Refurbishing a global Grand Slam venue
The Championships, Wimbledon, staged at The All England Lawn Tennis Club (AELTC), is a global landmark with an unmatched reputation for exemplary tennis and first-class spectator experience. The refurbishment of No.1 Court is one of the most significant projects in the AELTC’s multi-decade renewal of the Wimbledon estate.
Key information
- Location:
- Wimbledon, UK
- Date started:
- 2013
- Completion date:
- 2019
- Client type:
- Real estate
- Main services:
- Cost management
Delivering the vision for the Wimbledon Championships
Following the historic investment in Centre Court a decade earlier, refurbishment of No.1 Court has assured the status of The Championships, Wimbledon as world tennis’ premier Grand Slam event. A new retractable roof over the court, allowing extended all-weather and evening play, is the centrepiece for the striking redesign.
Other major redevelopments provided state-of-the-art hospitality areas with spectacular views across the outside courts, significant operational support accommodation and a new English garden plaza and food-court.
No.1 Court was handed over on time and on budget three times during the project, allowing uninterrupted play and ensuring AELTC could host The Championships in 2017, 2018 and 2019.
Digital collaboration
The complexity of working on an uncompromised sports venue required a proactive, highly informed and motivated consultant and contractor team. A collaborative delivery model enabled traditional hierarchies to be broken down, with the supply chain fully focused on delivering the project vision. Overseen by in house expertise at the AELTC, with our support, the project was managed to ensure the skills of the entire project team were deployed.
Building Information Modelling (BIM) ensured continuous coordination between the project team, as well as for procurement and sub-contractor engagement ensuring that all parts of the team could be kept immediately up to speed with each other’s work.
Collaboration was critical to the cost management we delivered, with cost control and certainty required at every stage of the project. Our CostX measurement tool allowed efficient and accurate reporting on a significant scale and complexity which was achieved at key commercial milestones in a virtuous cycle.
Built with sustainability
- 245m2 combined area of two living walls
- 99% of construction waste diverted away from landfill
- 9,000 tonnes of carbon saved by reusing the existing structure
Environmental sustainability has been central to the design, delivery and ongoing operation of No.1 Court. Minimal alterations were made with the reuse of the existing bowl and concourse structure, saving 9,000 tonnes of carbon.
The design also re-used tubular pipe sections from the oil and gas sector for the main truss chords and the super-columns, while the thousands of plastic seats replaced during the project were recycled for use in the new seats, windows and doors. 99 percent of all construction waste was diverted away from landfill.
The project has extended the design-life of the structure to minimise the need for future interventions and has enabled the building fabric to meet current environmental requirements.