Our glory in World Cup football stadium

Jun 25 2009 by Andrew Mernin, The Journal

IF England's footballers make their trademark quarter final exit at next Summer's World Cup, few travelling Brits may get to see the impressive Moses Mabhida stadium in Durban.

The 70,000-seat arena which dominates the South African east coast city’s skyline will be a key venue at the tournament, hosting one of the semi-final games.

However, as the stadium fills up for the penultimate competitive match – no doubt with more than a few Argentinians, Brazilians, Germans or Spaniards – one North East company will have reason to celebrate its achievements.

For Washington-based Tanfield Group, which makes electrical vehicles and powered access platforms, has played a major role in getting the iconic venue ready for the biggest sporting event on the planet.

The company’s Upright boom vehicles have been used to lift construction workers to high areas to carry out tasks in the building process. Eazi Access Rental – a sister company of Tanfield’s distributor in South Africa, Eazi Sales and Service – is renting the telescopic boom lifts to contractors working on the stadium.

Eazi Sales and Service director Larry Smith said: “This is a prestigious contract and we are delighted to be contributing to a major new landmark for Durban. We carefully select the right lifts for the job and in this instance it was the UpRight SB85J.

“The machine is really robust, copes easily with the demands of the work site and is one of the most reliable boom lifts in our fleet.

“The Moses Mabhida stadium will be one of the main venues for the 2010 World Cup and will host one of the semi-final matches – which is a shame for England fans because they won’t get the chance to experience it first hand.” In a similar fashion to the new Wembley stadium, the South African arena will have a 350-metre arch that rises 106 metres above the pitch.

It will also house a viewing platform, accessible by cable car, to give brave visitors panoramic views of Durban.

Tanfield employs about 250 people in the North East and an additional 250 across its numerous international operations in the US, Japan and Australasia.

The machine is really robust … and is one of the most reliable boom lifts in our fleet.