Commonwealth Games at Birmingham

[eMeS]

Wow!! I've just seen the lists of road closures, No Parking etc. for areas close to the Stadium! I hope those affected think it is all worth it!

 

[Mike395]

From everything I've seen, local sentiment towards the Games is largely positive - though that's more at a general West Midlands level vs those just around the Alexander Stadium. A lot of those involved with the logistics are the same as for London 2012/Glasgow 2014 so there's a fair chunk of experience there, including in terms of how to appease concerns of residents.

Should be a good 10 days of sport - looking forward to it!

 

[duncanp]

Wow!! I've just seen the lists of road closures, No Parking etc. for areas close to the Stadium! I hope those affected think it is all worth it!

Not to mention some of the bus diversions (for "security reasons") which cause considerable inconvenience to those affected, including me.

But you won't see that on the news, or hear anything about it from the games officials, who have their taxis and transport all laid on.

Some of the hotels along Broad Street are charging £300 per night for rooms that would normally be under £100, and they are all fully booked.

 

[ABB125]

I live in one of the restricted areas (around the University of Birmingham), and to be honest it's not really affecting me that much (the only impact was that they blocked off one of my highly-frequented walking routes in/out of the university). At some point today they flipped over the restricted access road signs, so it's now residents only for much of Selly Oak*. Personally I'm far more interested in the logistics and operation of the event. For example, the power distribution arrangements for the hockey pitch. Based on a couple of exploratory walks, there are three main power sources - one near the old engineering building, one outside one of the physics buildings, and one in the sports centre. From each of these, several sets of 3-phase cabling run to various locations around the hockey pitch. It's rather chunky single core cables, ie: each phase is an individual cable, along with neutral and earth. Here's a picture of some of the cable being installed:

I think these are rated at 500A each (I did have a close look a month or two ago, but can't remember the core area. Yes, I'm sad like that! ). I think in total there are ten sets of 3-phase, so a potential maximum current of 5000A, which is around 2MW of power (it's 3-phase, so ~400V). You could power a short EMU with that! Whilst I think there is some duplication of supplies (ie: power distribution point X has a supply from two different supply points) for safety, I'm struggling to think what all that power is needed for. All the lighting is (very, very bright!) LED, and even if each individual floodlight uses 1kW (which I think is unlikely), there's no more than 120 of them, so no more than 120kW use for lighting. The PA system shouldn't use more than 50kW (which again, I'm confident in saying is an overestimate, it's not a rock concert!**). I've spotted a large video wall, but that won't be more than a couple of kW. Catering vehicles will probably use a fair amount, but probably not more than 100kW. The only other thing I can think of is broadcast equipment (and I did notice what might be a transmission aerial being installed); I'll admit that broadcast isn't something I know much about, but I wouldn't have thought this uses more than a few hundred kW?***
Anyway, enough of my slightly nerdy rambling! Here are a few pictures taken during construction of the hockey arena (can everyone agree that the angled floodlight towers look horribly like they're about to fall over?):


*Residents in affected streets were sent letters explaining that restrictions would be put in place and that permits would need to be applied for. However, Birmingham City Council did this before 1 July. This is relevant because maybe half the population of Selly Oak moves house on 1 July! So if (like me) you moved from somewhere outside the restricted area to inside, you would have no idea that permits would be needed until too late. (Fortunately, they put up the signs (facing the wrong way, ie: the blank back face facing forwards) about two weeks ago. Because I'm the kind of person who takes an interest is things like this, I did a bit of research and discovered the permit scheme. My permit arrive yesterday, the restrictions started today as mentioned. Most people won't have been so fortunate...)
**Let's suppose that they're an using l'Accoustics PA system. You can run six LA8 amps off a 32A 3-phase supply; this will power 36 KARA speakers, or 12 K1 speakers, which would be sufficient. Let's say that they're using double that, because all sound engineers like to have extra gear. Add another three LA8s to power 12 SB28s (subwoofers), and you have a pretty decent sound system. Which comes to about around 30kW. And for this type of event nowhere near full power will be needed.
***A typical analogue TV broadcast transmitter has (or rather had!) a 100kW output. I'm not sure how this translates to electrical power though...

