September 08, 2008

Rautaruukki to supply steel for new FC Zenit stadium

Rautaruukki has signed a major contract to deliver steel structures for the new Zenit football stadium at St Petersburg in Russia. The contract is a unit price delivery valued at a total of around EUR 100 million and is the biggest steel structure delivery in Rautaruukki's history. The project investor is the city government and the main contractor LLC Avant.

Deliveries of steel structures for the stand will begin in April 2008 and continue until October 2008. The first football game at the new Zenit stadium will be in spring 2009. The stadium will have a total of 60,000 seats. The truss like stand structures to be delivered by Rautaruukki weigh a total of 23 000 tonnes.

The structures will be made partly at Ruukki’s own facilities in Obninsk and Balabanovo in Russia and partly by subcontractors. The biggest support structures to be delivered to the stadium are 50 meters high and weigh over 60 tonnes. The metals used for the structures will be sourced mainly from Russian suppliers.

Mr Saku Sipola president of Ruukki Construction said that “Cooperation with the city of St Petersburg strengthens our position as a dependable partner capable of making reliable deliveries to very demanding customers. This is also an excellent example of the strategic progress we are making to be the industry leader in steel construction in Europe.”

Mr Gregory Feldman GM of LLC Avant said that “Ruukki was the best choice of partner. We chose Ruukki because of its worldwide reputation and top quality products. Ruukki is also able to produce a large volume of challenging structures to very tight schedule.”

Ruukki has sound experience of steel structure supplies for sports complexes and arenas. Since 2006, Ruukki has delivered materials, roof structures, panels, façades, including installation, for a number of arenas in Sweden, Russia and Latvia.