Design and Construction of the Millennium Dome, UK
Ian Liddell, Civil Eng.
Paul Westbury, Civil Eng.
Buro Happold, Bath, UK
Fig. 1: The Millennium Dome under construction
Introduction
The Millennium Experience is to be
held in the year 2000 on the Green-
wich Peninsula, London. After investi-
gating ways of housing the exhibitions
in conventional halls, a large umbrella
over the site was proposed. The struc-
ture, which is now complete, covers
an enclosed area of 80000 m2 with a
polytetrafluoroethane (PTFE)-coated
glass-fibre fabric roof (Fig. I). The pro-
ject has been the subject of continuous
controversy, but has already become
an icon for the new millennium. This
paper presents the design and con-
struction of the Dome, which are de-
scribed in more detail in [l].
Site Constraints
Site History
The site was used as a town gasworks
from the late 1880s until the early
1970s. As a result, there was extensive
contamination due to deposition of
waste and to leakage from under-
ground tanks and pipes, which were re-
moved during statutory remediation
works in 1996. There were also a num-
172 Structures for the Next Millennium
ber of old underground structures that
had to be broken out or reused.
Highways Issues
A further constraint was the south-
bound carriageway of the Blackwall
Tunnel, which pa>sesunder the site,
with a vent structure that would be
within the dome. The potential impact
of the Dome foundations on the Tun-
nel therefore had to be assessed. In ad-
dition, the future construction of the
Third Blackwall Crossing, comprising
another tunnel between the two exist-
ing Tunnels, had to be taken into ac-
count.
Environmental Issues
The Environment Agency required
that contaminant migration to the mi-
nor aquifer in the terrace gravel was
eliminated, and all foundation solu-
tions considered had to be evaluated
on environmental grounds. In addi-
tion, all works within 16 m of the river
wall required approval from the Envi-
ronment Agency. In the north-east sec-
tion of the site, one of the Dome an-
chorages comes within this range, and
the construction works therefore had
to be formally approved.
Foundations and Anchorages
Ground investigation works were car-
ried out, including extensive bore-
holes, trial pitting, and the use of seis-
mic and geophysical techniques, to
evaluate existing structures. The aim of
the detailed investigation was to deter-
mine whether ground improvement
would be acceptable, or whether piling
into the terrace gravels below the silt,
or into the London clay below that,
was necessary. Since the exhibition was
intended to be temporary, it was at-
tempted to avoid covering the site with
piles that could hamper future rede-
velopment.
A critical finding of the investigation
was the extent and depth of spent lime.
Because of the loose nature of the top
4 m of fill and the 6 m of soft alluvium,
the anticipated settlements were of the
order of 300 mm. Because of this and
the requirements of the Environmen-
tal Agency, which prohibited the use of
vibro-replacement stone columns, dri-
ven cast-in-situ piles were adopted for
the general piling, with augered piles
adjacent to the Blackwall tunnel in dr-
der to transfer the loads to a depth be-
low the tunnel.
To resist the uplift forces from the ten-
sioned cable structure, screw-in an-
chors and grouted cable anchors were
used. Mass concrete blocks were used
as anchors in anticipation of the Third
Blackwall Tunnel.
Roof Structure
Engineering Concept
Tension structures rely on the shape of
the stressed surface for their perfor-
mance under load. Forces are resisted
by the tension and the curvature; the
greater the curvature, the less the ten-
sion required to resist a given load.
Over the past 25 years, the accepted
form for fabric structures had became
the anticlastic doubly curved surface;
however, the structural concept of the
Millennium Dome departs radically
from this form. The new concept is in-
novative, yet apparently very simple.
Structural Engineering International 3/99
A total of 72 tensioned steel cables are
arranged radially on the surface of the
dome, forming a structure with a diam-
eter of 400 m. The cables are support-
ed at the nodes from external masts by
means of hangers and tie-down cables
at 25-m intervals. Two rings of masts
were proposed: a central ring of twelve
and an outer ring of 24 masts. The radi-
al cable lines reduced from 72 at the
perimeter to 48 at the centre. The radi-
al cable forces were to be taken at the
perimeter by raking ground anchors in
a typical marquee arrangement.
