“We Are One Family, We Are Buffalo” is the motto of KAA Gent, Ghent’s soccer club, whose stadium was built with steel from ArcelorMittal. The steel roof of this multifunctional stadium was produced in Ghent and the steel beams in Luxembourg. The Artevelde Stadium is best known as a soccer stadium and is now called Planet Group Arena. It not only has 20,000 seats for soccer matches but also houses offices, shops, restaurants, and numerous events.
The Artevelde Stadium: steel as the key to an iconic roof
Steel was the ideal choice for the impressive roof structure thanks to its strength and lightness.
Sandwich panels, which are steel sheets with insulation material in between, were used to finish the roof. The panels were made from an organically coated material with strong corrosion resistance, produced by ArcelorMittal in Ghent. The result is a modern, weather-resistant roofing solution that perfectly matches the architectural design of the stadium.
Our steel was preferred over aluminum.
In addition to the stadium, the architects also designed two office towers and the Brico Plan-It store. ArcelorMittal supplied approximately 5,000 m² of Hairplan for the store's façade. Due to the proximity of the stadium, the customer wanted a highly resistant material in case of vandalism and therefore opted for steel instead of aluminum. The panels are coated, giving the building an iridescent blue-purple effect.
