Bc Place Stadium Roof Collapses

[jim jones]

BC Place reveals human error to blame for giant roof tear

January 12, 2007 - 1:38 pm

By: Jim Goddard

VANCOUVER (NEWS1130) - A preliminary report on the collapse of the fabric roof over BC Place Stadium points to three main factors for the giant tear, with human error cited as the main cause. Dome staff say the air supported roof blew out much like an over-inflated balloon. General manager Howard Crosley says his staff accidently pumped too much air into the stadium too fast for the roof to handle when they noticed it was sagging a bit last Friday.

He points out there were three problems that combined for the blow out. "There appears to have been a weakness in the fabric, there was the error that was made with the increased rapid pressurization and the wind factor outside." Crosley calls the combination, "the perfect storm" to cause a roof collapse. Normally an accidental over inflation would not blow out a section of the roof.

Crosley still doesn't know when all the repairs will be completed so the roof can be inflated again. The damage is covered by insurance with a $75,000 deductable that will come out of the stadium's general budget.

Yeah you can have a great deal of human error when you are near or exceeding the life cycle of the roof material. Classsic blame the guy on the controls because a government agency and its executive haven't seen fit to replace the roof. The dakota ome they felt 20 years was the lifespan not 25 and replaced their roof with steel. With the commerical future become dimmer for bc place with a convention centre opening up and a football team in a league in decline the prospects or BC place become fewer.

I am sure we will see human error again in the years before the games LOL. Next time the human error will be the guy incharge who are pushing the roofs liefcycle beyond the makers rating at the end of 2008.

jim jones

[mr.x]

Dome's future after 2010 up for debate

Premier Campbell: Human error, gusts, fabric flaw caused dome to rip, report says

Crews continues to work on attaching a temporary replacement panel for the roof of BC Place.

Miro Cernetig and Jeff Lee, Vancouver Sun

Published: Saturday, January 13, 2007

The province's top politician can envision a day when BC Place, the world's largest air-supported domed stadium, could be blown up to make way for another future.

Premier Gordon Campbell does not believe anything can happen to the ailing white-domed structure until after the 2010 Olympics, when the stadium will be the site of the opening and closing ceremonies.

But Campbell believes a debate -- which he says must be led by the City of Vancouver -- should begin about what to do with 24-year-old BC Place once the Olympic flame leaves the city.

"We'd certainly be open to them coming forward and saying, 'We think we have a better plan for the city and, after the Olympics, BC Place should be relocated,' " Campbell said Friday. Campbell has told his government to examine all options and, on Friday, his lead minister detailed a much broader review of them.

Tourism, Sports and the Arts Minister Stan Hagen said Friday he's asked the B.C. Pavilion Corporation for a range of options for the future of the stadium, up to and including tearing it down and selling the land to developers.

The government is now considering privatizing the troubled stadium and allowing the new owner to develop parts of the property for residential or commercial services.

Hagen said he's more interested in keeping the 24-year-old stadium where it is because of the tremendous economic generation it provides to the city.

"We're looking at all options, from A to Z, A being keeping the building as is, and Z being the viability of selling the land and stadium to the private sector with the idea of the stadium staying where it is," he said.

"But no one has presented me with a viable option for the building not staying there."

Campbell says he has no pre-conceived notion of what to do with the building. But he looks south to Seattle, which once had its own equivalent of BC Place, the Kingdome, and it was demolished.

"When BC Place was first put up, there was a dome down in Seattle that everyone was saying was a state-of-the-art dome," said Campbell. "That stadium has been imploded."

Hagen said the government's review was not triggered by the accidental deflation last week of the stadium's air-supported roof. The government began quietly reviewing the options last year, he said.

Hagen said after Christmas he reinforced his view that he'd like the stadium to stay when he asked Pavco, the crown corporation that manages the building, to give him more details on privatizing it with an option for increased development.

"We could look at demolishing it, but then the question is 'Who would pay for a new one?' " he said.