 

[headshot119]

***A typical analogue TV broadcast transmitter has (or rather had!) a 100kW output. I'm not sure how this translates to electrical power though...

If it assists you I'm a licensed radio amateur, the transceiver I have on my desk requires 23Amps @ 13.8V DC for 100 W of RF output.

 

[eMeS]

I live in one of the restricted areas (around the University of Birmingham), and to be honest it's not really affecting me that much (the only impact was that they blocked off one of my highly-frequented walking routes in/out of the university). ......I'll admit that broadcast isn't something I know much about, but I wouldn't have thought this uses more than a few hundred kW?***
...Anyway, enough of my slightly nerdy rambling! Here are a few pictures taken during construction of the hockey arena (can everyone agree that the angled floodlight towers look horribly like they're about to fall over?): ...

What an interesting insight to the necessary infrastructure!
I hope they have decent security, otherwise the copper may disappear before it gets any chance of powering the event! (Happened to the company I worked for many years ago! We were upgrading our electrical supplies over the Easter weekend, and a drum of heavyweight copper cable was stolen from our "MOD Approved Secure Site" - despite us having CCTV, barbed wired perimeter fencing etc.)

 

[ABB125]

What an interesting insight to the necessary infrastructure!

Thanks! I'd have loved to be involved from a technical point of view, but I have no idea how you actually get into doing that, and at the time they would have been looking for people, I basically had no experience in this field, so what I wrote is entirely based on walking round a few times with a friend who's also interested in this sort of thing. I think I might know someone who is involved in some capacity, so may at some point ask them about it...

I hope they have decent security, otherwise the copper may disappear before it gets any chance of powering the event! (Happened to the company I worked for many years ago! We were upgrading our electrical supplies over the Easter weekend, and a drum of heavyweight copper cable was stolen from our "MOD Approved Secure Site" - despite us having CCTV, barbed wired perimeter fencing etc.)

If I'd been so inclined, I could have easily "borrowed" a 50m length of that cable*. A lorry load of pallet crates full of the stuff was delivered, then the pallets dumped a few at a time in roughly the right place by a forklift. No security at all watching these!
*Notwithstanding the fact that this length of cable fills a pallet crate and weighs a good few hundred kilos. A 10m length of 63A 3-phase is bad enough!

If it assists you I'm a licensed radio amateur, the transceiver I have on my desk requires 23Amps @ 13.8V DC for 100 W of RF output.

That's about 320W, so approximately 2/3 of the input power is wasted. Whether the same applies to bigger transmitters I'm not sure!

 

[birchesgreen]

Really exciting, loving the vibe and feel so far. Really good chance to rebrand Brum.

 

[ABB125]

I'm bored, so I went and took some more pictures!
Here you can see the scale of the hockey arena. The floodlight towers which they've installed are absolutely massive!

Here's a close up of the lights (because that's the most interesting thing as far as I'm concerned...):

Meanwhile, some chunky anti-terrorist barriers have been installed next to the A38:

The university's AstroTurf pitch (and one of the tennis courts; the other tennis court is underneath the seating) has been turned into a food and beverage area:

Here's one of the power supplies (running two 3-phase lines):


And another power supply (five 3-phase lines!):

These are the crates the power cables were delivered in. I think it was one cable per crate...

Here's another floodlight shot. The column closest to the camera (but not the streetlight!) is one of the normal ones lighting the hockey pitches; all the others are temporary installations (did I mention that they're enormous?! )

For something slightly different, here's one of the parking restriction signs:


Unfortunately I couldn't get to some other vantage points as they're inside the security fence.

 

[birchesgreen]

I looked out my porch and got to see the Red Arrows after they crossed the stadium, wow thats cool.

Loving this ceremony, its amazing.

 

[tommy2215]

The opening ceremony is pretty good! In some ways quite like the London 2012 Olympics opening ceremony. Although that one comedian who said "the nation of Africa" was a bit cringey.

 

[Kite159]

Not to mention some of the bus diversions (for "security reasons") which cause considerable inconvenience to those affected, including me.

But you won't see that on the news, or hear anything about it from the games officials, who have their taxis and transport all laid on.

Some of the hotels along Broad Street are charging £300 per night for rooms that would normally be under £100, and they are all fully booked.

