Anyone on the lower concourse at Arsenal’s Emirates Stadium at weekend would of been forgiven for thinking there was a leak. Throughout the lower deck of Arsenal’s £400m stadium was what looked like puddles of water. However closer inspection showed it was not water, but a temporary silicon covering over works to fix a stadium defect.

Drilled holes with silicon covering

The current top layer of the concourse is coming away from its foundation base, which gives the feeling that you are slipping when walking. A bit like if if you walked on a banana skin.

Silicon rubbed down ready to be made good

Works to fix the defect begun when the season ended and is expected to last for a while longer. The process involves drilling small holes, as seen on our exclusive pictures, and injecting a sealant into them, effectively sealing the top layer to its base layer.

Completed work

A silicon layer is then put over the holes as temporary protection so as to allow the sealant to fully dry before it is made good. Once the sealant has dried, it is rubbed down and the wholes refilled, before the top layer is re-coated hiding the work, except for the colour difference which will fade with wear.

The cost of the repair work is reported to be in the region of £500,000+. It is not clear whether Arsenal will foot the bill, stadium builders Sir Robert McAlpine or whether it will be covered by insurers.

Keenos
Follow @KeenosAFC
Update: Thanks to @the_cros for informing us that the club decided not to take out a latent defects policy.