BC Place Stadium Deflated

BC Place Stadium’s iconic “marshmallow” pillow-top roof will be deflated this week in preparation for major renovations and a new retractable roof.

Photo credit: John Bollwitt on Flickr

Plans for the retractable replacement were announced last October by Kevin Kreuger, Minister of Tourism, Culture, and the Arts. Krueger said the new roof would cut energy costs at the stadium by one quarter, or about $350,000 per year.

It will be the largest cable-supported, fully retractable fabric roof in the world, measuring more than four hectares in surface area. [CTV]

Weather-permitting you can watch the roof come down Tuesday May 4th at 11:00am.

Photo credit: John Bollwitt on Flickr

Once the renovations are complete, BC Place will be the home of the BC Lions for the 2011 Grey Cup season as well as Whitecaps FC. In the meantime both teams will play outdoors at a temporary stadium at Empire Field (aka Tempire Stadium) opening this June.

Should you have any photos of BC Place before or after the roof deflation, please feel free to add them to the Miss604 Flickr Group and I’ll showcase them here.

Update There is a time lapse video of the deflation on YouTube by Devo4969

This video was added to the Miss604 Flickr Group by Colin K

Another time lapse from shopgranville on YouTube

A time lapse by Vancity Allie on Vimeo

Update From a press release on the morning of May 4th:

“Almost 100 per cent of its 720,000 square feet of PTFE (Polytetrafluoroethylene) fabric and inner liner will be recycled, rather than going to a landfill. Following an inspection of the deflated roof, Burnaby-based Pacific Blasting and Demolition will remove the fabric and send it to a Minneapolis firm that specializes in recycling PTFE materials. There, it will be cut, patched, cleaned and repackaged for customer delivery. The other major component of the air supported roof, the steel cable system that has held the roof in shape since 1982, will be sent to ABC Recycling in Surrey, BC for recycling.”

Update The following are photos that have been added to the Miss604 Flickr Group:

All of the photos above were submitted by Photodreamz on Flickr.

Update The media list was sent photos from inside BC Place, taken as it was deflated:

Update Some photos from Bev Davies:

Photo credit: Bev Davies on Flickr

Photo credit: Bev Davies on Flickr

Photo credit: Bev Davies on Flickr

Photo credit: Bev Davies on Flickr