Its pay day for hotels in the Birmingham area, no doubt most other hotels will have been charging similar amounts for the extra demand.

Can't blame them for wanting to pocket a bit of extra cash, especially after the last 2 years

 

[DarloRich]

God there are some miserable so and so's around! It is a short term issue which will go away. Just enjoy it!

Enjoying the opening show. Some top flight flag action and only one country defeated my geographical knowledge!

 

[E759]

Great to see Robert Stephenson’s Curzon Street roundhouse of 1837 featured heavily in the show.

 

[DelayRepay]

I lived in London during the 2012 Olympics and loved it. Before the games, there was a huge amount of fuss about potential travel disruption, over crowding, security issues etc, but that all went away. I have some great memories of that summer, and I'm not even a particularly sporty person.

 

[J-2739]

I'm bored, so I went and took some more pictures!
Here you can see the scale of the hockey arena. The floodlight towers which they've installed are absolutely massive!
View attachment 118319View attachment 118320View attachment 118321
Here's a close up of the lights (because that's the most interesting thing as far as I'm concerned...):
View attachment 118323
Meanwhile, some chunky anti-terrorist barriers have been installed next to the A38:
View attachment 118324
The university's AstroTurf pitch (and one of the tennis courts; the other tennis court is underneath the seating) has been turned into a food and beverage area:
View attachment 118325View attachment 118326
Here's one of the power supplies (running two 3-phase lines):
View attachment 118327View attachment 118328

And another power supply (five 3-phase lines!):
View attachment 118329View attachment 118330View attachment 118331
These are the crates the power cables were delivered in. I think it was one cable per crate...
View attachment 118332
Here's another floodlight shot. The column closest to the camera (but not the streetlight!) is one of the normal ones lighting the hockey pitches; all the others are temporary installations (did I mention that they're enormous?! )
View attachment 118333
For something slightly different, here's one of the parking restriction signs:
View attachment 118334

Unfortunately I couldn't get to some other vantage points as they're inside the security fence.

These are some nice pictures of the infrastructure, although I agree that the anti-terrorist barriers look rather imposing. Hopefully that should only be temporary.

I'm down in Birmingham next week, so I may as well have a glance at these different installations myself!

God there are some miserable so and so's around! It is a short term issue which will go away. Just enjoy it!

Enjoying the opening show. Some top flight flag action and only one country defeated my geographical knowledge!

Which country was that?

 

[DarloRich]

Which country was that?

Vanuatu - I had it placed in the Tonga/Nuie/Cook islands area ( it is actually between Australia and Fiji) Estwatini almost did me but then I recalled it used to be called Swaziland

best flag? Seychelles or Kiribati

 

[Calthrop]

Vanuatu - I had it placed in the Tonga/Nuie/Cook islands area ( it is actually between Australia and Fiji) Estwatini almost did me but then I recalled it used to be called Swaziland

best flag? Seychelles or Kiribati

Re Vanuatu:
The islands of the New Hebrides; before independence in 1980, were jointly administered by the UK and France: called then, the Condominium of the N.H. The British / French "joint" arrangement didn't work all that smoothly -- local punsters substituted the word "Pandemonium", for "Condominium".

 

[gg1]

These are some nice pictures of the infrastructure, although I agree that the anti-terrorist barriers look rather imposing. Hopefully that should only be temporary.

Probably just temporary.

They look much like the barriers used around the area of the German market at christmas, I suspect they actually are same ones which have been taken out of storage for the games.

 

[westv]

I did see one para athlete interviewed on the tv the other day and he was saying he would have preferred the para event to have remained separate.

 

[davehsug]

Shamethat we don't have extra streams on the tv as we do for the olympics. Virgin have just one HD red button channel. It's a shame because as usual, the BBC prefer to spend time talking about sport rather than actually showing it.

 

[Mike395]

Shamethat we don't have extra streams on the tv as we do for the olympics. Virgin have just one HD red button channel. It's a shame because as usual, the BBC prefer to spend time talking about sport rather than actually showing it.

Every sport is being shown, in full, on the BBC Sport website, but yes agree the lack of TV Red Button coverage is a bit poor.