The surface of the dome is defined as a
spherical cap. Between the cables, flat
tensioned coated fabric is used as
cladding. Loads are carried by the ten-
sioned cables and the cladding through
deflection, accompanied by some in-
crease in tension. While this concept is
simple, there are risks associated with
the resulting deflections, particularly
from ponding of snow or heavy rain.
To ensure that the structure functions
satisfactorily, it is necessary to under-
stand the behaviour of the materials
and the structure as a whole, and to en-
sure that the geometry is correct.
The straight-cable concept was pro-
posed in response to the designers’
idea to provide a large umbrella over
the entire site. It was carried out at a
stage when cost and time were critical.
The structural concept had already
been used on two structures in the UK:
one encompassing tennis courts; the
other forming an audience tent of
18000 mZ. The latter had proved very
economical and successful in terms of
construction time and ease of installa-
tion. Therefore, it was considered that
the Millennium Dome structure, which
was fivefold larger, could be devel-
oped and constructed in the limited
time scale available.
Fig. 3: Detail of the central cable truss
Structural Engineering International
Fig. 2: Isometric of the cable net
Design Development
In the final design, the diameter of the
Dome to the walls was reduced from
400 to 320 m, and the internal height at
the centre was fixed as 48 m. The main
inner masts were moved out and made
higher (100 m), and the outer ring of
masts was eliminated (Fig. 2). To keep
the tie-down cables clear of the
planned internal structures, the masts
were supported on pyramidal bases
10 m high. The-radial cables run from
the perimeter to a 30-m-diameter cen-
tral ring consisting of 12 cables, each
48 mm in diameter (F&s. 3 and 4). At
the perimeter, the radial cables are
linked via catenary cables to 24 an-,
chorage points at ground level. To re-
sist the cable forces, vertical anchors
are arranged with a ring beam in order
to take the horizontal component of,
1 ‘y
the forces.
The straight-cable structure is very ef-
ficient as far as strength is concerned,
but it relies on deflections as part of its
load-carrying behaviour. Consequent-
ly, it is necessary to ensure that pond-
ing under snow or rain does not occur.
In this respect, the roof shape, with ta-
pering segments, is advanmgeous be-
Fig. 4: Masts and cable net during construction
3199
cause as the span of the fabric panels
increases, their deflection under load
also increases. Circumferential cables
through the nodes were used to main-
tain their spacing. If these cables were
in the surface of the fabric they could
cause a dam at each circumferential
line, possibly initiating ponding; there-
fore, an arrangement was required that
would take these cables away from the
surface. This was achieved by raising
the circumferential cables above the
surface of the dome by means of with
rigid members (“wishbones”) and con-
necting them to the nodes via bracing
cables. Lower circumferential cables
were also required to control the tie-
down cables; these were also distanced
from the surface, but without the use
of bracing cables.
To control the deflection of the radial
cables, each of which spans 25 m, a
pretension of 400 kN, about 70% of
the ultimate strength, was used. The
prestreas in the fabric was planned to
be 4 kN/m.
Structural Detailing
With cable structures, it is essential
that the detailing respects the system
lines and system points of the cables
and their intersections, as well as the
likely rotations of the cables at the
connections. If the radial cables were
continuous through the node points,
the flexing at those noints would cause
the cables to fail due to fatigue. To
avoid this flexing, the cables have to be
terminated at each node and the con-
nection details have to allow for rota-
tion in the vertical and horizontal
planes. Barrel pins were used in clevis
and plate type fittings to provide for
these rotations.
Structures for the Next Millennium 173

__j__ Almnininm
Primary
Fittings to support
raincap over mast
Tensioning
Perimeter mast top
Tieback
Plan
Section
Primary radial cable
A account, as well as initial out-of-
Elevation
Fig. 5: Radial cable connections at the masts . taneously with the peak vertical loads
Each mast was constructed from eight
323-mm-diameter steel tubes braced
with rings at 2.5-m centres. The cables
were connected to radial plates at the
top and bottom, which are arranged to
ensure that the cables meet at a single
point (Fig. 5). The base of the mast
is supported on the pyramid with a
rubber pot bearing to allow a small
amount of rotation.
