Grandstands and sports facilities: structural adequacy assessment and UNI EN 13200

The context

Italian Decree-Law no. 108 of 26 June 2026, containing urgent provisions on sport, major events and sports facilities, has brought renewed attention to venues open to the public. The measure accompanies the path towards international events — from UEFA EURO 2032 to the Mediterranean Games and the America's Cup — and addresses the technical rules for the safety, accessibility and operation of sports facilities.

For municipalities and sports clubs the issue is a practical one: a significant share of the grandstands in use have been in service for decades, often without up-to-date structural checks and with incomplete or scattered documentation.

Two complementary references

	UNI EN 13200	NTC 2018
Subject	Requirements for spectator facilities: geometry, sightlines, escape routes, barriers	Structural adequacy under the Italian technical code
Focus	Safety in use and usability by the public	Load-bearing capacity, design actions, verification of members
Role	Reference criteria for configuration and inspection	Binding framework for the safety assessment of the structure

The two references do not replace one another: a complete assessment of a grandstand requires both structural verification to NTC and a check of the requirements for spectator use.

Where the weaknesses concentrate

Grandstands, whether permanent or temporary, are largely bolted and welded steelwork. Experience shows that the real vulnerabilities are almost always in the connections rather than in the members:

• loose or missing bolts, hole bearing damage, torque never checked since assembly;
• cracks in the welds at joints, particularly in zones subject to load cycles and vibration;
• localised corrosion where water collects and at the interface with the foundations;
• railings and barriers never verified for the horizontal actions induced by crowds;
• dynamic actions from the public (synchronised movement) not considered in the original design.

This is where structural calculation alone is not enough: it must be paired with non-destructive testing of the joints — visual, magnetic particle and ultrasonic examinations — to establish the actual integrity of the connections.

What operators should do

• Rebuild the facility documentation: original design, any modifications, testing reports;
• Schedule a structural adequacy assessment, especially for older structures or those never verified;
• Set up periodic inspections of the state of preservation, at intervals based on age and intensity of use;
• Verify temporary grandstands before every installation, without uncritically reusing calculations for other configurations;
• Keep the records: in a dispute or an insurance claim, documentation is what demonstrates the operator's diligence.

How we support clients and operators

Stefano Luise Engineering S.r.l. carries out structural adequacy assessments and periodic inspections of grandstands and spectator facilities, combining structural modelling to NTC 2018 with non-destructive testing of bolted and welded joints (VT, MT, UT), providing adequacy documentation for authorities, supervisory commissions and insurers.

Regulatory references

UNI EN 13200  •  NTC 2018  •  Italian Decree-Law no. 108 of 26 June 2026  •  Legislative Decree 81/2008  •  UNI EN ISO 9712

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