Unfortunately we have confirmation of a worker's death in Nizhny Novgorod. What's also confirmed is a very significant design change and continuous delay at the construction site.

Though it happened on August 17, we only now have confirmation of a tragic accident that occured at the Nizhny Novgorod construction site. A 40-year-old worker fell into a ventilation shaft, plunging two floors down and his life was beyond saving.

The accident was reportedly the worker's fault, because the shaft was fenced off and he was not authorised to enter the area. Works haven't been stopped, though it should also be noted that the public authorities cannot afford to halt construction, which continues to be behind schedule.

Back in June additional 500 jobs were ordered to be created by governor Valeriy Shantsev. Those workers are still to arrive and join current workforce of 2,600 people. Meanwhile the stadium's progress, as of last week, is 65%. That's alarmingly low for a project ongoing for over 2.5 years and with only over 4 months left to go.

Though the 65% is an officia figure given by the governor, it seems to be a pessimistic one. Structurally the stadium is almost ready. Lower tier of the blue seats will be installed by Friday, while almost all of the polycarbonate roof panels above stands are installed. The key challenge now is sealing off all of the enclosed floor space and getting the stadium heated before winter.

Significant design change

It took quite a while for Nizhny Novgorod to select the initial design, one based on whirlpool. However, in recent days the company in charge of implementation presented final renderings, much different than it was envisaged below. We'll let you judge for yourselves whether it looks better or worse, but it's surely much cheaper.