Design Verification
During the design development stages,
the structure was analysed using soft-
ware developed specifically for tension
structures. This software is able to han-
dle large deflections of the structure
under load. It can also calculate the
form of the structure under specified
tensions representing the prestressed
condition.
The wind loads were initially derived
from published data [2]. Subsequently,
they were confirmed by wind tunnel
testing, although the results from the
tunnel tests were generally lower than
those calculated.
174 Structures for the Next Millennium
Ground snow loading was derived
fabric clips from statistical analysis of snowfall
data from the nearest stations. The
radial cables roof accumulation factors were taken
from the snow loading code and other
references concerning snow drifting on
large roofs [3].
jack The results of the analyses gave peak
loads on the components that were de-
tailed according to normal design
rules. The masts were designed to re-
sist wind and ice loads, as well as buck-
ling.
cables
Resistance of the whole structure to
accidental damage is provided by re-
dundancy, i.e. the structure can toler-
ate the loss of an individual compo-
nent without collapse. This principle
also applies to the support pyramids,
which are designed to withstand the
removal of a leg.
The overall diameter of the masts was
limited by transportation require-
ments, and a great deal of computer
calculation went into verifying their
load capacity. The limiting load was
calculated using the LUSAS program
in a non-linear mode. Since the masts
are leaning, deflections under self-
% weight-and icing have to be taken into
straightness. Wind loading is also sig-
nificant, but this does not occur simul-
from snow and ice.
Selection of Cladding
and the Internal Environment
The roof is to provide”a controlled en-
vironment for the exhibition and for
any future use. It was desirable to have
a bright translucent roof (Fig. 6) with a
light spectrum as close as possible to
Fig. 6: Interior of the dome during construc-
tion
that of daylight. The objective was to
have a total light transmission above
10%. A double skin construction was
required to minimise the risk of con-
densation, which would otherwise re-
duce the light transmission.
The roof was originally designed with
polyvinylchloride (PVC)-coated poly-
ester. At this time, the Dome was ex-
pected to be temporary and the aim
was to minimise costs. However, in
June 1997 it was decided that all op-
tions should be kept open regarding
the long-term use of the Dome, and a
subsequent review concluded that
PTFE-coated glass fibre would be a
more appropriate material. The life
expectancy of the roof would be much
longer, and PIPE-coated glass fibres
do not suffer from the dirt-retention
and discolouration problems experi-
enced by PVC-coated polyester.
Steelwork Construction
The steel contractor prepared shop
drawings based on the engineer’s de-
sign drawings. These drawings, show-
ing the dimensions of all the plates, as
well as the welding and connection de-
tails, were reviewed and approved by
the engineer prior to the start of fabri-
cation.
The cables were wound from wires
that had been drawn and galvanised.
Class A galvanising, the lightest class
available, was specified for cables be-
neath the roof, while Galfan, a mixture
of aluminium and zinc that is much
more durable than zinc alone, was
specified for the external cables. Cable
lengths were determined after pre-
stretching under a specified prestress
load, in order to allow for stretching
during construction.
Erection
The lifting of the masts (Fig. 7) was
planned with great care. This involved
selecting a suitable crane and devising
lifting positions that would not over-
stress the masts. Each mast was lifted
and guyed with two permanent back-
stays and two temporary forestays.
While the crane was being released,
only one forestay could be used, and a
short-term guy was therefore added
from the centre of the mast to the adja-
cent base. While the mast was held by
the temporary forestays, the central
ring was lifted by the permanent
forestays. During derigging of the
crane and changing of the guy posi-
Stmctumi Engineering International 3/W

Fig. 7: Thr I OO-m-high n~(lsts
tions, the tensions in the guys had to be
carefully controlled to maintain the
stability of the mast.
