Like a champion: the Tottenham project

Ajax Amsterdam already considers itself in the Champions League final. At halftime, the hosts lead 2-0 against Tottenham Hotspur. But Lucas Moura achieves the seemingly impossible: within five minutes, the Brazilian midfield star in Spurs' service scores twice – and even in the sixth minute of stoppage time, the 27-year-old is there again, marking the decisive goal with his weaker left foot for the Londoners' 3-2 victory in Amsterdam. Not only because of Moura’s perfect hat-trick, which propelled his Spurs into a Champions League* final for the first time, 2019 is a memorable year for the club: just a few weeks earlier, on April 3, the new Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in London was inaugurated. From the very beginning, fischer was involved, helping with the right fastening solutions as well as expertise and consulting to make the dream of England’s most modern arena a reality.
* In the 2019 Champions League final, Tottenham Hotspur lost to FC Liverpool 0-2.

Technical Masterpiece: The New Tottenham Hotspur Stadium

The new home of the Spurs sets new standards in stadium construction: it features a football pitch that can be retracted under the stands, an American football field underneath, the longest bar in Europe, and the largest single-tier stand in England, accommodating 17,500 spectators. When the fans sing "When the Spurs go marching in," the sound is overwhelming. Due to the special acoustic requirements and the height of the ceilings, sliding ceiling connections were needed for all walls. "These were installed with our brand-new concrete screw ULTRACUT FBS II at the time. It was the first time we sold this product in the UK; the ULTRACUT FBS II were installed at Tottenham Stadium immediately after the product launch," says Dave Minton with pride.

He heads the technical sales at fischer in the UK and is responsible for major projects such as the construction of the new Tottenham Stadium. "We were the primary supplier for the technical and electrical fit-out as well as for a large part of the stadium's interior fittings." In addition to the ULTRACUT FBS II concrete screws, the EA II impact anchors were mainly used here to secure sprinkler systems, cable trays, and similar installations.

fischer delivers the service along with the product

„We were able to outperform the competitors in the facade installation because we saved the customer real money,“ says Dave Minton. „It’s not necessarily about having the cheapest products. Thanks to our consulting, problems are identified and solved as early as possible. This saves costs during installation.“ For the facade, the designers had only planned through bolts, although calculations showed that there are dynamic loads at certain points. „We immediately noticed during the design phase that the planned through bolts were not sufficient. We advised our customers that a dynamic anchor must be used instead. They ultimately decided on our Highbond anchor rod FHB II.“ If the facade had been installed with the wrong fasteners, everything would have had to be removed and reinstalled. This would have resulted in significant construction delays.

„It is important that we have the most innovative and powerful products. But to complete a project as punctually as possible, the service around the product is just as important,“ says Minton. „In Great Britain, for safety-relevant or structural fastenings, we work according to the so-called BS-8539 standard. All installers must be trained in it, otherwise five percent of the fastenings must be subsequently checked by the manufacturer.“ For the stadium construction, fischer therefore offered free training for all installers. „Our project team arrives at the construction site in the morning and the training is completed by noon,“ says Minton. After that, the fischer employees only visit the site occasionally to check if everything is in order. „We ensure that the anchors are installed correctly from the start, instead of having to correct possible errors later on with great effort. This significantly reduces downtime on the construction site.“

The success story for fischer continues

“It was a great honour for us to be involved in the construction of the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium,” says Minton in conclusion. “Apart from Wembley Stadium, there is nothing comparable in the UK.” The project is already having a wide impact: “Together with several contractors, we have thereby won the contract for the new Google headquarters in London.” The fastening specialist fischer also supplies the electrical and technical contractor there.

fischer product highlights:

Perfect for use in the Tottenham Stadium project