Saertex supplies non-crimp fabrics materials for Real Madrid’s new stadium roof

Construction work has been in progress since 2019 on the Estadio Santiago Bernabeu, the home stadium of 14-time European Cup and Champions League winners Real Madrid. The project’s aim is to transform the football stadium situated in the heart of the Spanish capital and which was built back in 1947, into a multi-functional arena with a 360° video screen, a new external façade and a retractable sliding roof over the pitch.

During the course of February 2023, the 36 lightweight beams of this innovative sliding roof structure were installed in the stadium. These mobile roof structure support members were manufactured by Spanish composite specialist Nanotures using carbon and glass fiber materials supplied by Saertex from Saerbeck, Germany. Opening and closing the roof structure – including the membranes that are still to be installed between the lightweight beams – protects the entire arena against the effects of wind and weather.

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“The Santiago Bernabeu Stadium is an absolutely iconic venue in world football. And we are very proud that our material has contributed to this gigantic innovation project,” says Daniel Stumpp, Head of Global Marketing at Saertex.

The retractable roof structure above the playing field complements the stadium’s covered seating area, which has also been fully renovated. The 36 lightweight beams of the retractable roof structure each measure 25 meters in length. In each case, 3 beams are connected to form main beams that are 75 meters long. Being part of the movable roof means they must be lightweight and energy-efficient. So the components were manufactured from carbon and glass fiber reinforcements – so called non-crimp fabrics – balsa wood and an epoxy resin, using the vacuum infusion process.

This year’s prestigious JEC Composites Innovation Awards, one of the most important innovation prizes in the composites industry, were presented in Paris on March 2, 2023. Winning projects in eleven different fields received awards. In the category “Building & Civil Engineering” the award went to Nanotures, Saertex and other partnering companies for the “A Composite Roof for the Stadium of Real Madrid” project.

“A fascinating project! But to also win the most important innovation award in our industry for this is something very special,” says Christoph Geyer CEO at Saertex. “Congratulations to Nanotures and thanks to our many partners. And I would also like to personally thank the many Saertex colleagues who were involved in this project.”

This is the third time in the 25-year tradition of the competition that Saertex has been one of the winners. Following 2014, with the MAPRETEC project in the “Renewable Energy” category, and 2017 with Brødrene Aa for the “Vision of the Fjords” in the “Marine” category – this is the first time Saertex has won the JEC Composites Innovation Award in the “Building & Civil Engineering” category.

Discover the JEC Composites Innovation Awards winners in each category: The JEC Composites Innovation Awards winners revealed