After lifting the ring, the guy system
was moved so that the rest of the cable
net could be assembled and lifted into
place. This was carried out using hy-
draulic cable jacks, with the hoisting
cables running over sheaves on top of
the masts.
Final Tensioning
When the net was completely assem-
bled and all the cable lengths checked,
each of the 72 pairs of radial cables
had to be tensioned (Fig. 5). This was
achieved in several steps using a 55-t
capacity pull jack in the jacking points
at the front of the perimeter masts. Be-
cause of the flexibility of the central
ring and the boundary cables, tension-
ing of the radial cables had to be per-
formed to specified dimensions rather
than to specified loads, with final ad-
justments made at the end of the pro-
cedure.
Fabric work
Because of the arrangement of the
panels within the cable net, and the
fact that the cloths were to be fitted
into dead lengths, the patterns had to
be extremely accurate. Since the warp
direction of the panels of the outer
fabric ran radially along the roof with
25-m-long cloths, it was necessary to
model the fabric as an equal mesh net
in order to represent the warp and fill
lines of the cloth. This method is much
more time consuming than the stan-
Structural Engineering International 3199
dard method of representation using
triangular elements. The basic geome-
try patterns were converted by the
contractor into cutting patterns, who
allowed for stretch compensations,
which were defined after biaxial tests
on the production cloth and considera-
tion of the edge details.
The fabric attachment detail was a
double-luff groove extrusion fitted
onto the radial cable pairs to accept a
roped edge on the fabric. The contrac-
tor proposed a 12-mm edge cable in
the fabric, which would hook into spe-
cial clamps fixed to the cables. The
clamps were developed into two-part
extrusions cut into 50-mm lengths and
retained by two 12-mm bolts. Fabric-
sealing flaps were closed over the tops
of the site joints and sealed using an
iron at 380°C and an FEP (flourinated
ethylene propylene) interlayer (Fig. 8).
’ study of the behaviour of air supported roofs
,.i
Fig. 8: Installatiorl of the fabric
Tunnel Vent Area
A 50-m-diameter hole was required in
the roof around the Blackwall tunnel
vents in order to maintain the air sup-
ply to the ventilation structure. After
considering a number of ways of incor-
porating a hole in the fabric, a net of 8-
mm cables at l-m centres was adopted,
which would replicate the stress-carry-
ing capacity of the fabric yet would al-
low the air vent to pass through. The
cable net was attached to the fabric
with clamp bars at the edges. The net
patterns were developed directly from
the typical fabric patterns with the
boundary line defined to align with the
top of the vent. The net was erected in
the same way as the fabric, using the
same extruded hooks modified with a
steel plate to which the cable termina-
tions were attached.
Conclusions
The Millennium Experience, a tempo-
rary exhibition to celebrate the new
millennium, has been surrounded in
controversy. However, the dome struc-
ture that has been erected to enclose
the exhibition is now a dominant land-
mark on the Greenwich Peninsula (see
cover of this issue). The dome struc-
ture was completed, on schedule and
within budget, in December 1998, and
work is now progressing on the assem-
bly of the internal features.
References
[l] LIDDELL, W. I.; MILLER, I? W. The
design and construction of the Millennium
Dome. The Structural Engineer, Vol. 77, No.
7,1999, pp. 18-25.
[2] COOK, N. J. The designer’s guide to wind
loading of building structures. Butterworths,
London, 1985.
[3] LIDDELL, I. Minnesota Metrodome. A
under environmental loads. Structural Engi-
neering Review, Vol. 6, No. 3-4,1994, pp.
SE1 Data Block
Owner:
The New Millennium
Experience Co. Ltd
Architect:
Imagination Ltd,
Richard Rogers Partnership
Str~rcturrrl design.
Buro Happold
Contractors:
McAlpinciLaing Joint Venture,
Watson Steel, Birdair
Wind tmnrl tevting:
BMT
stcc1 (1): 2000
Fabric (111’):
, 100 000
Total cost (USD millions): 60
Service date: January 2000
Structures for the Next Millennium 17.5