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Lol at the BBC Text coverage:

From London Exile in Leeds via text: "So just how hot is it on Centre Court?"
Close to 1000 degrees C, Exile. People's faces are melting. I'm exaggerating a little, but not much.
 
"Wimbledon Centre Court Retractable Roof - Technical Information
8 Litres per second of fresh air per person pumped into the bowl to manage the environment
9 Chiller units required to cool the air
10 Minutes (maximum) that the roof takes to close
10 Trusses holding up the roof
16 Metres - height of the roof above the court surface
30 Minutes - maximum time expected before play can start/continue after the roof is closed and the internal environment is controlled and stabilised
43 Miles per hour - wind speed up to which the roof can be deployed/retracted
77 Metres - the span of the moving roof trusses (width of football pitch = 68m)
70 Tonnes - weight of each of the 10 trusses without extra parts
100 Tonnes - weight of each of the 10 trusses with all extras - eg motors, locking arms
100 Percent of the roof's fabric which is recyclable
214 MM per second - maximum speed of truss deployment
1,200 Extra seats installed in 2008
3,000 Tonnes - combined weight (both fixed and moving) of the roof
5,200 Square metres, area of retractable roof when fully deployed
7,500 Wimbledon umbrellas, needed to cover the same area as the retractable roof
15,000 Maximum spectator capacity
143,000 Litres per second - total amount of conditioned air that the air-management system supplies to the bowl
290million Tennis balls - number that could fit in the Centre Court with the roof closed"

http://www.e-architect.co.uk/london/wimbledon_centre_court_roof.htm


Methinks these things seem simple until you actually try to do it.:)
 
I know, I know...
It's a small roof covering a tennis court, not a football field. How can they have made it weigh 3000 tonnes!?

No idea, but the upped the capacity from 13k to 15k at the same time. The area the roof covers is much more than a tennis court though: the roof aperture is much wider to allow sunlight to the grass for most of the day instead only at midday.

Speaking of "how much :eek:" what did Wembley cost again?
 
In the region of £798 million. However, it's obviously going to cost more than putting a roof on Wimbledon because:

  • We're talking about building a new 90,000-seater stadium from scratch, rather than expanding the capacity of a tennis court by a few thousand and adding a roof.

In some ways building a whole new stadium is easier: they had to leave the court usable for Wimbledon and other events whilst doing it!

Edit to add: It always amuses me that they were able to build the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff for only £121 Million. It seats a not inconsiderable 74500 people has a retractable roof that can seal the stadium (unlike Wembley) and may not look horrible and cheap on the inside like Wembley does (I've never been to Cardiff but have been in Wembley).
 
In the region of £798 million. However, it's obviously going to cost more than putting a roof on Wimbledon because:

  • We're talking about building a new 90,000-seater stadium from scratch, rather than expanding the capacity of a tennis court by a few thousand and adding a roof.
  • The FA were in charge.

And a Aussie building company in charge of construction.
 
Hewitt is going well. won his first three rounds in straight sets and then came back to beat Stepanek in five with a groin. hopefully he gets good and beats Roddick.
 
It always amuses me that they were able to build the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff for only £121 Million...
Ah, but as Peterkro says those dastardly Aussies ripped us off. ;) I think the fact that the project overran so much added to the final cost as well – and does the Wembley bill include the not inconsiderable task of demolishing the old Stadium at the site?

[The Millennium Stadium] may not look horrible and cheap on the inside like Wembley does (I've never been to Cardiff but have been in Wembley).
I thought Wembley was fine, myself.
 
Ah, but as Peterkro says those dastardly Aussies ripped us off. ;) I think the fact that the project overran so much added to the final cost as well – and does the Wembley bill include the not inconsiderable task of demolishing the old Stadium at the site?

Not sure but the Welsh had to demolish Cardiff Arms Park to build on the same site...

I thought Wembley was fine, myself.

Really? It's all concrete breeze-blocks and exposed metal inside where the beer/food stalls are. I expected more for the cost!
 
Not sure but the Welsh had to demolish Cardiff Arms Park to build on the same site...
I'm sure the Welsh would have quite happily demolished Wembley for us as well. ;)

Really? It's all concrete breeze-blocks and exposed metal inside where the beer/food stalls are. I expected more for the cost!
The same is true with most football stadia you go to – I actually thought Wembley's compared very favourably with other grounds. Mind, I'm sure it's a bit posher at Wimbledon – mahogany and exposed gemstones is more likely the order of the day. :)
 
If the reports it weighs 3000 tonnes are right some very serious structural work must have gone into it.

Perhaps too much for the application. Lots of sports fields and stadiums around the world now have retractable roofs, but the roofs are much larger.

Expensive roof = bragging rights and lots of media coverage of that roof.


That, and in terms of buying power in the UK, £80m is buys you what $100m (US) would in America, despite what your conversion widget would tell you. :eek: In other words, the UK is a rip-off.
 
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