After an exile of 245 days, the Bayer 04 players returned to their sports arena. Following a two year renovation programme, the stadium now meets the latest standards. The new disc-shaped roof, 217 meters in diameter, reaches impressively over the updated stands. Transparent Makrolon polycarbonate is highly suitable for roofs of such great dimensions as it provides the required extreme material properties and high aesthetics.

The players of the Bundesliga team Bayer04 Leverkusen were able to return on time to their newly modernised stadium and immediately celebrated with a victory in their first game. One couldn't ask for a better premiere. However the spotlight did not shine just on the team's performance. The newly renovated "Jewellery Box" (as the Leverkuseners proudly call their playing ground) was presented officially for the first time to players and spectators following a comprehensive makeover. Investment totalled some Euro 70 million to build an arena of international standing.

Imposing protection from sun, wind and rain

The new perfectly circular 217 meter diameter roof structure of the stadium stretches over the playing field and spectator seating at a height of about 30 meters and is a sight worth seeing. The area of the roof totals some 28,000 sqm and its load-bearing structure is based on the principle of a spoked wheel. In this design for widespan roofs, an outer thrust ring holds an inner tensioning ring via radial steel cables up to 70 mm in diameter. The enormous forces in the structure are apparent from the following figures. The thrust ring of the roof of the new Bayarena is supported by eight 40 tonne V-shaped pylons anchored in concrete foundations weighing many tonnes. With such huge amounts of steel and concrete, the roof covering needs to be lightweight but must meet the most exacting demands in terms of break resistance, impact strength, temperature and heat resistance, formability and processability. The choice fell on Makrolon, which is lightweight, break resistant, able to withstand high mechanical stress and is weather resistant. This plastic has already proved itself as an ideal material for large roofs in stadiums around the world.

From curved to angular

A particular challenge for the developers at Bayer Sheet Europe and also for the contractors on site was the fact that the roof is circular at its outside perimeter and transitions to a rectangular shape at its inner edge. The available time window for installing the roof covering was short and commenced some 3 months prior to completion in May. The very good processability and low weight per unit area of the plastic panels proved to be decisive advantages during this phase of construction. The translucent white triple wall panels which were made to measure (width:1.5m, length: 4.5 to 12m, thickness: 25 mm) were fixed to a steel structure while on the ground which was then hoisted by cranes to a height of 30m and then mounted on the cable structure by specially trained industrial climbers suspended above the site.

The polymer material has already proved itself in the BayArena since the 1990s. Even then the designers chose Makrolon® for the roofing over the stands thus ensuring that the stadium's appearance differed greatly to that of other sports venues. Since then, properties such as the light transmission of the plastic panels of the new roof covering have been further optimized to suit stadium conditions. The Makrolon®- panels filter the sunlight in such a manner that spectators are protected from strong solar irradiation while ensuring that the grass receives sufficient light for growth.

The vertiginous and certainly sporty construction work in the stadium at the Leverkusen autobahn junction will hopefully be followed by further spectacular football performances. Outside the league schedule, September 5 saw World Cup hosts, South Africa meet the German national team. Fans will have to wait until 2011 for the Women's' World Championship games which will be played in the BayArena.

The Company
Bayer Sheet Europe develops, produces and markets Makrolon^® polycarbonate sheet, Axpet^® and Vivak^® polyester sheet and Bayloy^® sheet of high quality plastics. In the building industry, Bayer Sheet Europe products are used in sports stadiums, stations and greenhouses. Applications in the visual communications sector include plastic sheet for surface protection of large displays, billboards, traffic signs and price panels. Products from Bayer Sheet Europe are also used in industry, for example in protective visors, machine guards, light covers and housing.

Further information on the wide range of products from Bayer Sheet Europe can be found at: www.bayersheeteurope.com

Darmstadt, September 2009

Zukunftsgerichtete Aussagen
Diese Presseinformation kann bestimmte in die Zukunft gerichtete Aussagen enthalten, die auf den gegenwärtigen Annahmen und Prognosen der Unternehmensleitung des Bayer-Konzerns bzw. seiner Teilkonzerne beruhen. Verschiedene bekannte wie auch unbekannte Risiken, Ungewissheiten und andere Faktoren können dazu führen, dass die tatsächlichen Ergebnisse, die Finanzlage, die Entwicklung oder die Performance der Gesellschaft wesentlich von den hier gegebenen Einschätzungen abweichen. Diese Faktoren schließen diejenigen ein, die Bayer in veröffentlichten Berichten beschrieben hat. Diese Berichte stehen auf der Bayer-Webseite http://www.bayer.de/ zur Verfügung. Die Gesellschaft übernimmt keinerlei Verpflichtung, solche zukunftsgerichteten Aussagen fortzuschreiben und an zukünftige Ereignisse oder Entwicklungen anzupassen.

Please send voucher copies to:

Nicole Meyer-Kurczyk · Bayer Sheet Europe GmbH · Otto-Hesse-Str. 19/T9 ·
D-64293 Darmstadt, Germany· Phone: +49 - 6151 - 1303-211 · Fax: +49 - 6151 - 1303-500·
e-mail: mailto:wim.vaneynde@bayersheeteurope.com