FEATURE — BC PLACE
BC Place
BC Place was originally completed on time and on budget at a cost of
CAD$126m in 1983 in preparation for Expo’86. Studio Phillips Barrett
was its original architect.
The first major event held in the venue was the Papal Visit of His
Holiness, the late Pope John Paul II, on September 18, 1984, with more
than 65,000 in attendance. It was then used for the opening and closing
ceremonies of Expo’86, attended by Prince Charles and the late Princess
Diana in May 1986.
Despite documented local and provincial economic impacts, BC Place
operates at a loss of more than CAD$4m annually (the difference of
approximately CAD$10m in earnings vs. CAD$14m in expenses). An
additional CAD$2.3m in amortisation escalates the yearly actual cost to
taxpayers between CAD$6-$7m.
On January 5, 2007, a tear occurred in the Teflon roof close to Gate G at
the south side where the roof meets the top of the concrete bowl. The
tear grew quickly as air escaped through it, and maintenance staff
performed an intentional, controlled deflation to protect the integrity
of the roof’s other panels. According to its design, the deflated roof
rested on its steel support cables 6m (20ft) above the seating and the
ground. Normally, the roof has a rise of 27m (90ft) above the top of the
bowl when inflated. Nobody was injured in the incident, but rain and
melted snow flooded the bowl and had to be pumped out.
In April 2009, WorkSafeBC found deficiencies in written procedures for
handling similar emergencies and a lack of staff training in BC Place,
violating the provincial Workers Compensation Act. Less than two-
months later, the Vancouver Organizing Committee for the 2010 Winter
Olympic Games (VANOC), made an unexpected and widely criticised
contribution of CAD$8.3m to the facility for undisclosed purposes.
“We think it will be money very well spent, and, given the fact that it
does have a legacy value to the taxpayers once the Games finish, we felt
it was a good investment to make,” said Dave Cobb, VANOC Executive
Vice-President and Deputy CEO. “These are not production costs. They
are infrastructure costs going into the stadium.”
The distinction is important because the federal and provincial
governments are underwriting VANOC’s entire construction budget of
CAD$580m jointly.
Cobb continued to say that if VANOC’s construction contingency fund
were not used up “the remainder would have been returned to
government”.
and close the roof. It has been designed for all weather Centre Court retractable roof. (Tenara fabric is made by
conditions, including heavy snow and high winds, as Gore, the same company that makes Gore-Tex found in
determined in a detailed climate study for the site and waterproof clothing.)
stadium configuration. The retractable section of the “Included with the option to have year round
roof will remain closed and ‘winterised’ during the win- events comes the year round responsibility of maintain-
ter months. Materials used for the roof and façade ing such a large movable structure,” noted Barton.
include structural steel, steel cables, ETFE film, a PTFE- “With every move, comes more maintenance. It’s just
coated fibreglass membrane, and a Tenara membrane - like the more hours an airplane is in the air, the more
made of a base fabric of highly translucent, woven, high maintenance and daily checks must be performed. The
strength expanded PTFE fibres as used for Wimbledon's building management needs to take into account the ➲
WINTER 2009/10 P ANS TADIA 51
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