On an unrelated note - transport to venues/the city generally today I suspect is going to be fun with no WMR services running. On my way to the hockey, Avanti between Wolverhampton and Birmingham is already full and standing even at this time of the morning!

 

[duncanp]

On an unrelated note - transport to venues/the city generally today I suspect is going to be fun with no WMR services running. On my way to the hockey, Avanti between Wolverhampton and Birmingham is already full and standing even at this time of the morning!

The trams are running between Wolverhampton and Birmingham today if that is of any use, although they will be terminating at Bull Street until 15:00 due to the marathon.

 

[Mike395]

The trams are running between Wolverhampton and Birmingham today if that is of any use, although they will be terminating at Bull Street until 15:00 due to the marathon.

Thank you - that’ll probably be my route back later! Was very smooth getting to the University, they’ve put on additional shuttles from outside New St today for ticket holders.

 

[duncanp]

Thank you - that’ll probably be my route back later! Was very smooth getting to the University, they’ve put on additional shuttles from outside New St today for ticket holders.

You can actually avoid the city centre by getting National Express West Midlands bus no 48 from University Station to West Bromwich, from where you pick up the tram to Wolverhampton.

National Express West Midlands buses X21 and X22 will also be running from University Station to New Street station.

Travel on these bus services is free with a Commonwealth Games event ticket.

 

[dosxuk]

Shamethat we don't have extra streams on the tv as we do for the olympics. Virgin have just one HD red button channel. It's a shame because as usual, the BBC prefer to spend time talking about sport rather than actually showing it.

You don't get the extra streams for the Olympics any more - the IOC's deal with Eurosport means that the BBC is limited to one red button stream (broadcast and online) and one presented stream.

The extra broadcast streams for the London Olympics was always going to be a one off, with most of the capacity being donated by Sky / Virgin, freed up from reducing other services. During London 2012 that made commercial sense for them, but it doesn't for the Commonwealth games.

All of the individual sport feeds are available through the website and on smart TVs - this is already the standard way of distributing this sort of on-demand coverage at it can be done cost effectively.

 

[Runningaround]

From everything I've seen, local sentiment towards the Games is largely positive - though that's more at a general West Midlands level vs those just around the Alexander Stadium. A lot of those involved with the logistics are the same as for London 2012/Glasgow 2014 so there's a fair chunk of experience there, including in terms of how to appease concerns of residents.

Should be a good 10 days of sport - looking forward to it!

The turnout for the Marathons look low, I've seen more spectators at the GB Rally and Tour of Britain Cycle races that are held in low populated rural areas, has the Rail Strikes killed the crowd?
I don't know why the route was chosen but it's not showing off Birmingham as a great place to visit they do a loop of the dullest areas or is it the best Birmingham has without 20 laps of the city centre. Marathons in London and New York tend to head around it's attractions. the routes of The Tour De France take the opportunity to show off. I can't think many viewers are going to pick Birmingham based off what they've seen from the games.

 

[eMeS]

The turnout for the Marathons look low, I've seen more spectators at the GB Rally and Tour of Britain Cycle races that are held in low populated rural areas, has the Rail Strikes killed the crowd?
I don't know why the route was chosen but it's not showing off Birmingham .....

I've dipped in two or three times, and found it a real turn-off. Hopefully, the coverage will be more telegenic in the next few days.

 

[Mike395]

Yes, caught a few minutes of the marathon in between matches and the streets were lacking the landmarks of somewhere like London or NYC, and spectators aside from the run into the centre!

On the plus side - the hockey is absolutely packed despite the strike which is good to see.

 

[davehsug]

You don't get the extra streams for the Olympics any more - the IOC's deal with Eurosport means that the BBC is limited to one red button stream (broadcast and online) and one presented stream.

The extra broadcast streams for the London Olympics was always going to be a one off, with most of the capacity being donated by Sky / Virgin, freed up from reducing other services. During London 2012 that made commercial sense for them, but it doesn't for the Commonwealth games.

All of the individual sport feeds are available through the website and on smart TVs - this is already the standard way of distributing this sort of on-demand coverage at it can be done cost effectively.

There were definitely lots of extra streams on Virgin for both Rio and Tokyo. It maybe that Tokyo was some form of agreement with Eurosprt/Discovery rather than the BBC.