Tondiraba Ice Arena wins Concrete Building of the Year title

The Estonian Concrete Association has picked the Tondiraba Ice Arena as its building of the year for 2014. The judges’ panel said it was an architecturally simple and attractive as well as technically complicated building, built in smooth and constructive cooperation, and that the ice arena stands out in terms of making multifaceted use of concrete.

Merko Ehitus Estonia won the award for construction and concrete work, and the grand prize went to Kadarik Tüür Arhitektid OÜ, the contractor prize went to the Tallinn city sport and youth department, the structural engineer award to Civen OÜ and Novarc Group AS, the concrete prize to E-Betoonelement AS, Rudus AS, HC Betoon AS and the formwork award to Peri AS.

The jury said that it is an aesthetically enjoyable sports hall – complicated from the engineering standpoint and featuring multifunctional possibilities – which stands out from other Nordic ice arenas in terms of being more thoroughly designed. The chairman of the jury, Aadu Kana, said the Tondiraba Ice Arena was especially outstanding for its diverse use of concrete and the very high quality of the concrete work; in addition he said Tondiraba Ice Arena has successfully fused concrete and wood.

The Tondiraba Ice Arena is full of extraordinary solutions, from the 4,500 reinforced concrete elements, 2,000 square metre seamless concrete floor to the imposing 62-metre span wooden girders. A total of 9,400 m³ of concrete and 1,400 m³ of glulam was used.

Thirteen entries vied for this year’s award. The competition was open to concrete buildings and structures and processes used within such buildings delivered to customers in 2014. The jury comprised representatives from associations in the Estonian construction sector.