Sportcomplex Glanerbrook

The project concerns the renovation and new construction of Sportcomplex Glanerbrook, located in Burgemeester Damenpark in Geleen. This renowned sports park has hosted a wide range of activities over the years: from horse racing to Pinkpop (the first 17 editions of this festival took place here), and from motorsports to football (the later-formed merger club Fortuna Sittard has its origins here).

In the late 1980s, the sports park underwent a major transformation with the addition of two sports halls, an indoor swimming pool, an ice rink, a 400‑metre outdoor ice track, and a velodrome with banked turns. This expansion transformed the park into Sportcomplex Glanerbrook as it existed prior to the current large-scale revitalisation.
The guiding principle for our work was “building while staying operational.” This required a phased execution and clear communication with our client: a diverse group of users, including both professional and recreational athletes (such as handball players, swimmers, figure skaters, speed skaters, and ice hockey players).

The first phase involved the sports halls, starting in May 2023. Due to the installation of solar panels, reinforcement of the existing steel trusses in the roof structure was required. In addition, the former velodrome grandstand was replaced by a two-storey extension housing, among other functions, the fitness centre.

In early 2024, construction began on both the new ice hockey arena and the new 50‑metre competition swimming pool. The roof structure of the ice hockey arena consists of a main truss (a two-part steel lattice truss) to which six secondary trusses are connected. This node, weighing approximately 2.5 tonnes, was prefabricated in advance in our structural steel workshop. The total weight of the main truss exceeds 31 tonnes, creating a free span of 47.5 × 68.0 metres.

The primary load-bearing structure of the 50‑metre competition pool consists of a combination of timber and steel. The roof is supported by eight laminated timber beams (resting on laminated timber columns integrated into the façade), each with a cross-section of 32 × 200 cm, a length of 34.5 metres, and a weight of 9.7 tonnes per beam. Each timber beam has a unique geometry due to the ridge line running diagonally across the swimming pool.

At the end of April 2024, construction also commenced on the canopy surrounding the 400‑metre outdoor ice track. This canopy, founded on 249 steel tubular piles, reduces the impact of weather conditions on ice quality, making outdoor skating possible for approximately six months per year (from October to March). The passerelle—over which the canopy has been “folded”—is a prominent element in the design of the renewed sports complex. It runs alongside and between the various building volumes and forms the connection from one side of the sports park to the other.

After the final (unfortunately lost) historic home match, the curtain fell for the home arena of ice hockey club Eaters, and the old ice rink could be demolished. This marked the start of the final construction phase in spring 2025: the realisation of the new main entrance and renovation of the indoor swimming pool. As a design optimisation, the existing concrete structure was largely retained and strengthened. A notable detail is that the prefabricated concrete grandstand elements from the former ice rink were reused as an external staircase in the area near the main entrance.

The steel structure, with a total weight of approximately 1,000 tonnes, contains over 27,500 bolted connections (ranging from M12 to M52) and has been fully executed in Execution Class CC3, with a unity check of 0.8 applied to key elements designated by the structural designer.

In addition to the steel structure, the concrete structures, building services (E & W), architectural finishes, and various large components (such as precast floors, precast walls, precast stairs and grandstand elements, water slide, movable pool floors, laminated timber columns and beams) were developed in 3D. These IFC models were combined into a coordinated overall model in Trimble Connect.

A sports complex of this scale traditionally consumes a large amount of energy. The ambition of the municipality of Sittard‑Geleen was to make Glanerbrook the first sports complex in the Netherlands to generate as much energy as it consumes. To achieve this, an intelligently integrated energy system was developed, consisting of, among other elements, approximately 5,200 solar panels, a battery with a storage capacity of 2,150 kWh, and an advanced Energy Management System (EMS). The strength of this system lies in the integration: generation, storage, and reuse are coordinated in real time via smart software. One of the most distinctive features of this energy system is the use of residual heat. The compressors used to produce ice also generate heat, which is reused to heat the showers and swimming pools (including the outdoor pool).