For the Paris 2024 Games, the Roland Garros stadium will receive more than 14,000 people every day, hosting not only tennis and wheelchair tennis competitions, but also boxing.
Sarens had six members of its engineering team to carry out the lifting of the 2 sections of the 480-ton platform to a height of 28 metres above the stadium.
The tennis venue for the Paris 2024 Olympics will be the famous Roland Garros stadium, where renovations are underway for the installation of a modern retractable roof, specifically for the Suzanne Lenglen court. With a design inspired by the skirt that Jean Patou designed for the eponymous tennis star of the 1920s, the lifting of the new platform was a major logistical and technical challenge.
Sarens, world leader in heavy lifting, engineered transport and crane rental, was able to participate in this important engineering work for the erection of two major sections of the roof. From September 2022 to February 2023, Renaudat Centre Constructions could count on the expertise of Sarens for this type of project, which is of vital importance for the celebration of what will be the next Olympic Games on one of the most emblematic stadiums in the world of sport.
For the assembly of the roofs, Sarens had six of its professionals to carry out the lifting of the two sections of the platform, weighing 480 tons, to a height of 28 metres above the stadium. This allowed the team to position and assemble them in their final location, but not before supporting them on the corresponding towers along the runway. As these could only be placed in specific locations around the tennis court, the Sarens team also had to assemble four modular beams, each 36 metres long.
The main challenge faced by the Sarens team was the positioning of one of the roofs, which had to be positioned higher than the other, given the proximity of an adjacent building. In order to do this effectively, Sarens' lifting towers had to be positioned at a height of 3.25 metres on top of the beams, which posed a challenge to the stability of the structure.
To perform all these maneuvers, Sarens deployed a team consisting of 4 support towers, 4 modular beams, 4 sliding systems (for positioning on the beams) and 8 CS250 jacking systems for the top of the beams. All this equipment was transported from Sarens headquarters in Wolvertem, Belgium, to the stadium with the help of 28 trucks and the assembly took 4 weeks: 2 weeks for the erection of the towers and beams and 2 weeks for the sliding and jacking operations.
"The installation of a new retractable roof for the arena was of vital importance for the upcoming 2024 Olympic Games in Paris. Given the proximity of the games and the need to have everything organized well in advance, Sarens' expertise in this type of project was more than necessary to complete the operations in a timely manner to allow the organization to have a retractable roof to protect the more than 14,000 daily attendees that the famous stadium will receive", says xxx.
Sarens has extensive experience in upgrading and improving sports facilities. Among other projects, the company has worked on the installation of steel roof structures at the Stade Saint-Symphorien in Metz (France), on the extension of the roof of the Anoeta stadium in San Sebastian (Spain), or on the lifting of the retractable stadium roof of the Al Bayt stadium in Qatar, one of the venues for the 2022 FIFA World Cup among others.
About Sarens
Sarens is the global leader and reference in crane rental, heavy lift and engineered transportation services. With state-of-the-art equipment, value engineering, one of the world's largest inventories of cranes, transporters and special rigging equipment, Sarens offers creative and intelligent solutions to today's heavy lifting and engineering transport challenges.
With more than 100 entities in 65 countries operating without borders, Sarens is an ideal partner for small to large-scale projects. Sarens currently employs 4,543 highly qualified professionals who are ready to serve the needs of any client worldwide and in all market sectors. https://www.sarens.com/