REVscene Automotive Forum - New BC Place roof can't close in the rain

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New BC Place roof can't close in the rain

Quote:

The new, $500-million retractable roof at BC Place stadium won't be able to close when it's raining or there are high winds, officials said Monday.

The retractable roof, which seemed an ideal fit for the West Coast's rainy and quick-changing weather, can't actually be closed while it's raining because of an engineering problem.

As the roof closes, the fabric creates folds that will become gathered in the centre of the stadium. Officials say the weight the water would create in the folds could potentially create a tear in the roof.

"You can't have those folds collect water, especially with the size of the roof," BC Place Stadium General Manager Howard Crosley told reporters at a press conference Monday.

Crosley said the problem won't affect fans, whose seats will be permanently protected by the outside portion of the stadium at all times.

"The only thing that will be affected is the players on the field. And they're used to playing in open air stadiums, so that shouldn't be a big problem," he said.

Crosley said BC Place doesn't anticipate having to cancel any sporting games because of weather. He added that the decision whether the roof will be open or closed during games will be made far in advance.

The roof, which will be the world's largest cable-supported roof in the world, takes about 20 minutes to fully open or close.

Stadium officials say they chose to install a retractable roof because of the original design of the building, saying its design would not support a metal retractable roof like the one at Toronto's Rogers Centre.

"All of the structure that exists wasn't set up to handle the very significant weight of a metal retractable roof. This technology was sourced through engineers that have worked with our building before," Crosley said.

Crosley admitted a fixed roof would have cost less money, but says the new retractable roof will enhance the ability to market the venue for special events.

Since 1983, BC Place has averaged more than 200 event-days a year, generating $58 million annually. The government says the new retractable roof will add an additional 41 event days per year.

It is scheduled for completion by summer 2011, in time for the Grey Cup and for the Vancouver Whitecaps' first season as a Major League Soccer franchise.

BC Place is run by the BC Pavilion Corporation, which is owned by the provincial government.

Does anyone else think the engineers who designed the roof should be on the hook for fixing this? The roof's not built yet, why can't they come up with a better design? I mean shit, this is only vancouver where it rains 300 days a year.

so whats the point of the roof being retractable if you cant close it in the rain????

such a fail and waste of money

thats ridiculous.. if i paid for a roof with that price tag it better suck my dick let alone retract rain or shine

This should have been disclosed before construction even began.

Unbelievable. Those engineers didn't even factor in the rain? I guess once it's completed, it'll stay closed for a long, long time.

lolollololololololloll

500 million dollar roof that only retracts depending on weather

:facepalm:

So only retract it when skies are warm and brimming with sunshine... wait WAT?

i guess it will only open and close once a year i guess....... i wonder how much a regular roof would of cost

LOL
i hope this will be on national tv...so other canadians will know how efficiently our provincial gov't runs.

BC Gov't and translink with their 80k richmond bus stops = fail.

wait.. so if they had it open.. but the rain starts..and goes on for 30days.. they are just going to have the rood open for those 30 days? =.=

shit son..

so can it even be closed when its raining? or never closed due to rain? lol thats quite the oversight..

At least the Government made the right decision in not letting an independent billionaire build a water front stadium with his own money in skid's ville :troll:

This is only one of many examples.... of engineering having failed to identify all the variables related to whatever the practice of engineering is being applied to.

This sort of thing happens rather frequently, and to be fair, you have to consider so much when taking a project like this on, that something major becomes easy to overlook when focusing so much on all the small details. Though engingeering firms always have multiple levels revisions and squad checks to try and ensure something like this doesnt happen... too bad many engineers cant seem to think in simple terms, anything their calculator cant tell them musnt be important anyways lol.

Here's a side story,... something of the same nature...

2 years ago I was quality manger for Ledcor on the Transcanada Keystone pipeline project... http://www.transcanada.com/keystone.html

A portion of this project, involved the conversion of an existing 34" steel pipeline which ran across Sask... a pipeline which for 50 years handled natural gas transmission... and natural gas lines tend to corrode due to water content and condensate.

So, this project was planned in 2000, and the line was to be commisioned in the fall of 2009... so fast forward to april 2009. I'm sitting at my desk and the sr. inspector from TransCanada comes into my office and tells me that shit is hitting the fan over at TransCanada... and here's why!

So imagine, you and a group of engineers, decide to build this new pipeline, and use a rather large portion of existing pipeline to save some money... you would think... that someone would have decided to do some integrity testing, corrosion surveys, etc of the existing pipeline to verify its condition and to make sure it's worth investing the money into doing the associated conversion work of making a pipeline built for gas transmission, work for crude oil.

Well, turns out... nobody did! So April 2009, Transcanada decides to send a "smart pig" through the line which will give them an idea what condition the line is in... and the results were... terrible! The line is 50 years old, there is over 1200 individual locations across Sask. that are in such poor condition, they need to be excavated and have sections of pipe installed.... like a giant band aid project.

So now the cost of the project explodes, as they are required to have the line operational by october and the only way to meet that deadline is to spend a lot of money on these "dig up's"... hahaha

So basically, how is a room full of people with degree's stupid enough to overlook something which seems so obvious... Would you use a 50 year old rad hose on your new car? Even if you did,... you would probably have a look at the hose to make sure it wasnt fucked.. before you put it on... this isnt the flawed application of engineering, so much as a lack of common sense.

But hey, hindsight is 20/20 hahaha.

I honestly laughed when I read that... what a waste of money

Wow, fucking incredible.

wow... way to overlook a factor like coastal weather!

Remember when it snowed and the marshmallow roof had buildup issues?

FAIL.

not to mention it'll be fugly. all those crane-like structures and riggings will stay and it'll look like it's perpetually under construction.

http://www.6717000.com/admin/uploads...mages/5807.jpg

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hondaracer (Post 7168509)

man that STILL pisses me off. Greg kerfoot is about as PERFECT an owner as you could possibly have, and the city shits all over him.

I liked the old roof better.

jesus, just step up the motor so it'll close faster than the rain can gather.

i suggest them using a series of these:

Quote:

Since 1983, BC Place has averaged more than 200 event-days a year, generating $58 million annually. The government says the new retractable roof will add an additional 41 event days per year.

So does that factor in the number of event days that will no longer happen because the facility no longer has a fully closed roof?