Forum delivered +40k Eco-Friendly Seats to Eintracht Frankfurt Stadium

The topic of sustainable stadium seat refurbishment is getting at speed, and Forum by Nowy Styl has already been developing its know-how for a while. Just to mention a successful 974 Stadium made of transport containers (World Cup 2022) or fully sustainable refurbishment at Rybnik municipal stadium.

On the occasion of Deutsche Bank Park stadium expansion, Forum by Nowy Styl reached another milestone in designing ecological stadium solutions. The brand provided over 40 thousand seats made of a granulate comprising 80% post-production waste.

This material was created in collaboration with Grupa Azoty Compounding, which specialises in an innovative approach to synthetic compounds, and eagerly joined the project. The project was challenging as, apart from the basic ingredient—polyamide—the stadium seats are enriched with flame retardant and UV blocking agents.

In this light, using recycled material as a basis meant creating a completely new plastic mix, and all of the mentioned ingredients had to be adjusted once again. All this was done to maintain the top quality of the final product.

The history of the Frankfurt stadium began over a century ago. The idea of founding a multifunctional sports facility in Frankfurt was inspired by the prevailing Olympic idea related to the 1896 first modern Olympics in Athens.

Organizing the Olympic games in Frankfurt did not succeed; however, the facility came to being and was opened on 21 May 1925. It consisted of a football stadium with a running track, an over 100-metre-long swimming pool, a velodrome, and surrounding festival grounds.From the beginning, Waldstadion—or a Forest Stadium in English—was home to the local football team, Eintracht Frankfurt. The team played its first game in less than two months after the opening, in July 1925.

Over decades, the stadium was reconstructed four times: in 1953, 1974, 2002, and in 2023. Apart from the 1953 refurbishment, each subsequent aimed to modernise the stadium before World Cups (1974 and 2006). The last one, nevertheless, is more than just a Euro 2024 facelift (the 2024 UEFA European Football Championship will take place in various German stadiums, including Frankfurt), it is about bringing in the club colours.

For many years, the city of Frankfurt managed the stadium, and Eintracht Frankfurt was the main—but not the only—tenant. It was during that period that the blue seats were installed. When the stadium returned to the Club’s management, changing them to Eitracht’s black and white palette was considered occasionally.

It was a complicated case, though. Given progressing climate changes and sustainable development, it was hard to justify refinishing tens of thousands of seats solely because of their colour.

Priceless, as the symbolic meaning of such a decision would be, the Club had to plan it in detail.

It all started with a new stadium design that expanded the capacity to 60,000 spectators. The construction permit was issued in 2022, and the actual work started the following year.

At the same time, the Club had to deal with the existing seats—utilising them was not an option. “Necessity is the mother of invention,” as they say, and Eintracht got some ideas of what to do with the spare blue seats.

One was an offer dedicated to the fans and season pass’ holders—they could buy out “their seats” for a symbolic sum. In fact, everyone could buy a seat but regulars could purchase the exact seat they sat on for years cheering for their beloved team.

Another offer aimed at institutions—schools and smaller local clubs could purchase sets at a special price.

Finally, all the seats that were left were recycled to polyamide granulate that could be reused for different purposes.

That’s not the whole story, though. Eintracht Frankfurt wanted the new seats to have a minimal negative environmental impact, so one requirement was that they be manufactured from at least 80% recycled material.

Eintracht’s requirements were very demanding, Forum by Nowy Styl looked for a technology partner to design the recycled compound. 

Grupa Azoty Compounding took the challenge and created an innovative granulate comprising 80% recycled plastic (PIR).

Forum by Nowy Styl does not bargain quality. All our stadium products have relevant certificates that meet the highest European standards. The seats from 80% recycled plastic were not an exception. 

The manufactured seats meet the European incombustibility standards (DIN EN 4102) in B1 class. Additionally, they hold level 4 UV-resistance (EN ISO 4892-1, -2 ). 

The seats shipped to Frankfurt also hold the German GS certificate in terms of material durability on the highest level 4 (DIN EN 12-727).

The seat installation at Deutsche Bank Stadion occurred between June and August 2023. The facility operated normally during this time. 

Forum by Nowy Styl provided over 40.000 shell-type seats Omega and over 100 tip-up seats, Sigma. All of them were produced from the environmentally-friendly, recycled compounds.