PANSTADIA & ARENA MANAGEMENT WINTER 2013/14
Customised cables C
able structures are the light- weight backbone of a variety of
wide span structures covering many international top class stadiums and arenas worldwide. “This is what our team loves to do most and where all our expertise falls into place,” says Thomas Hermeking, Sales Manager of the Cable Structure Division of Pfeifer Seil- und Hebetechnik GmbH. “These are the projects where the team needs to look beyond the interfaces and to understand the limits of engineering.”
Cable nets – recent history
Pfeifer has realised numerous stadium roofs since the early 1980s. Projects like the National Sports Complex in Kuala Lumpur, the Stuttgart Stadium and Abuja Velodrome have built up an excellent international track record in the stadium business. These successes mean that Pfeifer is recommended and chosen when a project requires an experienced and reliable specialty contractor which can take over the full scope of engineering, fabrication and erection.
Stadiums for the 2006 Soccer World Championship in Germany really did push the borders for cable nets and developed the market. From then on all major sports events considered cable solutions as a must for their sometimes unique roof designs. Pfeifer indeed took advantage of this development in the years of development leading up to the 2010 Soccer World Championship.
South Africa had been in need of experienced specialty roof contractors that would take over full responsibility, not only for the structural cables, but for the whole stadium cover. Adjusting its services to the client’s needs, Pfeifer performed two contracts on iconic roofs in Durban and Cape Town.
The London experience
The Olympics and London 2012 have seen cable structures at their best. Nearly invisible, but supporting high loads and posh roof structures – like the Velodrome. And also serving temporarily for specifi c transportation and loading, as at the opening and closing ceremonies of the Games.
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London Olympic Velodrome
“In the early stages of the design for the Olympic Velodrome the design team were keen to use a cable net structure to achieve a more elegant form to the double curved roof,” recounts Davendra Dabasia, Project Director – Mace PMP. “However, as this had not been undertaken in an indoor arena in the UK before, a traditional steel roof much like the Aquatics Centre roof was progressed. This decision was re-visited at Stage D and with the input of Pfeifer and their best in class knowledge of delivering these types of structures, the client felt confi dent in taking the bold step to move to a cable net structure. This decision was fully vindicated in terms of aesthetics, cost, programme, safety and sustainability upon completion of the project and it has won numerous awards as a result.”
Covering a 6,000-seater arena, the roof corresponds to the cycling track on the inside: smoothly curved. It also corresponds to the environment with its distinctive form and architectural lightness.
The basis of this elegant structure is built up by a cable structure, having a concave shape in one direction and a convex form in the other section. This saddle shape is achieved by connecting the cable net to an oscillating compression ring at the circumference of the building.
14,200 metres of cables, used as double cables in each gridline, were laid out on the ground and connected with nearly 1,100 custom-made clamps. The clamps integrated the support for the non-structural panel elements, which in turn were the basis for the roofi ng.
Pfeifer specialises in custom tailored cable structure services for sports facilities.
The net made from cables and clamps was then lifted in a pre-engineered and controlled sequence, connected to the compression ring and tensioned by hydraulic equipment. This process was managed during January to March 2010. The short, optimised, erection period contributed considerably to the Velodrome reaching completion as the fi rst of all the sports buildings being prepared for the London Games.
The cables form part of the fi nalised roof structure in a way of understatement. They can be identifi ed from underneath by the interested spectator only – but as part of the whole roof design.
Inside the velodrome.
Laying out the cable net.
Shape of the velodrome roof.
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