&P-AVAX Group which has a long track record in sports facilities and a large share in the construction of Olympics-related venues.
The new ground, budgeted at €40.2 million, will meet FIFA/UEFA standards and be delivered in July 2004. The orientation of the football pitch will diverge by 13 grads to the West from the North-South axis, improving on the demolished ground’s East-West orientation.
The ground will be fully roofed, have a capacity of 35,000 sets of various standards (VVIP, VIP, regular etc), 2 score boards and leveled concourse for access to the stands. The pitch will measure 80m by 120m. The West wing will feature 34 seats for disabled people at pitch level, suites and executive stand. There will be 42 turnstiles and 56 ticket stands, along with 8 bars at concourse level spread around the ground.
The project is of mixed use because the football ground will be surrounded by commercial development covering 6,500 square meters and a 2,500-car parking lot which will serve as park&ride site for the neighbouring Phaliron metro station and facilitate the use of the ground for concerts and other events during the summer. Commercial areas include the club’s museum, souvenir shop, restaurants, cafes, sportswear shops, a gym, etc.
Total investment amounts to around €50 million, of which €15 million are own equity and €35 million are provided by banks as project finance.
Please contact Angelos Kiosklis at J&P-AVAX SA (+30-210-6185592) or Rika Antonopoulou at IntraDevelopment SA (+30-210-7482341) for further enquiries.