BC Lions owner David Braley said this week he's been in regular discussions with the province over taking over the building, and believes he can wean it off its multimillion-dollar annual subsidies.

The province pays between $2 million and $4 million a year to keep the dome open despite having one of the busiest trade and consumer show and sporting event calendars in North America.

"We have to do what's in the best interests of the B.C. public, but I can tell you that I don't think it needs to operate at a loss," Braley said. "I can do things with the building as a private investor that the government can't."

Hagen said he appreciates the confidence coming from one of the stadium's major tenants, but if the government opts for privatization, it would want to open it to a fully public process.

"Before we were to do anything down that road we would have to deal with it in a very open and transparent and competitive way," he said. "I wouldn't do it any other way. But having said that, it's really good when one of your major tenants is very positive about the building."

John Harding, Pavco's chief operating officer, said he doesn't know when his report to Hagen will be finished. Braley said he expects the building's future to be resolved within a year, long before it hosts the opening ceremonies.

Regardless, he said the Lions won't be moving from the stadium when their contract expires in 2010.

"That's a non-starter. We're in BC Place to stay, and if I have my way, I'll be running it too," he said.

Hagen made his comments about the stadium's future as BC Place officials said a combination of factors, including human error, led to the spectacular deflation of the stadium roof a week ago.

On Friday, BC Place general manager Howard Crosley released an independent engineer's report that indicated a flaw in one fabric panel, combined with an accidental rapid inflation and lightly gusting winds appeared to trigger the blowout that led to the roof's deflation.

As workers began installing a temporary panel in preparation for next week's re-inflation, Crosley told reporters the dramatic blowout occurred when two stadium workers independently began inflating the roof from two different controls when they noticed the roof was sagging a week ago Friday.

One of those workers used a computer to turn on one fan, which would have been sufficient.

But elsewhere another employee turned on half of the building's 16 100-horsepower fans, causing it to super-inflate, he said. That alone might not have caused the large triangle panel at the stadium's west edge to pop, according to Kris Hamilton of Geiger Engineers, the roof's structural engineers.

But the panel had also suffered some undiscovered damage in the past near the edge of the roof's clamping ring.

Hamilton said that damage, which scored the Teflon-coated glass-fibre fabric and allowed water to deteriorate the material, wasn't in an easily observable place and was missed in the most recent inspection last August by the roof's manufacturer, Birdair Inc.

The combination of the damage, the rapid inflation and mild winds that created a suction force on the outside resulted in what he called "a perfect storm" that led to the dramatic deflation.

He said that apart from additional rips in the roof and some broken or twisted clamping bolts, there didn't appear to be any other damage.

Crosley said he will implement all of Hamilton's recommendations, including putting a lock-out system on the computers that govern the fans to prevent duplication of the error.

Hamilton has also insisted that all the panels that are attached to the roof's clamping ring, as well as the material around the 22 cables that criss-cross the roof be examined again for damage.

Both Crosley and Hamilton said the roof is otherwise in good condition. It is expected to be reinflated next week in time for a landscaping expo that opens January 23.

jefflee@png.canwest.com

mcernetig@png.canwest.com

© The Vancouver Sun 2007

[mr.x]

Death of the dome?

Damaged roof prompts the question of whether the stadium's days are numbered

The land underneath BC Place (shown here with the field covered in water) could provide upwards of 2,000 or more condominiums if it was sold for residential development.

Jeff Lee, Vancouver Sun

Published: Saturday, January 13, 2007

For the past week, Vancouver's spectacular inner-city skyline has been marred by the dark and brooding shell of BC Place, half-dead with its once-pillowed roof hanging limply into the stadium bowl.

Homeowners whose condos overlook False Creek have had a view of a crippled building that looks like someone took a pin and popped the top in a dozen places.

Anyone peering into the cavernous stadium from the east airlock would see a soaking infield and a tattered liner hanging in shreds, far from the bright, airy building that has accommodated everything from fully rigged sailboats to the latest and greatest slicers and dicers to Grey Cup football games to aging rock stars.

