New BC Place to be less stuffy, have more natural light
Posted September 7, 2011 12:18 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
VANCOUVER (NEWS1130) – The half-billion dollar renovation to BC Place Stadium is nearly complete, and it’s already looking and feeling very different.
The stuffy feeling inside BC Place, under the old air-supported dome, is gone. David Podmore with PavCo says the refurbished stadium has louvres that can be opened to allow for airflow in the building, and there are windows lining the bowl letting in natural light.
“I think it really changes the atmosphere and feel,” he says. “It definitely doesn’t feel so tight and enclosed. It’ll be wonderful on a beautiful sunny evening.”
Most of the new seats have been installed, most of the artificial turf is on the new stadium floor, the retractable roof is almost complete and the scoreboard is now being built.
“You can see that the retractable roof, which is white, is all installed, and we’re just in the last stages of… welding the fabric on the last seam of the retractable roof.”
There are two 20-by-12-metre screens, and two slightly smaller screens at each end of the centre scoreboard.
Podmore says the stadium will be ready when the BC Lions play at home on Sept. 30. The Whitecaps will play their first MLS match in the rebuilt stadium on Oct. 2.
