31 Mar 2009
Work has started to lift the 2,800-tonne wave-shaped roof of the Aquatics Centre into position. The lift is considered one of the most complex engineering and construction challenges of the Olympic Park ‘big build’.
The first length of roof steel is lifted into position on the Aquatics Centre
During the Games the Aquatics Centre will host a range of events including Swimming, Synchronised Swimming, Diving, Water Polo finals and the Aquatics discipline of the Modern Pentathlon in the Olympic Games. In the Paralympic Games it will be the venue for the Swimming competition.
The Aquatics Centre will mark the ‘gateway’ to the Olympic Park. After the Games it will provide elite and community facilities that London does not currently have, including two 50m swimming pools and a diving pool.
When complete the roof will be 160m long and up to 90m wide. It will rest on two concrete supports at the northern end of the building and a supporting ‘wall’ at its southern end.
A huge steel support weighing over 70 tonnes has been lifted into place on top of the southern wall. This has already been connected with the first sections of 15 steel trusses that will span up to 120m to the two northern roof supports.
The steel is being prepared in Gateshead, Motherwell and Scunthorpe and then taken to Newport, Wales, where it is made to size before being transported to site and lifted into position.
ODA Chief Executive David Higgins said: ‘The Aquatics Centre is on track to be a fantastic gateway to the Games and provide swimming and diving facilities in legacy that London does not currently have.
‘Different parts of the UK are playing a part with the structure being built in London but made in Scotland, Wales and the north of England.’
The foundations of the permanent venue are complete and work will begin on the pool structure later this year once the steel roof is complete.
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