And no one, not the city's residents or the international community, could be blamed for wondering what had happened to one of Vancouver's signature pieces of skyline architecture, or what the future holds for it.

The grande dame of stadiums, once the belle of the ball for having the largest air-supported roof in the world, is looking more like an old lady with the hem of her dress ripped and unravelling.

Is this accidental deflation of the roof, from a combination of human error and weakened fabric, the signal that BC Place's time has come and gone, and that after it plays host for the opening and closing ceremonies for the 2010 Winter Games it should be brought down in a cloud of dust?

Not by a long shot, according to those who understand the multitude of reasons the building is there in the first place.

For years now, there has been periodic speculation about the stadium's future. Real estate developers have looked covetously at the five-hectare property as the adjacent Concord Pacific lands have been filled out with highrises and Yaletown's warehouse district has emerged as a new residential community.

And most people who have watched the provincial government pump millions of dollars of subsidies into the place would wonder why we just don't knock it down and sell the land for a profit to condo developers.

They've had good reason to wonder. The stadium's nearly 60,000 pale blue seats are rarely filled. Only the recent Rolling Stones concert, the Canadian Football League's western final, and the Grey Cup two years ago resulted in recent sellout crowds.

The B.C. Lions attract an average of 32,000 fans a game, but that's only about a dozen times a year.

With only one exception -- a Grey Cup-Rolling Stones-Pink Floyd triple bonus in 1994 -- BC Place has never broken even in more than 15 years. In its earliest years, after Expo 86, it showed a profit because it also collected revenue from attached parking lots. But the government took that away in a reorganization, and sold off the parking lots.

Instead, BC Place now regularly declares a loss, and is supported by taxpayers to the tune of $2 million to $4 million a year, according to financial statements from the B.C. Pavilion Corp, the Crown agency that owns and operates the stadium on behalf of the public.

This week, Tourism Minister Stan Hagen acknowledged that the government has asked PavCo, as the agency is known, to consider the building's options. On the table is everything from ripping it down to selling it to a private investor who could also redevelop some of the attached property for residential or commercial purposes.

But he said the biggest issue is that the province needs a facility like BC Place somewhere in the city.

"The big question is, who would pay for a new one? I think it would cost in the order of $250-300 million, and that's a lot of money."

Hagen hasn't decided yet what to do, but David Braley, the owner of the B.C. Lions, said he wants to take over the building and has been in discussions with the province.

"If they want me to write a cheque, I'll do it," he said. "My opinion is that a private owner or manager can do things with that building that the government can't. We can make it work."

That offer may look increasingly lucrative to a Liberal government that has a track record for privatizing certain government functions.

The stadium's continual paper loss has forced PavCo to write down the value of the building. In its 1987 annual report it said the building cost $172.3 million to build. By last year the book value had dropped to a mere $50.8 million. PavCo says that is the value of the property as it stands, given that there isn't much market for stadiums. In 2004, the corporation took a one-time $75-million hit to bring the building's value into line with generally-accepted accounting principles.

Had the stadium been regularly making money, it would have been a different story, according to John Harding, PavCo's chief operating officer.

As its stands now in today's market, the land it sits on is worth a fortune to a developer. If it were zoned to the current residential zoning around it, upwards of 2,000 or more condominiums could be built, and the revenue could be in the hundreds of millions of dollars.

"There is no doubt that with the right zoning, you could get a lot of money out of it, perhaps several hundred million dollars," said Morgan Dyer, a real estate expert with Colliers, the commercial real estate company. "The downtown core has an absolutely diminished supply of land, and there is increasing pressure on buildings that aren't realizing the maximum return."

But Dyer also believes the stadium has a long and useful life, and it also adds intangible benefits to the public.

"There is a public benefit of having that asset there. The public is winning because of it. Would the city be more beautiful without it being there? I don't know. I personally like to drive to work and see it on the skyline."

