Grass ceiling
A roof over Wimbledon’s Centre Court ensures rain doesn’t stop play — but designing the 1,000-tonne retractable cover wasn’t simple. Berenice Baker reports
The new roof on Wimbledon's Centre Court has had tennis fans for once praying that rain clouds would threaten so they could see the one-of-a-kind covering slide in place.
Although this year's tournament was one of the driest on record, the white steel and translucent fabric opened for the first time during a game on 29 June in a match between Amelie Mauresmo and Dinara Safina, then memorably had Andy Murray battling Stanislas Wawrinka by floodlight late into the night.
The roof, the total cost of which is a closely guarded secret, was a triumph of collaboration between a project team of mainly UK companies under lead contractor Galliford Try. Its main structure consists of 10 trusses, each weighing 100 tonnes, but its near-silent operation belies the 1,000-tonne mass supported over the heads of tennis fans. Its design is claimed to be unique, with the Toshiba stadium in Tokyo the nearest previous equivalent.
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