Girder truss option selected as most cost-effective solution for new 7,000-seat stand at Tynecastle Park.
Cundall engineers have celebrated the opening of Heart of Midlothian’s new Main Stand at Tynecastle Park, Edinburgh. The international multi-disciplinary engineering consultancy was employed by the club as the civil and structural consultants from feasibility through to completion on a multimillion-pound project that has created a new 7,000-seat stand plus approximately 80,000ft2 of club space.
After assembling an initial set of options for the new main stand roof to allow cost comparisons, the decision was taken for Cundall to progress with a detailed design for the ‘Girder Truss’ option – chosen by the club as it was cost effective and completed the arena, matching the existing stadium design philosophy. The three existing stand roofs are carried on corner towers, two of which Cundall had designed to accept the additional load of a future new fourth stand. The latest truss is supported on bearings at each tower, with the booms of the trusses employing sections of varying wall thickness for economy.
With the main stand having to remain in place and usable to the end of the 2016/2017 season, the greatest challenge became installing the 80-ton, 105m (344ft) girder truss over the existing historic main stand. This was successfully achieved in February 2017 and, at the end of the season, the existing stand was demolished and the remainder of the new stand built during the summer close-down.
“This is an important project for Cundall. The stadium is a local landmark and it’s not every day you get to land a 105m-long truss onto it,” says Neil Dely, partner at Cundall. “We have worked for the club since the 1990s, and were the engineers on the three other stands at Tynecastle Park, so this feels like we are now able to ‘finish off the job’ started 30 years ago.”
Work started on-site in December 2016, with Cundall also undertaking the civil engineering design (drainage and external works) and key utilities and servicing strategies.