If you accept the thesis of the government and tourism marketers that a facility like the stadium is more valuable as an economic generator even if it loses money, then the building has paid for itself many times over, according to Graham Ramsay, BC Place's director of business development.

Ramsay has been in charge of marketing BC Place for more than 14 years. This year he's filled the space for more than 200 days. The economic generation the stadium has injected into B.C. is incalculable, he said.

"We tend to look at economic benefits conservatively. If you consider that this place generates $35 million a year in benefits, then over its lifetime so far, that is close to $800 million," he said. "This building has been paid for over and over again."

Kim Cook, the marketing manager for the International Association of Assembly Managers, said that while there are a number of similar multi-use facilities around North America, BC Place has a high occupancy rate based on its average of 200 to 220 rental days per year.

"That's an active schedule, because most stadiums are largely inactive," she said.

Two years ago the IAAM, of which PavCo is a member, commissioned a survey by PriceWaterhouseCoopers of North America's convention centres and exhibit halls. On average, facilities of the size of BC Place had occupancy rates of between 40 and 52 per cent, depending on which cities they were located in. BC Place weighs in at between 54 and 60 per cent.

That strong demand has also allowed BC Place to get the maximum in margins. In a service plan issued last year, Pavco officials noted most of the business is repeat clients who run events on a regularly scheduled basis. The fact that BC Place is regularly repaired and maintained allows PavCo to generate the highest possible market rates.

Harding said the recent Rolling Stones concert, for example, generated gross revenues in excess of $1 million.

But beyond the gross revenues, the wider economic impact to the province is much greater. And that's why the government accepts that it has to subsidize the operations, Hagen said in a recent interview.

Indeed, BC Place is like many other major stadium and trade show facilities in North America, in that it operates with a government subsidy.

PavCo regularly estimates the predicted economic benefits of the facilities it controls, including the Vancouver Convention & Exhibition Centre and Bridge Studios. It doesn't include one-time or unexpected events such as the Grey Cup, the western final or major concerts. It defines the benefits as money people drop in restaurants, bars, hotels, transportation and on other goods and services when attending an event such as a scheduled football game, convention or trade show.

In 2004, the stadium generated $34 million in benefits to the province. In 2005, it was forecast to be $44 million, but that didn't include the additional $50 million Tourism Vancouver estimates was derived from the B.C. Lions hosting the Grey Cup that year.

Last year, the estimate was $35 million, not including that recent Rolling Stones concert, which Ramsay said actually generated close to $10 million in both benefits and taxes.

In 2007-08 and 2008-09, PavCo estimates between more than $36 million will be generated annually.

That's still a small amount compared to the dollars derived from the current Vancouver Convention & Exhibition Centre, which annually generates between $165 to $188 million. And Bridge Studios, which serves the film industry, injects more than $200 million into the provincial economy.

But in the complex and competitive world of trade and consumer shows, conventions, exhibitions and sporting events, BC Place has carved out a market that cannot be easily moved or replaced. Both Cook and Ramsay say every major city needs a large sporting venue that can accommodate upwards of 50,000 seats, and has the space to hold massive floor shows.

While most cities have stadiums and stand-alone convention or exhibition halls, Vancouver's BC Place is among a rarer breed of multi-purpose facilities. But even here, Vancouver is again distinct, according to Ramsay.

The convention and exhibition market in the Lower Mainland requires two different types of facilities, Ramsay explained. At 22,946 square metres of space, the stadium, with its wide concourses, can hold trade and consumer shows that can't be held anywhere else in the city. By comparison, the cavernous VCEC, with its distinctive five sails, has only 8,640 square metres. The new VCEC being built next door at the foot of Burrard Street will have 19,695 square metres of space.

But both of those downtown facilities are specifically designed to capture the international convention business, the new money that is pumped into the economy by doctors and dentists and executives who come here to hold annual association meetings.

