No tall prefabs there yet, just excavators and trucks paving way for actual stadium structure. Bielsko-Biała’s new municipal stadium will first receive new north stand before becoming a double-tiered bowl.

Signed in early August, the contract between Bielsko-Biała Municipality and local company BPBP is finally in force and may be seen in practice for the first time. Not real construction yet, but the site is being cleared and excavation is under way for foundations of first new stand, behind northern goal.

Second will come east section, then south and finally main grandstand in the west of the plot. To close the 2-tiered bowl corners will be filled with seating in 2014.

New stadium for Bielsko-Biała is actually 4 years old already as the concept by ATJ Architekci was first presented in 2008. But complicated procedures only allowed for planning permission to be issued in 2011. And when it finally was in force, it was revoked due to local residents filing official complaint. They feared excessive traffic and noise on matchdays will negatively influence their neighbourhood. Those fears were addressed with minor amendments to the project and so it finally started this month.

Construction tender from 2011 had to be repeated and was won again by BPBP with an offer of 81.8m zloty (or €20m), below the city’s estimations of 100m zloty (€25m).