Part of a £29.7m refurbishment project, a circular CableNet tension wire grid system has been installed by Slingco at the Roundhouse in Camden.
CableNet was initially specified as the safest and most flexible way of providing access to the high level technical space. This contains rigging, lighting and audio equipment above the stage and auditorium.
Circular tension wire grids are rare, with the company's first UK model completed at Brighton Dome in 1998/99, and another horseshoe-shaped grip designed more recently for the Hampstead Theatre, just up the road from the Roundhouse.
The most exacting engineering element of the project was ensuring that the inner and outer ring beams up in the roof were strong enough to absorb the tension loadings of the cable assemblies, and designing them to be robust enough to suspend the grid frame from tie bars connected to the roof support structure.
The grid's frame has no support struts between its inner and outer frames, it is all woven in 4mm diameter wire. The outside diameter ring beam measures 14.3m and the inside is 3m in diameter, giving a total grid area of 147sq. m.
The tension wire grid frame was assembled on the Roundhouse floor and lifted into its final location using nine 1.5 tonne chain blocks. It took a day to lift and fix the grid into its final position at its full height of 12m.
Slingco reports that alignment was achieved using plumb lines, probably the same methodology that the Victorians would have used.
Originally built in 1847 as a steam engine turning shed, the new Roundhouse can accommodate 3300 standing and 1700 seated. At its heart will be a unique creative centre for young people, Roundhouse Studios. Featuring state-of-the-art facilities for music, TV radio, new media and design and performance production, the Studios can cater for up to 10,000 young people, especially those with little or no access to arts education.
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