BC Place, on the other hand, serves a mostly domestic market, Ramsay explained. He dismisses the idea that some of the trade and consumer shows that use BC Place could move to the new VCEC once it is finished. Doing that would interfere with the growing new-money market that conventions represent.

He is equally dismissive of the suggestion some of those big space-eating shows like the Boat Show or the Home and Garden Show could move out to facilities like Abbotsford's Tradex, which has even less space than the current VCEC.

"The exhibitors themselves won't go out there. It's too far to go and too small," he said.

Every year Ramsay racks his brains to figure ways of increasing the occupancy. He's been in constant negotiations to try and bring the Toronto Blue Jays and Seattle Mariners here for regular-season games.

That's something of a deja-vu scenario; when the province commissioned Gordon Shrum to build the stadium in the early 1980s, it was at a time when Vancouver was fighting to get a major-league baseball team here. The team never came, but the stadium for it was built.

Last week's fiasco with the roof hasn't altered the debate over the future of the building. It has also brought into sharp relief the fact that British Columbians -- whether they love or hate the building -- are well aware of its existence in the centre of downtown Vancouver.

Hagen said he hasn't forgotten that the stadium is more than just an economic generator. It is branded into the consciousness of anyone who has seen its arresting dome on the city's skyline, he said.

"We all know what it represents," he said. "I am sure that it has a long life ahead."

jefflee@png.canwest.com

© The Vancouver Sun 2007

[mr.x]

OMG......WOWOWOWOW.

How embarrassing is it that even Winnipeg is managing to accomplish a new 40,000 seat stadium for $120 million:

Check out www.blueandgold.ca There's a video of the stadium design and more info.

AND WHAT DOES VANCOUVER HAVE??!!!!!

[deasine]

I actually like fabric roofs (hey notice that Winnipeg has fabric hanging from the roof support)... Yeah it is embarrasing, but I guess Winnipeg needs another stadium (hey what happened to Waterfront Stadium now...?). Yeah I was saying I like fabric roofs, now if BC Place looked somewhat like Denver Airport or Canada Place, it would be nice... =D =D

Vancouver 2010 response to roof incident at BC Place stadium

January 5, 2007

The Vancouver Organizing Committee for the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games (VANOC) issued the following response to the roof deflation at BC Place Stadium in downtown Vancouver.

“BC Place has a highly experienced team of professionals and we have every confidence in the ability of their engineers to rectify the situation. It’s a terrific facility that has a rich history of hosting some of BC and Canada's most memorable moments and we look forward to hosting our Ceremonies in BC Place for the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Games.” -- Guy Lodge, VANOC, Vice President – Services and Overlay

VANOC is responsible for the planning, organizing, financing and staging of the XXI Olympic Winter Games and the X Paralympic Winter Games in 2010. The 2010 Olympic Winter Games will be staged in Vancouver and Whistler from February 12 to 28, 2010. Vancouver and Whistler will host the Paralympic Winter Games from March 12 to 21, 2010.

Source: http://www.vancouver2010.com/en/Organizing..._0701051540-433

[mr.x]

That roof in Winnipeg is not made of fabric.

Waterfront Stadium is still in a 18-month planning process.

[jim jones]

OMG......WOWOWOWOW.

How embarrassing is it that even Winnipeg is managing to accomplish a new 40,000 seat stadium for $120 million:

Check out www.blueandgold.ca There's a video of the stadium design and more info.

AND WHAT DOES VANCOUVER HAVE??!!!!!

There will be no Embarrassment at all MR X. because what Winnipeg has on paper with that design cant be made for 145 million in the current climate of stadium construction. Until you see it in 3 years with the same price tag then you can believe it.

David Asper is living in fantasy land or is not being told the truth by his consultants who may also be misinformed. The only stadium I have seen that has keep it original price for estimate in the last decade of a design comparable is the university of phoenix dome where the arizona cardinals play. They estimated half a billion and that is what it turned out to be. Now with the debacle that is the new wembley stadium every single construction company with any common sense is not getting into set construction price agreements and prices are escalating at 6.5 percent per year.

