The Full Pitch: The All England Lawn Tennis Club

THE ALL ENGLAND LAWN TENNIS CLUB - NO. 1 COURT

London, England

The All England Lawn Tennis Club (AELTC) is one of the most iconic sporting venues - best known for the Wimbledon Championships, the only Grand Slam tennis event still held on grass. While The Championships have become renowned right across the world, the AELTC still operates as a private members’ tennis club. In the grounds of AELTC, there are 18 grass courts, eight American Clay courts and five indoor courts, two Greenset Velvelux and three Greenset Trophy. In Aorangi Park, there are 20 grass courts for practice before and during The Championships and two green acrylic courts. The area covers over 42 acres in total. The two ‘show courts’ are Centre Court and No. 1 Court, with the former undergoing renovation in

2009, which saw a new, retractable roof installed. No. 1 Court, which was opened in 1997, was still without a roof until earlier this year. Robert Deatker, Estate Director, The AELTC takes up the story: “It was through our Master Planning process that we determined a refurbishment of No.1 Court was required. The decision was based on two key drivers: first, the hospitality facilities that were situated in temporary accommodation in the southern end of the grounds would be more advantageously located in a permanent, quality space, and second, given the success of the Centre Court retractable roof that was completed in 2009, we decided it would be beneficial for our second largest stadium - No.1 Court - to be fitted with a retractable roof, too. “The next step was to consider what form the

refurbishment would take. Do we knock it down and start again? Do we refurbish what is there? In the end, we decided to undertake a significant project that would add a new fixed and retractable roof, 15 hospitality suites, and improve a lot of back-of-house areas that would support not only the No.1 Court hospitality offering, but also more widely The Championships and whole estate.” The decision to implement the upgrades at No. 1 Court as part of a wider plan was all about improvement for The Wimbledon Championships, as Robert explained further: “The overall aim of the No.1 Court Project was to improve the guest experience at The Championships, whether that be the more than 12,000 members of the public who can continue to enjoy tennis on No.1 Court no matter the weather, to the international broadcasters who now have additional choice in matches to show when it rains, to the players who have understandably wished to be scheduled on Centre Court previously with its guarantee of match time and who now know they will have that reassurance on No.1 Court as well.” Having engineered the original Centre Court roof in 2009, SCX Special Projects was enlisted to help with the No. 1 Court project. The bespoke engineering arm of Sheffieldbased company designed, engineered and installed the new retractable roof over No.1 Court, which was used for the first time during the 2019 Wimbledon Championships. The concertina-style roof is built using eleven trusses that span the 75-metre width of the stadium. The trusses are divided into two groups, both of which can travel independently to any position as required. The trusses are stored at the north end of No.1 Court when not in use, leaving the south end of the stadium open to natural sunlight to help the grass courts grow. The roof can be fully

rolled out or retracted in an average time of 8.5 minutes and weighs around 1,000 tonnes, yet glides effortlessly above the 12,000-strong crowd. As well as its obvious role in ensuring that rain doesn’t stop play, the retractable roof can also be used as a gantry for overhead lights. “The building process and schedule for the No.1 Court Project was unique,” said Robert. “As complex projects go, this was definitely up there as one of the most complicated projects I’ve worked on in my career. Partly because of the engineering challenge of taking an existing structure and placing a new structure on top of it, dealing with the kinetic aspect of a retractable roof with 11 100-tonne trusses moving up and down the rails, and the expansion that occurred both above and below the ground. “But, adding to the complexity was the requirement that the No.1 Court had to be operational each year for The Championships, so you end up breaking the build into a series of three nine-month projects, which each needed to be delivered on time and within a tight budget. The No.1 Court Project was very complex and it took a lot of skill and collaboration between many different parties to bring it to a successful completion.” SCX Special Projects had staff on-site operating both roofs throughout the tournament. Lead Engineer at SCX Special Projects, John Biggin, reflected on the months leading up to the tournament: “It’s a hugely complex structure, but it could not have been delivered more smoothly. It’s a great testament to what we delivered first time around on Centre Court that our approach is largely unchanged for No.1 Court. The mechanical design is fundamentally the same: it’s the electronics to control the roof that have moved on considerably.” The No.1 Court roof was closed fully for the first time due

to fading light during the women’s singles match between Donna Vekic and Alison Riske. Andy Whitworth, SCX Special Projects’ Managing Director, said: “2019 has been a very proud year for SCX at Wimbledon. It’s a huge privilege to design, build and install a second roof for AELTC at one of the world’s most prestigious sporting venues. “The No.1 Court project demonstrates our capability to deliver unique engineering solutions on a world stage. Our knowledge and expertise in kinetic architecture - the discipline of engineering and safely controlling huge moving structures - was key to the project’s success.” As well as the new roof structure, The AELTC wanted to upgrade the seating at No. 1 Court, too, with the contractor, Sir Robert McAlpine, choosing to work with Camatic Seating following a tender process. Camatic Seating had an existing relationship with The AELTC having manufactured and installed VIP-style seating at Centre Court and a number of the outer courts. Sherif Harding, European Sales Manager for Camatic Seating, explained what the brief was from the venue: “Rather like Centre Court, The AELTC wanted to install a seat which would prove to be a major upgrade on the existing plastic tip-up seats and reduce down time due to seat damage during The Championships, all the while without suffering any capacity reduction. “The procurement phase started in early 2018, with on site installation running between January and April 2019. “There was a particular desire to switch to a plush, padded seat which would be both weatherproof and maintenance

free, as well as prove comfortable for many hours to deal with those long five-set matches!” The team at Camatic Seating proposed its Quantum model, which features an ergonomic curved back, high density foam lining and a counter-weight tip up system. Furthermore, it is a beam-mounted system which takes a fraction of the time to install or move when compared to the old traditional leg-fixings - of which many are still being installed across venues in the UK. The end result has seen Camatic Seating deliver the same, impeccable standards seen in the other courts at The AELTC, offering uniformity of the seating right across the venue. “We were all very proud of the stadium’s successful launch at The No.1 Court Celebration in support of the Wimbledon Foundation in May,” Robert added. “Personally, I was very proud of the team involved, how they all pulled together, from the contractors, to the suppliers, to the internal team here at the All England Club, to deliver what is quite an exceptional stadium. “We received great feedback from the people who attended during The Championships, and operationally it worked perfectly when we closed the roof on four occasions with late play. “A big project such as this creates a fantastic ‘feel good’ factor when everyone works together and delivers something they can all be proud of. We had a great Championships this year, and the refurbished No.1 Court played an integral role in that, which is very satisfying.”