Zubieta’s Z3 nears completion with new footbridge and lift | OneFootball

Real Sociedad’s Z3 pitch at Zubieta is entering its final phase, with a 110x80 metre footbridge and a lift to the old la L. According to Diario Vasco, the new route will enable access to the field on foot.

The club has invested 36 million euros in infrastructure in recent years, with three million allocated to Z3. The project marks an important addition to the training complex.

Architect Izaskun Larzabal says Z3 was not a regulation pitch and previously comprised two small fields known as la L. The team excavated and lowered the ground by five metres to adapt to Zubieta’s challenging, semi rural terrain.

A giant metal platform now dominates the site as the footbridge takes shape. The pitch itself is complete, with natural grass installed, seeded, stitched and laid three weeks ago, and access is being finished from the inside out due to the terrain. The area’s ventilation favours the turf.

For now, people can reach Z3 on foot through the nearby woodland. In about a month the new link is expected to open, and its appearance will be softened to resemble a timber balustrade and a forest like setting.

A lift is being built by the slope near the press room so people with reduced mobility can avoid the walkway. The scheme costs around three million euros, a figure budgeted and approved at a board meeting two years ago.

Z3 will include a stand separating the future Z8, which will sit alongside it. After a pause of three or four months to let the area breathe, work will begin on Z8. Z3 is primarily for internal use with Sanse, while external competition remains on Z5, Z6 and the estadio Zubieta, which benefits from parking at IZAN.

Source: Diario Vasco