I would save take a cue from the BMO stadium in Toronto which is 20,000 seats at 80 million and then double that price for 40,000 seats and then double that for

fancy structural steel and roof work and you could up with 320 million before you are at 6.5 percent over 3 years of construction just for a starting point let alone a cost estimate. At the current rate of construction inflation you are looking at the good part of 60 million a year in inflation from the realistic price of 320 million which I believe is still low. a grand total of 500 million dollars is not out of the question considering the Newark Arena for the new jersey devils is now estimated to cost that much for 18,000 seats. Considering the MTS Centre in Winnipeg was built for 135 million in 2004 for a 15000 seat arena without a complex design David Asper should walk down the street and see a similiar place with half the capacity of the building he is proposing that costs about what his consultants are estimating.

The construction industry is going to avoid a Multiplex vs the Wembley stadium authority court battle and the price of steel, concrete and everything else for a client will be passed onto the client himself. Labour is also specialized or a stadium and is very much in its highest demand for stadium and arena construction. We just don't see it in canada because we don't build stadiums and arenas at the rate other places in the world do. It is not only the drain on labour world wide by the historic levels of new construction it is also the boom with construction in every sector everywheres.

jim jones

[mr.x]

^ but i would imagine that inflation isn't so bad out in Manitoba, compared to what's going on in Alberta, Ontario and especially BC.

anyhow, it's a great thing the Asper family is doing. first the human rights museum, and now this stadium.

[Guardian]

Careful about the inflation rate info there, mr.x. Vancouver, at least, does not have the kind of inflation rate Calgary is having to deal with, despite that your city needs to get the 2010 venues up and running. When you got a CITY unemployment rate of 2.6%, then it calls into question how long the local economy is going to last. Never mind that some Calgarians are now selling-and-running to places "nearby" for overall better quality of life. That includes the Okanagan area of BC (Kelowna as its center), as the western-most reach of Albertans with so much money. Saskatchewan is really benefitting the "Alberta exodus", too, like Regina and Saskatoon.

As for the Asper family, they must be doing something right. If I recall my news, they got the tentative go-ahead to purchase the A-A movie company from Toronto, along with Goldman-Sachs. Well, it is good that Manitoba is doing something to project its province's reputation and not going to be left behind the likes of BC and Alberta.

Getting back into topic here, you guys must be wondering if everything you took for granted in Vancouver all of a sudden turned upside-down. The weather over there is not something I would have thought it would occur in my lifetime in such quickness. It looks like those BC Place people are going to be scrutinizing the stadium's overall structure, never mind the roof, for the next couple of years and hope that it will be functioning for the 2010 Winter Olympics. I do not envy those guys and those in the Vancouver area construction sector to get other projects ready in time for the forementioned big event. It must be a very hard time for them right now.

(Note: A-A stands for Alliance-Atlantis here.)

Edited January 16, 2007 by Guardian

[mr.x]

[deasine]

http://video.canada.com/Video.aspx?13637

[mr.x]

Torn roof raises stadium questions

What should be done with aging B.C. Place Stadium over long-term?

Ian Austin, The Province

Published: Monday, January 15, 2007

With B.C. Place Stadium crippled by a blown-out roof, officials are trying to decide whether to keep or kill the chronic money-loser.

Mayor Sam Sullivan thinks the roof failure serves as a warning leading up to the 2010 Winter Olympics, when the facility will host the opening and closing ceremonies seen by billions around the world.

"I think this has given us a warning that we have to be very vigilant about the inspection of the roof, and the care and maintenance," Sullivan told The Province yesterday. "We need this kind of facility for many of our sport, cultural and business events that are held there."

The stadium's air-supported Teflon roof is nearing the end of its useable lifespan, and a decision must be made soon on what to do with the facility.

