The MK Dons’ excellent new stadium is a massive step up from the temporary home they inhabited on their initial move away from Wimbledon.
Opened in July 2007 and located on the Denbigh North site in Milton Keynes between Grafton Street, Saxon Street and the A5, the venue was designed by world-renowned architect HOK Sport – the company responsible for the widely celebrated Emirates Stadium (the home of Arsenal FC) and, of course, the new Wembley Stadium.
MK Dons chairman Pete Winkelman – the successful music entrepreneur who conceived the innovative stadium, having provided a continual lifeline to homeless Wimbledon FC during their move to Buckinghamshire – was keen to create a top quality venue that would attract major events while at the same time playing host to MK Dons FC.
Expansion plans accommodated
HOK Sport has devised a scaleable venue for team manager Roberto di Matteo (the former Chelsea star who lines up alongside another Chelsea ‘old boy’, Eddie Newton, the assistant manager) that can be expanded from its current capacity of 22,000 seats to 31,000 seats when required. 60 pitch view hospitality boxes are also in the plans.
Eventually, there’s going to be a 128-room four star hotel on the site, conference and banqueting facilities and an indoor arena boasting an audience capacity of up to 5,000.
In order to meet current UEFA standards, the stadium also had to have the appropriate safety and security infrastructure to monitor and control crowds in an effective manner.
Centrally-managed network video
Sony Professional – a division of Sony (UK) – was selected to provide a “cutting edge network video monitoring system” for the stadium. The system includes 26 SNC-RX550 and four RZ25P network video cameras, all of which may be managed centrally via an IP network from a PC web browser.
“We believe the security system we’ve chosen is of a high quality and very reliable,” commented Sue Dawson, executive director for the MK Dons. “Now, we’re benefiting from an easy-to-use and highly scaleable system that can be rapidly expanded as and when necessary.”
The SNC-RX550 is an award-winning high performance network camera with 360 degree endless rotation. Models’ 26x optical zoom is said to “ensure exceptional image clarity on small or distant objects”.
Intelligent motion detection guaranteed
All SNC-RX Series network dome cameras feature built-in intelligent object detection and intelligent motion detection as standard, while the day/night function guarantees clear images even in ambient lighting conditions as low as 0.15 lux.
The CNC-RZ25P is a network camera with PTZ capabilities, ideal for web casting and remote-monitoring applications. In truth, it’s appropriate for just about any location from train stations through to big sports arenas like the MK Dons’ stadium. That should allow the players – who include former West Ham United midfielder Luke Chadwick and ex-Chelsea striker Tore Andre Flo – and spectators alike to feel safe and secure on match days.