The World Ice Hockey Championships in Moscow, the run-up to the 2014 Olympics and the related development of sports infrastructure in Sochi – all these events confirm that the trend of building sports facilities in Russia will continue in the near future. We have tried to understand the current situation and below we present the opinions of Russian specialists who were directly involved in the construction of sports infrastructure facilities.
We asked representatives of companies with experience in building and equipping such facilities to answer several questions and to obtain first-hand reliable information about the state of affairs in the sports facilities market. The specialists commented as follows:
1. What significant sports facilities could you highlight that have been commissioned in Russia over the past two years?
2. What kind of work did your company perform?
3. Tell us about the difficulties of implementing large-scale projects in the field of sports facilities from the point of view of automation of engineering systems, and how did you manage to cope with them?
4. What, in your opinion, is the future development of sports infrastructure facilities in Russia: who is more interested in the construction of sports facilities: the state or a private customer?
Pavel Beloglazov, Head of the Automation Department, NPF Ecoterm (Omsk)
1.
Omsk takes an active part in the construction of sports facilities, adding new objects to the country's collection. Among them are a large number of stadiums in the regional centers, as well as the large Ice Palace «Arena-Omsk» (for 10,000 spectators) and the indoor football arena «Red Star», unique for Russia. The uniqueness of this structure is due to the use of innovative construction solutions: a support-free roof structure about 150 meters long; a smoke removal system with pneumatic control, installed on the roof lantern; a lighting system with variable scenarios, allowing high-level football matches to be held; and air heating of the arena.
2.
The Ecoterm company acted as the designer of ventilation, air conditioning, automation and dispatching systems for the complex during the construction of the Krasnaya Zvezda arena. In terms of automation and dispatching, we integrated the following engineering systems:
• supply and exhaust systems,
• drainage systems,
• individual heating units,
• monitoring of the ATS status,
• fire valves,
• arena lighting,
• natural ventilation and smoke removal system.
An operator's workstation was also organized with the current state of the engineering systems displayed on the monitor screen.
Our company supplied the equipment, installed it, manufactured the automation panels, programmed the controllers and carried out the commissioning work. To ensure the reliability and fault tolerance of the local subsystems, the dispatching system was designed as a decentralized control system. The SCADA system was built on the basis of BMS YORK Fasiliti Manager.
3.
When implementing large-scale projects, there are always certain difficulties: a large saturation of the building with various engineering, fairly complex algorithms for the operation of systems, integration with other networks. It is also necessary to implement visualization on the computer screen of the automated workplace so that the user understands the messages and mnemonic diagrams displayed on the monitor. At the Krasnaya Zvezda facility, we managed to implement an automation and dispatching system that completely controls and manages all the engineering of the complex, minimizing the participation of operating personnel.
Integration with the network of LON controllers that control the arena lighting was implemented. Two air heating systems of the arena with multi-stage connection of water heaters with a capacity of 1 MW each were also automated.
The SCADA system allows real-time monitoring and control of all engineering systems of the complex.
The operating service has the ability to view archives of emergency messages and graphs of temperature changes.
4.
Undoubtedly, in Russia today the emphasis is on the construction of sports facilities. Moreover, the interest of both the state and private investors is visible. By solving the problem of the shortage or re-equipment of sports facilities, the state takes a step towards the health of the nation, and the private customer makes a promising and profitable investment.
Roman Vroblevsky, Director of the Building Automation Department of Johnson Controls
1.
In recent years, Johnson Controls has completed work to equip a number of large sports facilities with engineering equipment and automation systems. Here are some of them:
• Sports and Health Center «Dynamo» — the main basketball court of the country.
• Work on equipping the Ufa Arena complex is nearing completion. The facility includes a multi-purpose sports arena (designed for 8,250 spectators), a small arena (for 500 spectators), underground and multi-level parking. Very soon, it will be possible to hold international hockey matches here – all the requirements and conditions for this will be met.
• Indoor Skating Center in Krylatskoye. This is the largest multifunctional ice palace in Europe, it can accommodate 10,000 spectators and is designed to hold competitions and training in speed skating, short track, ice hockey, bandy (Russian hockey), curling, as well as to organize ice shows. The ice surface area of the facility is 12,000 square meters.
