SYDNEY OLYMPICS 2000

H & H Consulting Engineers were involved in some interesting aspects of the Sydney Olympics. We worked in conjunction with a French company, Generale Location, to help them obtain design and approvals for all their temporary structures, including large marquees, tents and temporary grandstands.

Temporary Structures
Often temporary structures attract design concessions due to their short life span. However, given the exposure to large numbers of the public we had to observe the most rigid safety criteria. Henry & Hymas were structural consultants to Generale Location, a French firm specialising in providing temporary structures such as tents and grandstands. Our role included both design and design certification of the structures.

The particularly unusual and challenging aspect was the footing design to these substantial structures.

Grandstands at the National Rowing Course, Penrith
Footings for these comprised of hardwood timber planks. This was particularly unusual when located adjacent to walkways beneath the grandstands. In these cases the timber footings had to be offset to eliminate the danger to the public of tripping over them. The overturning forces resulting from these eccentrically loaded columns were resisted by a combination of steel spikes and/or timber rectifying beams.

Tents
Numerous temporary hospitality marquees and tents were erected on temporary timber footings. The largest of these was a 40m clearspan marquee 120m long (4,800s.m. - a substantial building). A building of such dimensions requires significant foundations to resist wind uplift forces. In this case this was achieved by the use of steel "pins".

Our designs were confirmed by load testing prior to use, given the importance and safety issues involved.

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