Forum recycled stadium seating hit the spot

Article posted by Coliseum, August 26^th, 2024

Image: Coliseum GSVA

Jakub Rachfalik talks in a forthright manner. A plain-spoken person, he does not believe in filling up reams of paper on the hot-button topic – sustainability. Rather, the company that he works for – Forum by Nowy Styl (Poland) – has a very honest approach towards sustainability, and so does Rachfalik.

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Rachfalik’s funda is clear – stadia/venues or any other entities should not set sustainability goals just for the sake of it but should be dead serious about the same and implement it in toto.

Jakub Rachfalik is the Managing Director of Forum by Nowy Styl, a company that produces seats designed for stadiums, concert and lecture halls, cinemas and theaters, and telescopic grandstands. He is responsible for developing the brand all over the globe.

In a cut to the chase conversation with ‘Coliseum’, Jakub Rachfalik MD, Forum by Nowy Styl, Poland, avers that in a world plagued by extreme weather conditions sustainability has become a “very powerful word used quite often lately”. But he feels that sustainability has become more of a buzzword and mincing no words Rachfalik also points out that the sports venue industry is not setting sustainability goals but is rather leaving carbon footprints behind. The top shot also presents a case study of how Forum by Nowy Styl has been successful in delivering 40,000 Omega seats made from recycled materials for the Bundesliga team Eintracht Frankfurt home – the 58,000-capacity Deutsche Bank Park in Frankfurt, Germany.

Forum by Nowy Styl

Forum by Nowy Styl produce, deliver and provide seating solutions for the concert halls, theaters, cinemas, stadia, sports venues, and the educational institutions.

Eintracht Frankfurt

The Eintracht Frankfurt is a German professional sports club based in Frankfurt, Hesse (Germany). It is best known for its football club which was founded on March 8th, 1899. The club currently plays in the Bundesliga, the top tier of the German football league system. The 58,000-capacity Deutsche Bank Park in Frankfurt serves as their home ground.

Jakub Rachfalik informed that his company is into the business of manufacturing seats for the stadia and have to meet several norms.

Case Study

Black is Beautiful

The Forum by Nowy Styl-Eintracht Frankfurt ties goes back a long way when the Bundesliga club home – the Deutsche Bank Park – was a Municipal venue. Today, it is owned by the Waldstadion Frankfurt Society for Project Development. The Forum has always been keeping the club’s seats in ship-shape.

Informed Rachfalik, “The Deutsche Bank Park seats were deep blue in color and the top-flight club’s Board approached us in 2023 saying that they wanted the seat colors to be in sync with the club’s color – black – and the work had to be completed before the EURO 2024 show got rolling as the Eintracht abode was holding few fixtures.”

Challenge

However, the community on which the above venue sits threw the gauntlet at the Forum team saying that they “saw no reason why the 40,000 seats needs a color change as it was in perfect form and if we have to go about with the task we have to do it in a sustainable manner. The biggest challenge was to find a supplier who will deliver the chairs made out of sustainable materials.”

The Grupa Azoty Compounding, a leading chemical concern of Poland, came to Forum’s rescue and both the entities were able to deliver 40,000 Omega seats much before EURO 2024 which was held from June 15^th-July 14^th, 2024 in Germany and in the Deutsche Bank Park five fixtures were held.

The seat installation at the Deutsche Bank Park occurred between June and August 2023. 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 environmental-friendly, recycled compounds.

Right Recipe

Rachfalik asserted that with the right recipe – using post-industrial recycled (PIR) plastic – “we saved 32 tons of plastic thus working in the interests of the planet and the environment”.

PIR Plastic

The post-industrial recycled (PIR) plastic is a type of recycled material that’s made from waste produced during the manufacturing of other products. The PIR plastic is sorted, cleaned and melted back into resin pellets which are then used again in future products such as flexible packaging. It is environmental-friendly because it reduces the need for new plastic made from fossil fuels.

Sum-up

The Deutsche Bank Park officials swear by the Forum seats made from recycled compounds. For the officials at the venue changing the seats was an emotional decision and was a way of demonstrating that the stadium belongs not only to the club but also to the fans. Forum had to go about doing the seat job in a very sustainable way with a very conscious company. To meet this requirement, Forum turned to Grupa Azoty Compounding. Thanks to its broad experience, knowhow and advanced technological base the chemical company prepared a granulate. And the end result was perfect!

Jakub Rachfalik summed up by stating, “We want to put our best foot forward on sustainability and we have set our sights on the United States and Saudi Arabia market and hope to make inroads into these markets and provide the best sustainable seating solutions to the venues in these countries.”

Jakub Rachfalik and his team at Forum believe in carving out a low-carbon future through sustainable seating solutions because positive environmental advances drive economic prosperity.

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