The Aviva Stadium

Ireland’s newest major sporting venue, the inspiring Aviva Stadium, required a fittingly impressive entrance and exit zone aesthetic for its opening this year. Accommodating up to 50,000 seated spectators meant issues of safety were key to the specification process, and the entrance flooring system chosen had to perform to the highest level functionally as well as aesthetically. Fortunately, Forbo Flooring
System’s extensive portfolio of entrance matting systems offered the ideal products for the job. Robust, smartly attractive and with moisture absorbing qualities for anti-slip safety, Nuway Tuftiguard was used for the entrance areas.
Replacing the previous stadium on the same 6.4-hectare Lansdowne Road site, Aviva stadium was designed to host national football and rugby matches – as well as other events, in the heart of Dublin. With such an extreme volume of traffic passing through the doors on a regular basis, the entrance and exits required an entrance matting system that would withstand intensive use.

As a joint project between the FAI (Football Association of Ireland) and IRFU (Ireland Rugby Football Union), with part government funding, architects Scott Tallon Walker in conjunction with Populous put together a performance specification brief, which was put out to tender amongst flooring contractors to submit details of products that best matched the specification.

Pat Kirwan, from Scott Tallon Walker comments: “This required a heavy duty entrance barrier matting system for both external and internal use with a construction that allows the product to be replaced and interchanged to optimise performance, whilst achieving an aesthetically pleasing appearance.”

Forbo’s Nuway engineered entrance flooring was finally approved, after being put forward by Talamat Distributors, as it exceeded all the requirements of the specification.