Stožice Sports Park

Stožice Sports Park

Stožice Sports Park
Location Ljubljana, Slovenia
Coordinates 46°4′50″N 14°31′27″E / 46.08056°N 14.52417°E / 46.08056; 14.52417Coordinates: 46°4′50″N 14°31′27″E / 46.08056°N 14.52417°E / 46.08056; 14.52417
Owner City Municipality of Ljubljana
Operator Javni zavod Šport Ljubljana
Capacity

Stadium
16,693 (football)

Arena
12,500 (basketball)
Construction
Broke ground 2009
Built 2010
Opened August 2010
Architect Sadar Vuga architects d.o.o.
General contractor GREP d.o.o
Tenants
Slovenia national football team
Slovenia national basketball team
Olimpija Ljubljana
Union Olimpija
Krim
ACH Volley Bled

Stožice Sports Park (Slovene: Športni park Stožice) is a multi-use sports complex in Ljubljana, Slovenia, that hosts all departments of Olimpija Ljubljana sports club and other Ljubljana-based clubs including volleyball club ACH Volley. The complex is located in Bežigrad district north of the city centre right next to the highway bypass.

The sports complex was opened on 10 August 2010, when Arena Stožice hosted a basketball match between Slovenia and Spain, which was won by Spain 79–72 after overtime.[1] One day later Stožice Stadium was opened on a football match between Slovenia and Australia, won by Slovenia 2–0.[2] Both the arena and the stadium are scheduled to be one of the main venues of Slovenian national teams in all sports except ice hockey for which the arena is not suitable and could only host if ice cooling machines would be implemented. The whole complex is scheduled to be in the centre of Ljubljana public and cultural life.

The shopping center below the ground of the park is currently under construction.

Project

Designed by Sadar Vuga d.o.o. archicets, it includes a Stožice Stadium, Arena Stožice and a shopping centre (still under construction), covered by the artificial landscape of the recreational park and is the result of the public-private partnership between the City of Ljubljana and the Grep d.o.o. development company.[3]

Costs

The complex was built by Slovenian firm Grep d.o.o. and its subcontractors at an estimated cost of €350 million.[4] The price for the stadium was €56.6 million, and the arena is estimated at €66.3 million.[5]

Construction

The construction of the sports complex started in June 2009 on a site already prepared for construction and was finished in only 14 months. At first the sports complex was scheduled for completion around June 2010, but after short delays of the project it was not until August 2010 that both the stadium and the arena were opened. Before completion the project caused a lot of controversy as lack of money became a huge problem for the contractors and its smaller subcontractors, one of which even committed suicide[6] and some others declared bankruptcy. As the whole project is said to have been a public-private partnership the decision of a group of domestic banks in all of which Republic of Slovenia is a partial or major owner, to approve a credit of 115 million euros gained lot of media attention and plenty of political disputes.[7] The shopping center below the ground of the park is currently under construction and is scheduled for completion in 2011. In the park above cycling and running tracks, skateboard park, child playground, picnic area etc. are planned to be added. Underground parking garage is also planned and will have space for around 4,000 cars. When finished the whole complex will measured around 182,000 square meters.

Controversy

In August 2010 the project received an additional 9,4 million euros from European Union funds issued by the Ministry of Education and Sports of the Slovenian Government.[8] The project was picked among a group of other projects across Slovenia that applied to the bidding on the conditions declared by the Ministry.

It was later said that the whole bidding process was staged in a way that only Stožice project could meet all the criteria and therefore receive all of the available funds.[9][10] Because of his decision Minister Igor Lukšič had to endure an interpellation in the parliament that eventually turned out in his favour.[11] In late March, 2011, it was revealed that the European Commission demands from the Slovenian Government a full report about the bidding process, which was alleged to be staged from the start in a way that Stožice Sports Park was the only possible recipient of the financial means.[12] If the Commission finds any irregularities in the bidding process, they could insist that the funds (9,4 million euros) would be returned.[13] On 12 April 2011, SVLR (Office for Local Self-Government and Regional Policy), under the pressure of the European Commission, made a revision of the bidding process and found three irregularities.[14] Their findings were presented to the European Commission and the Ministry of Finance of the Slovenian Government.[14]

In May 2012 it was revealed that the Slovene tax administration is investigating how 400 thousand out of the 15 million euros, paid by the City of Ljubljana to the construction contractor (GREP), ended on the account of the company KLM Naložbe, which is majority-owned by the mayor of Ljubljana, Zoran Janković.[15]

Stadium

For more details on this topic, see Stožice Stadium.

