Contract win: BC Place Stadium, Vancouver, Canada
Tuesday, 15 December 2009 12:00
Fabrication and installation of retractable roof and fixed façade.
Hightex is delighted to announce that it has been awarded a contract to supply the entire retractable roof and the fixed façade for the BC Place Stadium in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. When completed, this roof will be the largest cable-supported retractable roof in the world. The projected area of the retractable portion of the roof is approximately 6,700m², requiring a total of approximately 13,400m² of membrane material.
The contract will involve the fabrication and installation of the complete retractable portion of the membrane roof system in Tenara membrane, a woven, high translucency PTFE fabric, as well as the façade system to be fabricated from a transparent membrane with a light-controlling frit pattern. The design work will commence immediately, with completion planned to take place in mid 2011.
The new roof is part of the revitalization of the BC Place Stadium, which remains the home of the BC Lions. Once completed, the stadium will also host the first season of the Vancouver Whitecaps as a Major League Soccer Franchise in 2011. The existing pneumatic dome is to be dismantled and replaced with a partially fixed, partially retractable fabric roof as well as a transparent membrane facade.
The new roof substructure consists of a radial cable net and outer steel columns. The fabric roof is divided up into 36 fixed outer panels and 36 inner retractable segments. The outer fixed roof, to be the subject of a separate contract, has an area of about 34,000m². The inner roof will consist of a double layer Tenara membrane with an inflated inter-space to form “cushion” elements.
The cushions will be pre-stressed using hydraulic tensioning units and inflation via fan units. The retractable roof will be connected to the 36 radial cables by specially designed sliding and driving carriages. The deflated cushion will be stored at the centre of the roof in a membrane garage. To close the roof, the driving carriages will pull the membrane outwards radially towards the perimeter. The retractable roof is made of a highly translucent fabric which will allow the fabric to be folded without damage.
The new façade comprises some 6,000m² of transparent membrane panels using ETFE. The facade panels are pre-stressed using metal arches and are attached directly to the primary steel structure.
Hightex's total scope on the project includes the fabrication of the outer roof, fabrication and installation of the retractable roof including drive technology and the fabrication and installation of the ETFE facade.
The project was designed by Stantec Architects Ltd, with structural engineering being provided by Geiger Engineers, New York, USA and Schlaich Bergermann & Partners, Stuttgart, Germany, supported by specialist consultants Tensys, RWDI, Genivar, Acoustical Design Group and CW Kling & Associates.
Charles DesForges, Executive Chairman, stated that "Hightex Group is delighted to have been awarded this prestigious project. Following the retractable roof contracts at Wimbledon (completed in May 2009) and at Warsaw (won in August 2009), this contract win reinforces Hightex's reputation as a world leader in the provision of specialist retractable roof systems.”