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The leadership, professionalism and dedication of you and your colleagues have been evident from the beginning and has been consistent throughout. It has been a pleasure to work with you."

John Marchant
MCMP Architects, Designers, Planners

Olympic 2010 Speed Skating Oval Roof – Vancouver, BC (Richmond)

 

The roof of the Olympic 2010 Speed Skating Oval in Richmond BC (Vancouver) is a stunning display of world-class design, form and function. The roof structure was made up of sixteen V-shaped arches, each one a glulam (wood) and steel composite with intricate splice connections. The arches each span a distance of 105 metres and weigh over 80 tonnes.

Under a very aggressive time schedule, our team was able to fabricate and erect these one-of-a-kind composite arches by building four individual trusses, trial-fitting them in the shop to ensure exact tolerances, and then field-splice them together to form each arch. Erection was completed using specialized lifting devices and large temporary shoring towers to position the self-supporting arches in place. Wind bracing was provided between the beams to stabilize the roof trusses.

The final result is a breath-taking roof structure for an Olympic legacy building which will host many sports over the years to come. The skill and experience of our fabrication and erection crews deserve the gold medal recognition they received for this beautiful project.

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