GILBERTS HELPS BREATHE NEW LIFE INTO OLYMPIC STADIUM

Corporate visitors to the former Olympic Stadium, now the home of West Ham United and UK Athletics, will enjoy a comfortable internal environment, thanks to British engineering expertise.

Main contractor Balfour Beatty has spent two years transforming the iconic building to enable it to double up as home ground for the Premier League club, and the stage for world athletics championships. Work has included a new roof, accommodation for up to 54,000 spectators and 3,500 hospitality spectators. The hospitality and concessionaire areas feature new architectural double-glazed cladding and curtain walling facades, into which has been integrated almost £1/4million worth of ventilation louvres.

Leading air movement specialist Gilberts Blackpool has worked closely with English Architectural Glazing to engineer the façade ventilation solutions. A combination of standard and bespoke louvre designs has been utilised, to accommodate, and mirror, the form and lines of the stadium, masking the plant whilst ensuring adequate airflow with weather and noise attenuation.

Banks of over 50 WGK75 standard louvres and Series 27 acoustic weather louvres have been integrated into the new cladding systems and curtain walling. Elaborated Gilberts’ John Hanger, “It’s been a complex job, that emphasised the importance of good working partnerships. Some areas of the louvres are inclined at a forward angle, others faceted to follow the structure shape, and some engineered to a special shape in our factory to help form the structure.”

Gilberts WGK75 delivers 50% free ventilation area whilst giving a balanced appearance regardless of louvre panel size. The Series 27 delivers weatherability with noise emission control (up to 11dB transmission loss), making it particularly suitable for screening of plant areas.

Gilberts’ air movement solutions incorporate grilles, louvres, and diffusers for natural, hybrid and mechanical ventilation. Founded 55 years ago, Gilberts Blackpool is Britain’s leading independent air movement specialist, and is unique in its ability to develop components- be it ‘mainstream’ or bespoke- entirely in-house, from initial design through tooling, production, testing and supply, at its 85,000 ft² manufacturing facility. Its state of the art test centre, designed and built in-house, is one of the most technically advanced in the country.