The Stožice Stadium is a multi-purpose stadium in Ljubljana that was opened on 11 August 2010 with a football match between Slovenia and Australia, which was won by Slovenia 2–0.[2] The first cultural performance on the stadium took place on 20 September 2010 and was a joint project of two comedians titled Notpadu lajv?!. Over 20,000 gathered to see the show on that day.[16] The stadium has a capacity of 16,038 seats and is laid out under the plateau of the park. As a structure, it is therefore "sunk" into the park. Only the roof over the stands rises above the plane of the park as a monolithic crater. The number also includes 558 business seats, 210 seats for members of the press, and 97 places for people that are disabled.

The stadium is the home venue of football club NK Olimpija and one of the main venues of the Slovenia national football team. Besides football the stadium is also designed to host cultural events as well. The stadium building area measures 24,614 square meters.

Arena

For more details on this topic, see Arena Stožice.
For more details on this topic, see List of events held in Arena Stožice.

Arena Stožice is a multi-purpose indoor arena in Ljubljana that was opened on 10 August 2010 in a basketball match between Slovenia and Spain, which was won by Spain 79–72 after overtime.[1] The first cultural performance took place on 7 October 2010 when Spanish tenor José Carreras entertained in front of a sold-out audience.[17] The arena has a capacity of 12,480 seats and is located in the north-western part of the park. The four levels of concourses and the lower, VIP, and upper stands are covered by a shell-shaped dome.

The arena is used for indoor sports such as basketball, handball and volleyball and is the home venue of KK Olimpija and ACH Volley among others. The arena is scheduled to be one of the main venues of Slovenian national teams in most indoor sports except ice hockey for which the arena is not suitable and could only host if ice cooling machines would be implemented. Alongside the stadium the arena is also designed to host many cultural events. The arena building area measures 14,164 square meters.

Shopping centre

The shopping center below the ground of the park is currently under construction, however because of the many problems the completion of the shopping center is still unknown. In the park above cycling and running tracks, skateboard park, child playground, picnic area etc. are planned to be added. The floor area of the shopping centre measures 91,600 square meters.

References

  1. 1 2 http://www.siol.net/Sportal/Kosarka/SP2010/Novice/2010/08/Nocoj_premiera_dvorane_v_Stozicah.aspx
  2. 1 2 http://www.zurnal24.si/nogomet/nogomet-stozice-stadion-vrata-odprl-slovenija-avstralija-180756/clanek
  3. ↑ http://www.sadarvuga.com/php/project.php?id=59
  4. ↑ http://www.delo.si/clanek/115804
  5. ↑ http://image.24ur.com/media/document//60515326.pdf
  6. ↑ http://www.zurnal24.si/slovenija/so-ga-neplacniki-stali-zivljenja-162039/clanek
  7. ↑ http://www.finance.si/285361/Grep-je-dobil-kredit-za-Sto%BEice
  8. ↑ http://24ur.com/novice/slovenija/skoraj-10-novih-milijonov-za-stozice_comment_p8_a168.html?&page=8&p_all_items=168
  9. ↑ http://www.delo.si/clanek/115835
  10. ↑ http://www.rtvslo.si/slovenija/9-milijonov-stozicam-neuspeli-prijavitelji-se-ne-predajajo/236062
  11. ↑ http://www.rtvslo.si/slovenija/igor-luksic-ostaja-minister-za-solstvo-in-sport/239921
  12. ↑ "Dodelitev sredstev za Stožice spet pod drobnogledom" (in Slovenian). RTVSLO.si. Retrieved 24 March 2011.
  13. ↑ "Stožice: Bodo vračali evropska sredstva?" (in Slovenian). 24ur.com. Retrieved 24 March 2011.
  14. 1 2 "SVLR: Tri kršitve pri gradnji Stožic; Grep brez denarja za nadaljevanje gradnje?" (in Slovenian). RTVSLO.si. Retrieved 12 April 2011.
  15. ↑ A. Č., An. Ma. (20 May 2012). "Občinski denar končal pri Jankovićevem KLM-ju" (in Slovenian). RTV Slovenija. Retrieved 23 May 2012.
  16. ↑ Je. K. (20 September 2010). "Notpadu lajv napolnil stožiški stadion" (in Slovenian). Delo.si. Retrieved 29 October 2016.
  17. ↑ "José Carreras krstil neakustične Stožice" (in Slovenian). 24ur.com. 8 October 2010. Retrieved 29 October 2016.
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