King’s Box Retractable Balustrade - Sports City Stadium, Saudi Arabia

The King’s box features sliding glass doors that open to enable the spectators and camera crews to watch the King present the winners’ trophy. A reinforced glass balustrade protects the players from the 2m drop through the doors.

For the first few months after the stadium’s opening, the top of the balustrade’s metal frame restricted the King’s view, so an alternative solution was required. SCX Special Projects engineered a retractable balustrade that integrated into the existing sliding door controls, raising and lowering in sync with the door motion.

SCX Special Projects integrated the new balustrade into the existing electrical control system for the sliding doors. The system runs in a set sequence to ensure that a safety barrier remains in place at all times: the balustrade raises and the doors only open once the balustrade is in place; the doors then close before the balustrade lowers. Limit switches trigger the start and end points of each motion and the whole system is operated by a fool-proof, failsafe push-to-run button.

The 6m x 2m balustrade features a stainless steel frame that extends 1.5m below the toughened glass, enabling the guide tracks to remain hidden.

The players and journalists enter the box via a set of internal stairs and are protected by the balustrade as they are greeted by the King.

The <400kg balustrade is driven by a single motor connected to a lay shaft that feeds two linear actuators to the guide tracks on either side, ensuring that it remains level during raising and lowering.

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