Six-Person Team Deployed to Move Two 480-Tonne Sections at Roland Garros
Belgium-based heavy-lift specialist Sarens has been called into action to skid two roof sections over France’s legendary Roland Garros Stadium, home to the French Open tennis championships.
The operation was part of an upgrade at Roland Garros’s Suzanne Lenglen court – the stadium’s second largest venue – in preparation for the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris. The court is being fitted with a modern retractable roof inspired by the pleated skirt Jean Patou designed for 1920s tennis star and the court’s namesake, Suzanne Lenglen.
“Sarens is proud to be part of this fantastic modern upgrade to an iconic court, and was on site from September 2022 through February 2023 to skid two major roof sections in place on behalf of customer Renaudat Centre Constructions,” Sarens said.
As part of the operation, a six-person Sarens team skidded the pair of 480-tonne sections some 28 metres over the stadium, jacking them down on their final supports. According to Sarens, the support towers could only stand at specific places around the tennis court, so the crew had to provide four modular beams with a total length of 36 metres each.
“One of the most pivotal challenges presented by the project was that one roof section had to be built higher than the other due to the presence of an existing building. Because of this, Sarens’ jacking towers on top of the beams had to be 3.25 metres high – a challenge for the stability of the entire structure,” the company added.
The equipment deployed for the job, which included four support towers, four modular beams, four skidding systems and eight CS250 jacking systems, was mobilised via 28 trucks from Sarens’ headquarters in Wolvertem in Belgium.
It took two weeks to set up all the towers and beams, and another two weeks of skidding and jacking operations once the roof sections had been built by the client.
Check out a video of the operation:
Sarens will be exhibiting at Breakbulk Americas 2023, taking place on 26-28 September at the George R. Brown Convention Centre in Houston, Texas.
