neaco’s Techdek aluminium grille system is widely specified as a ventilation grille and the most famous project to utilise the product in this way is the retractable roof at Centre Court.
Techdek is featured on the 56,000 sq ft roof at SW19 which was completed in 2009 and was first called into action at the Championships during a match between Andy Murray and Stanislas Wawrinka. Although we’d all rather that the British weather didn’t give cause to use it too often, there’s no doubt that, when the roof structure slides into view, it’s an impressive sight to behold. We thought we’d serve up a few statistics:
16 METRES – the height above the court surface
77 METRES – the span of the moving roof trusses in metres
100 TONNES – the weight of each truss
43 MILES PER HOUR – the wind speed up to which the roof can be deployed/retracted
3,000 TONNES – the combined weight of the roof
7,500 – the number of umbrellas required to cover the same area as the roof
Techdek is featured at other high-profile stadiums across the globe, including an access walkway specification for the 51,000-seat Estadio BBVA Bancomer in Monterrey, Mexico, which was completed last year. The system has also been chosen as an access walkway for many of the world’s most famous airports, including Heathrow, Gatwick, Hong Kong and at King Abdulaziz International Airport in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.
Techdek grille panels are superbly suited for access walkways: they are lightweight and easy to handle but offer impressive load-bearing capacity enabled by a patented swage-locked design which provides high structural efficiency. The free-draining grille surface is available with a a serrated surface for non-slip qualities. Panels can suit most standing seam roofs with a unique fixing system which allows the roof access walkway to be installed without penetrating the roof surface. When required the modular grilles can also be installed with handrails to one side or both sides for extra safety.