Tricon Foodservice Consultants are proud to announce their involvement in six of the eight stadiums for the Qatar FIFA World Cup 2022.

The projects have been eight years in the making, with Tricon’s appointment coming soon after Qatar’s successful bid in 2014. Tricon were already known to many of the contractors and architects involved as a result of having worked on many other stadia projects globally. Tricon’s team provided strategic planning guidance, ultimately leading to development of an F&B strategy and design for each stadium, which was then refined and implemented over the next seven years.

Whilst Qatar’s Supreme Committee for Delivery & Legacy oversaw all the tournament’s venues, each job was a separate entity. Tricon’s work varied across each stadium, with different design teams working on each project, but the same principle applied across all; to build not just a stadium, but a community around it. The tournament is being used to regenerate the area, with its longevity reaching far beyond the final match.

Each of the stadiums has a ‘legacy’ plan, taking its use from international stadium to club and community use. One stadium in particular, Stadium 974 (previously known as Ras Abu Aboud), has been constructed using shipping containers, meaning it literally slots into the framework. Its design means it can be taken apart, transported anywhere around the world, and put back together again. Whilst a unique and adaptable layout, the practicalities of putting workable catering kitchens into container units was a huge challenge, and a first for Tricon!

The container units allowed for set dimensions which were easy to plan for, but there were also limitations to the design. The containers had been pre-wired during their construction for general gas and electrical connections. However, when it came to fitting catering equipment, a number of challenges and adaptations had to be made, including shallow canopies with ventilation directly above, and drainage also had to be kept to a minimum.

Tricon’s Senior Design Lead, Stuart Wilcox said, “We were literally developing the standard when it came to the Stadium 974 design; there was no precedent to work to. Whilst it may appear like a removable kitchen, the principles of the shipping container design are not the same as a purpose-built commercial kitchen. It was huge challenge for the whole team, from design to installation, but we made it work.”

Each of the stadiums, Al Rayyan, Stadium 974, Al Thumama, Al Wakrah, Lusail and the Qatar Foundation Stadium, feature commissary kitchens and satellite kitchens around the stadiums. In many cases, one is servicing another, and they all need to work together, succinctly and to local standards. Many countries in the Gulf region adhere to a Municipality Food Code which sets high standards for kitchens and support areas, particularly in relation to segregation of clean and dirty flows. The Code requires physical segregation of incoming food from outgoing waste and a one-way flow through the kitchen without crossover. There is some compromise allowed between physical segregation and time segregation via the use of management controls. For example, in many of the stadiums, corridors and lifts can be used for incoming food supplies and waste can be removed via the same routes, but the two must not crossover.

Having delivered work on such high-profile projects, Tricon cannot wait for the World Cup finals to begin and see their designs at work. Wilcox surmises, “The team have been working on these designs for so long, it’s going to be a proud moment for the entire company when the tournament begins. We hope to win some of the legacy tenders following the event and work with the next set of contractors and architects to turn the stadiums into venues to be enjoyed for generations to come.”

Further details of Tricon’s involvement at each stadium can be found here: FIFA WORLD CUP QATAR 2022