For realtor Bob Rennie, the decision is simple -- tear it down and build condos on the site, close to trendy Yaletown and adjacent to upscale Concord Pacific Place.

The stadium, home to the B.C. Lions football team and dozens of trade shows every year, loses money and has to be bankrolled by taxpayers.

"If it were to stay, it would have to show it would get a return," said Rennie, pegging the site's value on the real-estate market at between $250 million and $400 million.

"That money should be used jointly somewhere else and do a lot more public good than putting on a retractable roof and adding to the albatross," Rennie told News 1130 radio.

The stadium cost $172 million to build and at least one man, Lions owner David Braley, has offered to buy the facility and take over the responsibility of deciding what to do.

"If they want me to write a cheque, I'll do it," said Braley, who has turned a money-losing football franchise into a profitable business. "My opinion is that a private owner or manager can do things with that building that the government can't. We can make it work."

Here are the long-term alternatives, from least to most ambitious:

- Repair the roof, and hope everything works out until after the Olympics;

- Replace the roof, at tens of millions of dollars, ensuring a dry facility for 20 to 30 years;

- Remove the roof, and, for the sports purists, refit the stadium as an outdoor facility;

- Remove the roof and replace it with a fixed roof;

- Remove the roof and replace it with a retractable one similar to Toronto's SkyDome (now Rogers Centre).

- Implode the stadium and replace it with a modern facility, as was done with Seattle's Kingdome.

- Implode the stadium, sell the land for real-estate development and use the proceeds to build a stadium elsewhere.

Another piece of the puzzle may be the proposal by Greg Kerfoot, owner of the Whitecaps soccer teams, to build a stadium near Gastown. The proposal, which has been given a temporary green light in the face of some public resistance, would involve building a smaller stadium that might be expanded later.

Though the stadium brings millions to city coffers, Sullivan knows its status is out of his hands.

B.C. Place Stadium is a provincial facility. A provincial study is looking into the facility's future, and Sullivan wants to make sure Vancouver doesn't lose out in the interim.

"If the province decides to make some major changes to the facility, I would like them to be certain that we have viable options for the current users," said Sullivan. "I think B.C. Place is a very valuable asset to the city." iaustin@png.canwest.com

- - -

WHAT DO YOU THINK?

Tell us by e-mail at provletters@png.canwest.com or by fax to 604-605-2223. Please include your name and address.

© The Vancouver Province 2007

Roof repair continues as next trade show looms

Ian Austin, The Province

Published: Monday, January 15, 2007

The painstaking, labour-intensive task of repairing the B.C. Place Stadium roof continued yesterday, with the next trade show set to open in just eight days.

About 75 workers continued the round-the-clock operation. They are replacing a roof panel on the stadium's west side and heat-sealing rips to five other damaged roof panels. A temporary replacement panel has been moved into place on the stadium's west side and officials expect it to be sealed over the next few days.

The heat-sealing involves bonding new material to the panels by heating them to 360 C. Workers also were finally able yesterday to finish removing the remaining field turf from the stadium floor.

Workers were in the process of removing the turf when the Teflon roof failed on Jan. 5.

A preliminary study showed that human error and gusting winds combined to cause the breach in the roof. When workers noticed that the roof was sagging, the air pressure was increased to three times the pressure needed to keep the roof aloft.

The next trade show at B.C. Place is sche-duled to open Jan. 23.

© The Vancouver Province 2007

[mr.x]

^ it's easy for Rennie to say the land the stadium sits on its worth hundreds of millions (it is) since he's a real estate mogul in the city. earns millions a year.

[mr.x]

i just thought of the perfect music for the Closing Ceremony parade of nations. David Foster's "Winter Games".

[mr.x]

10-15 cm of snow expected tonight.

[deasine]

Turned out to be more like 2 cm in Vancouver... It was falling heavily at 2 but then rain washed it all at 3. It's the start of the defrost in Vancouver.

[dave199]

Oh man!!! What a disaster this stadium has become!