In this article, I would like to talk in more detail about the last mentioned facility. Here is what famous professionals have to say about this facility:
Vyacheslav Fetisov, head of the Federal Agency for Physical Culture and Sports: “This wonderful sports complex in Krylatskoye with an artificial ice surface will allow us to conduct year-round training of athletes at the highest world standards. There have never been such facilities in Moscow. It is equipped with the latest technology.”
Anastasia Myskina – winner of the French Open Grand Slam tournament – Roland Garros, winner of the Kremlin Cup and the 2004 Fed Cup: “I expected it to be a ‘colossus’ here – after all, it is an ice complex, but it turned out to be warm and comfortable inside.
It was nice to play here. And we are glad that our victory was the first major international success at the Krylatskoye Arena.”
Maria Butyrskaya – World Champion in Figure Skating:
«I have performed in many famous ice arenas around the world, but the ice of the Palace in Krylatskoye, where I trained for two weeks, exceeded all my expectations. Thank you very much.»
2.
As part of the implementation of the project «Indoor Skating Center in Krylatskoye», our company supplied equipment and components and installed «turnkey» the main engineering and technological systems. The following were installed and put into operation:
• Air conditioning and ventilation system of the ice arena,
• Air distribution system above the ice arena,
• Water chemical treatment system for ice production,
• Cooling station for the ice field,
• Cooling station for the air conditioning system,
• Automation and dispatching system for the engineering systems of the complex.
The automation system, in turn, controls the following building systems:
• Air conditioning and ventilation,
• Two cooling stations (for the ice field and air conditioning system),
• Water treatment system,
• Ice rink cooling and monitoring system,
• Individual heating unit,
• Heated floors,
• Fan coils,
• Air curtains,
• Arena, facade and interior lighting system,
• Electrical monitoring.
3.
At such facilities, it is very important to maintain climatic conditions within the limits established by various international requirements and rules, regardless of changing conditions: the number of spectators, types of competitions, seasonality, etc. As a rule, a fairly complex set of engineering systems is used to achieve this goal. When automating such structures, Johnson Controls is assisted by a deep understanding of the physical processes that occur in climate control equipment, as well as many years of experience in implementing such facilities.
For example, the automation system of the KCC uses a number of complex technical solutions that make it possible to combine excellent ice quality with comfortable conditions for spectators, and reliable automatic operation of all systems with high energy efficiency in general. For example, to create a climate in the arena, 10 powerful units are used, operating as a single system with flexible control logic. The automation system, using 48 sensors (measuring temperature, humidity, carbon dioxide content), monitors the air parameters in the hall, and controls the climate control units according to a specially developed algorithm. If training sessions are held in the hall, the automation ensures a given ventilation mode, temperature and humidity control, but supplies the room with a minimum rate of fresh air to reduce energy consumption. During competitions, the automation evaluates the number of spectators and proportionally increases the supply of fresh air.
Non-contact infrared thermometers located on the ceilings are used to measure the ice surface temperature. The data received from these sensors is used to adjust the air conditioning and ventilation systems to prevent fog from forming in the arena. The sensor readings are also transmitted to the referee system and the main information board.
Using the central station, the dispatcher can control the arena lighting (about 1,000 light sources are installed), choosing preset lighting scenarios. The facade lighting and interior lighting are turned on according to the schedule.
It is difficult to cover all the technical details of the facility within the framework of this material, so if you are interested in equipping such projects, we invite you to a substantive conversation.
4.
Investments in the sports sector have increased significantly in recent years. The possibility of holding the Olympic Games in Sochi makes the sports real estate construction market one of the most promising for the next 5 years. Children's sports schools, health clubs, and new sports facilities are opening. At this stage, the state is certainly more interested in the construction of sports facilities. Large facilities require significant investments, while their payback periods are quite long. One of the key points in the construction of large sports facilities is their optimal use.
As a rule, specialized complexes are used for competitions only a few times a year, and the rest of the time they require significant funds for maintenance and do not generate income. In this regard, they must be able to adapt to various events, and, in addition, be energy efficient in operation. In particular, as an example of a solution to the problem: the skating rink in Krylatskoye is open for visitors to skate between competitions. In addition, the building and its engineering systems make it possible to hold events that do not require the use of an ice surface: the Kremlin Cup in tennis was held in its arena. |
