Wembley Stadium
So what if Wembley Stadium has cracks in it. Buildings crack don’t they? How big is it? Over 1 inch wide? 40 feet long? Oh dear.
So what should we make of today’s announcement? The officials say that there’s nothing to worry about; but those who witnessed the crack opening up were scared half to death. Here’s the official statement:
“As with all large structures, the stadium has been designed with movement tolerance factored in. Reports suggesting that there is a crack in the stadium as a result of this movement are incorrect.”
In the UK, structural steel must be designed by qualified structural engineers to British Standards or Eurocodes. These codes are designed along the lines of limit state philosophy. What this means to you and me is that the structure of a building must not fail to carry out its intended function. This applies to structural strength, but also many other serviceability factors. One of these factors is deflection, or movement. A building structure may move, but not so much that people feel unsafe or uncomfortable, nor should it move so greatly that finishes (e.g. plaster) are damaged. It seems both of these “limit states” have been exceeded, and therefore the building could be unfit for use.
But the situation could be much worse than that. The structural engineers who designed this stadium would (or should) have taken movement into account. If a crack of 1.5 inches has opened up in the plaster, either the designer made a mistake, or the builder did. It could point to a small error such as the builder forgetting to put in a movement joint. It could also point to incorrect assumptions made by the structural designer, completely invalidating his design. Should this worry you? Well, that depends on whether you’re going anywhere near Wembley Stadium!
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