• de
  • en
  • fr
  • International Database and Gallery of Structures

The O2 arena

The O2 arena
The O2 arena
The O2 arena
The O2 arena

General Information

Structural Type: Cable-suspended membrane structure
Function / usage: Congress center
Other name(s): North Greenwich Arena
Built: 1997 - 1998
Status: in use

Geographic Information & Related Structures

Location: Greenwich, London, England, United Kingdom, Europe
Part of:
Next to North Greenwich Transportation Interchange (1998)

Technical Information

Dimensions

membrane covered area 80 000 m2
site area 200 000 m2
dome height 50 m
masts height 100 m

Materials

membrane PTFE-coated glass-fiber fabric

Chronology

23 June 1997

First piles bored.
October 1997

Masts finished
March 1998

Cables are stressed.

Notes

Built to house the Millennium Exhibition, the Dome was to provide a cover over the whole site under which the elements of the exhibition could be built later. The main component of the structure is a radial net of 72 straight tensioned cables These span 25 m from node to node and carry tensioned fabric panels. The nodes are supported by an array of cables hanging from the 100m high masts. Around the perimeter the radial cables are supported by masts and tied down to anchor points where the vertical forces are taken by tension piles and the radial forces by a compression ring beam on the ground.

Since the cables defl ect both vertically and horizontally under loads the cables are connected at each node with a detail that allows movement in both directions. This avoids the risk of fatigue at the cable terminations. The radial geometry on the spherical cap minimizes the risk of ponding under snow loading.

Source: Liddell, Ian and McCormick, Fergus (2012) Special steel structures in Steel Designers' Manual: The Steel Construction Institute, Seventh Edition (eds B. Davison and G. W. Owens), Blackwell Publishing, Oxford, UK

Participants

Client
Architecture
Structural engineering
Checking engineering
General contractor
Steel construction
Membrane supplier
Mechanical & electrical engineering

Relevant Web Sites

Relevant Publications

Internal Information

Structure-ID: s0000362
Created: 04/09/1999
Last Updated: 05/03/2013