Prater was a crucial member of the team responsible for delivering London’s iconic Olympic Stadium.
The specialist contractor was involved from the early design stages – helping to refine initial designs to respect a unique set of technical, aesthetic and security requirements.
As part of the project, Prater detailed, procured and installed 3,000 square metres of ACM cladding for the Olympic Stadium. This was combined with 60mm of Kooltherm rigid phenolic boards to create an insulated rainscreen system.
Above this, a further 900 square metres of matching ACM soffit profiles were installed with supporting framework. Meanwhile, a challenging element to the rainscreen installations, were the inclined areas, which followed the sloped profile of the stadium around the south and west elevations.
In addition, for the vision areas around the facades to the main stadium, Prater supplied a capped curtain walling package, based on the Schuco FW 60+ and FW50+ systems. These featured a variety of glazing specifications with enhanced physical characteristics that addressed thermal and acoustic performance as well as barrier loadings and any potential terrorist threat.
This was achieved by different thicknesses and interlayers of toughened and laminated glass, along with silicone sealing rather than conventional gaskets and pressure plates. Some sections also contained obscure glass for privacy or to conceal structural elements such as floor slabs.
Also featuring within the areas of curtain walling were the trackside VIP boxes and hospitality suites. Prater also helped to design and install the main entrance into the atrium at lower ground floor level, including the athletes’ access doorways.
There were also substantial areas of concrete roof deck at the second floor level, which required waterproofing. Prater was accordingly involved with the creation of an inverted roof specification.
The Olympic Stadium is an example of Prater’s ability to work closely with key supply chain partners to develop cost effective, technically compatible builds for multi-million pound projects.