ALL FOR ONE as the Singapore Sports Hub consortium came together to present their plan to replace the 34-year-old National Stadium. From left: Mark Collins (vice-president, Global Spectrum), Teoh Hai Pin (director, DP Architects), J. Parrish (director, Arup Sport), Ludwig Reichhold (managing director, Dragages Singapore) and Lynn Tho (director, project and export finance, HSBC). -- ST PHOTO: DESMOND LIM

But Master Chong Swan Lek can boast one of the bidders for the estimated $800 million Sports Hub project as a customer.

The Singapore Sports Hub (SSH) group was so serious in ensuring that its design would be in harmony with the local landscape, it consulted Chong last year.

The fengshui practitioner gave his approval, saying that SSH's dome-shaped stadium resembled a turtle and thus conveyed a sense of longevity.

Said DP Architects' Teoh Hai Pin, one of SSH's main designers: 'Chong added that our stadium's orientation towards the city would enhance the financial centre's vibrancy for the next 100 years.'

The SSH group, Alpine and SingaporeGold (SG), the three consortia bidding to build the Sports Hub at Kallang, unveiled their long-anticipated designs and proposals to the media last Monday.

The evaluation process by the Singapore Sports Council is ongoing, with the winner to be announced in January.

The Sports Hub will replace the 34-year-old National Stadium as the nerve centre of local sports when completed in 2011.

Monday's hour-long presentation was the culmination of three years of effort, said Ludwig Reichhold, the consortium's head.

The managing director of Dragages Singapore had begun recruiting firms for the project in late 2004, a process completed only about one-and-a-half years later.

'It was long, but it's like cooking soup. You have to find the right ingredients,' said Reichhold.

'The idea was to build up a fundamentally sound team. One that shared the vision of creating not only an iconic facility, but also one which would be a catalyst to change Singapore's sporting culture through good community-based programmes.'

Common vision aside, there were heated debates and meetings that stretched past midnight - no thanks to the few hundred people and 26 firms involved in SSH's bid.

Companies from the legal, financial, construction, operational facilities and architectural industries were all part of the consortium.

Naturally, the first key point of contention was over the stadium's design.

This was around the middle of last year, when about 50 members gathered in a conference room.

Different sketches were made, and a horseshoe stadium - similar to the SG proposal - was even considered.

Another major discussion - whether the 55,000-seater stadium should be a showpiece like Munich's Allianz Arena, or designed as part of a collection of buildings within the Sports Hub.

After three months, a consensus was finally reached on both issues.

The stadium would take a dome shape and blend in with the other required buildings - an aquatic centre and multi-purpose indoor arena, plus the existing Indoor Stadium, by using the same materials.

The basic masterplan and initial sketch were then conceptualised with Arup Sport's J. Parrish, one of the architects for the Allianz and Beijing's Olympic 'Bird's Nest' Stadium.

Further debates followed.

Said Parrish: 'How far away the seats should be from the pitch, whether we should have a moving lower tier, all these were considered.'

Everything had to be optimised using parametric software to ensure the most cost-effective facility.

'For instance, just raising the height of the first row of seats by 100 millimetres of the Beijing Olympic Stadium would result in the cost rising by millions of dollars,' said Parrish, who has over 30 years of experience designing stadiums.

It did not help that the consortium's members are based around the globe - from London to Singapore, Paris, Melbourne, San Francisco and Hong Kong.

To get around this, Dragages came up with a website which allowed members to send, retrieve and view the drawings online.

One of the biggest challenges in the whole process, recalled Teoh, was creating a stadium for the tropics as there was no real reference to turn to.

The final proposal was completed earlier this year.

Said Mark Collins, vice-president of facility operators Global Spectrum: 'Even if we didn't agree in the first five minutes, there would always be a consensus in all our decisions.

'It wasn't just one member leading the team, and that was key. Everyone got involved and had their say - whether it was a financial, design or facility man.'

Master Chong can attest to that.

limze@sph.com.sg