The London Olympic Stadium

Client : Seele

Providing the centrepiece for London’s 2012 Olympic Games, this soon to be iconic stadium will play host to spectacular sporting events performed before an 80,000 strong crowd.  Fabrication and erection of the PVC-coated fabric roof was the responsibility of our client Seele.  A delicate arrangement of wire ropes supports the roof with ten steel cables forming the inner tension ring.  Spanning between the tension and compression rings are further cables supporting the 112 sections of the roof membrane, this intricate structure required exceptional safety and quality standards throughout the precise prefabrication and installation of the 210m² sections of roof fabric, no two of which are alike.

The biggest challenge for the erection crews was to attach the membrane sections to wire ropes that were not yet in their final positions, because only through the interaction with the membrane does the roof assume its final shape. This potential hurdle was navigated with ease however as Seele’s experience in the accurate fabrication of engineered fabrics and M.E.L.’s specialist health and safety assistance proved to be a winning combination once again.