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« Ricoh Arena Football Stadium, Coventry »
Tuesday, February 2, 2010 at 11:34PM 
Ashgrid, the spacer support system from Ash & Lacy Building Systems, is the choice roofing system for the £113m development on the RICOH Arena in Coventry.
Work on the 32,000 seater football stadium, home to Coventry City Football Club, began on January 1st, 2004, by Laing O’Rourke and the external envelope was completed by August 2005 for the 2005-2006 football season.
The trapezoidal sheet roofing, which is 25 metres high, covers not only the seating around the football pitch but also one of Europe’s largest casinos. It includes a 140mm thick layer of compressed insulation and thus provided a cost-effective way for subcontractors Lakesmere of meeting the necessary U-values in the roof.
John Wilson, Design Manager of Lakesmere, confirms this, commenting “We collaborated with Ash & Lacy’s team to establish the correct figures. Their system is economically better as it satisfied the client’s requirement on budget.”
Ash & Lacy’s perforated absorbent linings were also installed to ensure the best acoustic performance for a football stadium of such a vast size. Elsewhere, £70,000 of AshFix stainless steel fasteners were used to fix the wall cladding systems throughout the site.
The fasteners are manufactured using 304 grade austenitic stainless steel, which has the advantages of optimum strength and helps to reduce the risk of corrosion.
AshGrid, the proprietary Ash & Lacy system, was the first spacer support system for builtup metal roofing and cladding developed and launched in 1988. It is an engineered bar and bracket system manufactured from galvanized steel which, although fully adjustable, maintains its structural integrity once installed.
The system offers a selection of bracket heights from 60 to 240mm and the inclusion of sway brackets ensures that the installation is safe and robust even at greater system depths, thereby eliminating any risk to the roofing contractor.
A joint venture between Coventry City Council and the Alan Edward Higgs charity with backing from Advantage West Midlands and the European Regional Development Fund, the site also houses 6,000 square metres of exhibition and events halls, the largest column-free banqueting space in the Midlands, a sports bar and restaurant, a hotel with 70 bedrooms and the largest Tesco supermarket in Europe - as well as being home to Coventry City Football Club.