B of the Bang - Izeria

B of the Bang was a sculpture by Thomas Heatherwick next to the City of Manchester Stadium in east Manchester, England, commissioned to mark the 2002 Commonwealth Games. At 56 metres (184 ft) it was one of the tallest structures in Manchester and the tallest sculpture in the UK until the completion of Aspire in 2008. The sculpture took its name from a quotation of British sprinter Linford Christie, in which he said that he started his races not merely at the "bang" of the starting pistol, but at "the B of the Bang". The sculpture was commissioned in 2003; construction overran and the official unveiling was delayed until 12 January 2005. Six days before the launch, the sculpture suffered the first of three visible structural problems as the tip of one of the spikes detached and fell to the ground. Legal action to repair the sculpture was started by Manchester City Council a year later, resulting in an out-of-court settlement totalling £1.7 million. In 2009, Manchester City Council announced that the sculpture would be dismantled and placed in storage. Despite the promise of storage and potential reassembly, the core and legs of the sculpture were cut apart during removal. The core was sold for scrap in 2012, with the 180 spikes reported to have been placed in storage for an undecided future use.

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Bradford, Manchester

Bradford is a district of east Manchester, England, two miles north east of the city centre. The population at the 2011 census was 15,784. Historically in Lancashire, after the closure of its heavy industries Bradford was for many years an economically deprived area but has undergone regeneration with the building of the City of Manchester Stadium which hosted the 2002 Commonwealth Games and is now home to Manchester City F.C. Bradford is neighboured by Beswick to the south and the two areas are sometimes referred to as Bradford-with-Beswick. The River Medlock and the Ashton Canal run through Bradford.

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Velopark tram stop

Velopark is a tram stop on the East Manchester Line (EML) of Greater Manchester's light-rail Metrolink system. It opened on 11 February 2013, after a three-day free trial for local residents. The stop was constructed as part of Phase 3a of the Metrolink's expansion, and is located beside Manchester Velodrome, in Clayton, Manchester, England. During planning and construction phases, the stop was known as New East (for Velodrome) and as Sportcity-Velodrome.

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Academy Stadium

The Academy Stadium is a football stadium in Manchester, England, forming part of the Etihad Campus. In September 2023, the ground was renamed Joie Stadium for sponsorship reasons. Announced on 19 September 2011 as part of an 80-acre training facility to cater for around 400 youth players at a time, the campus was opened on 8 December 2014. The stadium, known simply as Academy Stadium, was inaugurated by students of the Manchester Metropolitan University, who played the first official games on the pitch on 14 December 2014. Academy Stadium is home to the men's Elite Development Squad and other senior academy teams, as well as to Manchester City Women, who also play select matches at the City of Manchester Stadium. Although not the biggest building of the facility, the Academy Stadium still features numerous facilities more common to larger stadia, including a press room, board room, offices and retail space. Situated only 400 metres from the City of Manchester Stadium, the Academy Stadium is linked to the mother ground via a 190-metre bridge across the intersection of Ashton New Road and Alan Turing Way. In 2016, it was used as one of the two venues for that year's World Rugby Under 20 Championship in rugby union. In 2022, it hosted some group stage matches during the UEFA Women's Euro.

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City of Manchester Stadium

The City of Manchester Stadium, currently known as Etihad Stadium for sponsorship reasons, is the home of Premier League club Manchester City, with a domestic football capacity of 53,600, making it the 7th-largest football stadium in England and 11th-largest in the United Kingdom. Built to host the 2002 Commonwealth Games, the stadium has since staged the 2008 UEFA Cup final, England football internationals, rugby league matches, a boxing world title fight, the England rugby union team's final group match of the 2015 Rugby World Cup and summer music concerts during the football off-season. The stadium, originally proposed as an athletics arena in Manchester's bid for the 2000 Summer Olympics, was converted after the 2002 Commonwealth Games from a 38,000 capacity arena to a 48,000 seat football stadium at a cost to the city council of £22 million and to Manchester City of £20 million. Manchester City agreed to lease the stadium from Manchester City Council and moved there from Maine Road in the summer of 2003. The stadium was built by Laing Construction at a cost of £112 million and was designed and engineered by Arup, whose design incorporated a cable-stayed roof structure and supported entirely by twelve exterior masts and cables. The stadium design has received much praise and many accolades, including an award from the Royal Institute of British Architects in 2004 for its innovative inclusive building design and a special award in 2003 from the Institution of Structural Engineers for its unique structural design. In August 2015, a 7,000-seat third tier on the South Stand was completed, in time for the start of the 2015–16 football season. A £300 million redevelopment programme of the existing North Stand entailing the construction of a new hotel with 400 rooms, covered fan park for 3,000 people and increased net capacity to approximately 61,000 commenced in July 2023 and is projected to be completed by the end of 2026.

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