Spain: VB Projects to install field heating system for FC Barcelona

Starting August 30th VB Projects from the Netherlands will install an innovative field heating system to improve the grass quality of the pitch in Camp Nou Stadium. Together with main contractor SIS Ireland the system will be installed in record time under the new pitch for Barcelona.

Since many years VB Projects is specialized in the design and installation of heating systems for stadiums and sport facilities. The system has been developed to improve the quality of the grass and to avoid postponing or relocation of soccer matches. An innovatie climate system heats the roots of the grass and prevents the underlayer of the pitch from freezing, ensuring proper functioning of the drainage system under the pitch. By creating a frost free layer under the pitch rain and melting water from snow can be drained easily. For stadiums with parking facilities under the pitch the system will protect the pitch from freezing from underneath.

Many references

The company from the Netherlands can be considered market leader in the field of pitch heating technology. In 1996 the first system was installed in Philips Stadium for PSV Eindhoven to improve the condition of the pitch. Since then more than 14 Dutch football organisations choose to install this system in their stadiums and training facilities. In 2013 the training pitches of Ajax Amsterdam and Twente Enschede have been upgraded with this system and soon the stadium of ADO The Hague will be preparing the pitch for the 2014 World Championship Hockey with an integrated VB Projects heating system.

35 kilometers tube

For the pitch in Camp Nou more than 35 kilometer PE (PolyEthylene) tube will be installed. A special welding technique eliminates the use of connection couplings and reduces the chance of leakage in the system substantially. Furthermore the existing floor under the players tunnel will be removed to make sure that the supply and return lines of the system can be installed and connected inground.

In only 4 days

The installation works must be completed within a very tight time frame. Immediately after the match against Atlético Madrid on August 28, the existing pitch will be removed. VB Projects has only 4 days to mount and pressure test all the tubes of the system. A complete new field is waiting outside Barcelona to be installed right after completion of the system, so that the project will be completed just in time for the next match on September 15 against Sevilla.

For more information visit www.vb-projects.com or contact Robert Marks (r.marks@vb-group.nl) or Edward Verbakel (e.verbakel@vb-group.nl).