News
Date: April 13 204 Project: 2008 Summer Games
Brisbane based international sports architects HOK Sport secures contract for Beijing National Stadium for 2008 Olympic Games
The Queensland office of HOK Sport has secured a significant contract as sports architecture advisors to National Stadium Limited Liability Company - the consortium which is financing, constructing and operating the Beijing National Stadium- the main stadium for the 2008 Olympic Games.
The agreement was signed between HOK Sport Senior Principal Paul Henry and Mr Li Aiqing, the chairman of the National Stadium Company during a meeting in Beijing on March 20th 2004.
It is a significant contract for design consultancy services for the Beijing 2008 Olympic games. All work will be carried out in the firm’s Queensland office.
HOK Sport is the world’s leading sports architecture firm, and was the firm behind the new Suncorp stadium in Brisbane, which it designed in association with local firm PDT architects. It is also designing the new Wembley stadium in London, the new Centre Court for Wimbledon and the new Ascot Racecourse in the UK.
HOK Sport has been working with the National Stadium Company throughout the tender process during 2003, and this success follows four years of planning work in Beijing by a team led by Mr Henry.
The contract will involve HOK Sport providing sports specialist architectural advice and reviews to the National Stadium Company over the next year to ensure that the stadium design meets world’s best practice.
Mr Paul Henry paid special tribute to the Queensland Premier and his Trade Division as well as the Australian Embassy in Beijing and Austrade for their help over the years the firm has been working in China.
“The Australian Government and in particular the Queensland Government under Premier Beattie has encouraged us and consistently been available to help our marketing endeavours in China.
“This is a great strategic win for Queensland and will provide exposure around the globe because the Beijing Olympics is such a high profile event,” said Mr Henry.
HOK Sport’s involvement in Beijing began in December 2000 when Paul Henry was invited by the Chinese Government to help Beijing in the preparation for the 2008 Olympic Bid. HOK Sport subsequently conducted a strategic review of all venue development.
The firm was then appointed on the masterplan design review team and later carried out benchmark studies for each of the major facilities. This set both the Olympic and Overlay standards for all the venues and was the key information used to write the briefs for all of the venues tenders.
HOK Sport is working on a number of other projects in China, including the design of the Nanjing Sports Park in Jiangsu Province, which will host the 2005 China National Games and includes a 60,000-seat stadium, an arena, swimming centre and tennis centre.
For further information please contact
Michele Fleming at HOK Sport (Brisbane)
Telephone +61 (0)7 3839 9155
Facsimilie +61 (0)7 3839 9188
Email media@hok.com.au