De Kuip

Bolidt News

De Kuip

Feyenoord stadium “De Kuip” is hypermodern. Its history goes far back. Out of a small alternative the vision for a stadium such as De Kuip was born, meant for some 60.000 spectators. According to ‘the legend’ former President Van Zandvliet had a dream in the middle of the night and wrote down ‘two hanging stands” on a bloc note. A humble, but remarkable beginning of what would turn out to be one of the most beautiful and well-known stadiums of The Netherlands. Back then people were wondering if this nightly inspiration would even be possible and why Feyenoord would need such a large stadium. However…over and over again history has been written in it and the use of the stadium is just as endless.

The construction has been inspired by other stadiums. During the run-up of the build architects Brinkman and Van der Vlugt, who took the Feyenoord project over from Brinksman’s late father, visited many stadiums worldwide. Primarily the Arsenal stadium and the one from the New York Yankees made an impression. In July 1935, construction workers started with the Feyenoord stadium and in March 1937 already the opening game took place, even 8 months after the build was completed. Around the eighties De Kuip was antiquated, with overdue maintenance and insufficient room for facilities. It was a matter of new build or renovation. The decision was to renovate and in order to avoid demolition in the future, De Kuip got a well-earned spot on the monuments list of Rotterdam in 1991. The large renovation took place in 1994 and was completed in an admirable time of only six months.

The costs were, however, no less than 120 million guilder. The result was the covering of the stadium and the Maas building, which is connected to the stadium by a footbridge and which is a well-known Congress & Events centre nowadays. The Maas building exists of several conference rooms, offices, a restaurant and the ‘Home of History” Feyenoord Museum. It turns out the renovation was definitely worth its time and money. The stadium has received a 5-star status, which means it meets the highest quality standards.

Yet again in 2008 it is time for another change. Break out, enlarge and refresh was the motto of former Feyenoord coach Verbeek.

Under his supervision the players home was renewed: dressing rooms, doctors- and physics area, laundry and fitness rooms as well as the showers. Bolidt installed its Bolidtop^® 525 flooring system in all of these spaces, with an anti-slip finish in the showers of course. Earlier Bolidt applied a coating on the stands of the Feyenoord stadium to give them a healthy long life. All that makes Bolidt a reliable supplier for Feyenoord, a helping hand in maintaining this unique stadium. Vice versa is Feyenoord a stadium of pleasure to Bolidt: a large number of Bolidt employees owns a season ticket and can be found in De Kuip almost every week. Hand in hand, companions!