Wimbledon's retractable roof over Centre Court completed

Worried about another washout at Wimbledon? Of players hidden away in their locker rooms while rain falls and Cliff Richards fills in more tedious hours with his seat-to-seat serenades?

Fear not….because Hightex has announce that it has completed its work on the membrane element of the new retractable roof over the centre court at the All England Club.

As a result, Wimbledon has a retractable roof which will enable all-weather play during the forthcoming Championships.

Installation work began in late 2008.

The retractable roof over the centre court is a type of 'folding fabric concertina'. This allows the roof to be folded into a compressed area and parked over the fixed canopy when not in use over the court.

More than 7,000 m2 of a translucent woven PTFE material have been used. The upside is that it allows a level of natural light to reach the grass.

The roof has been designed to close and open in under 10 minutes.

It is divided into two sections with a total of nine bays of structural fabric - four bays in one section and five in the other. Each of the nine bays of structural fabric is clamped on either side by prismatic steel trusses.

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You should know that there are 10 trusses spanning approximately 75m across the court. The ends of each truss are supported by a set of wheels that move along a track positioned on the new 'fixed' roof of the centre court.

Hightex also put the roof on the Berlin Stadium, Germany, used for the FIFA World Cup final in 2006.

It is upgrading the First National Bank (FNB) stadium in Johannesburg, which will be used for preliminary rounds as well as the final match at the FIFA 2010 football World Cup.

The main contractor for the project was Galliford Try.