Olympic Stadium | With the roof practically dismantled, winter promises to be a major challenge

Around 20% of the work on the transformation of the Olympic Stadium has been carried out. With the emblematic roof almost completely dismantled, the looming winter promises to be a major challenge for the site teams.

“We have a project that is going very well. We respect our deadlines, we respect our budgets. […] We know that we cannot afford to make a mistake a third time,” said the vice-president for modernization and replacement of the roof of the Olympic Stadium, Nadir Guenfoud, on Monday.

Its teams invited the media to a tour of the Stadium, whose Birdaird roof – a Montreal symbol which has been the subject of more than 20,000 tears in recent years – is almost completely dismantled. The butons, these enormous tubes weighing between six and eight tonnes each, were first removed.

The same goes for the network of cables, which were unhooked by gradually releasing the tension to avoid damaging the structure of the building. All that remains is to complete the uninstallation of the suspension cables, which connect the roof to the tower, to complete phase 1 of the project, which should be done before Christmas.

According to Mr. Guenfoud, approximately 175 of the 870 million promised by Quebec last March have so far been spent. This means that almost 20% of the budget was used and a fifth of the project was completed.

The manager, however, refused to give more details on electromechanical equipment, which was not included in this 870 million. A call for tenders has already been launched for the mechanical and ventilation systems. The Quebec Infrastructure Plan (PQI) mentions a potential sum of around 130 million for ventilation, electricity, sound or lighting, which would give a total budget of one billion.

A risk, “extreme” phenomena

Without a roof, the stadium will be more exposed than ever to the harsh winter which is upon us, at the turn of December. As a preventative measure, the Olympic Park has installed insulating canvases around the stadium enclosure, in addition to installing several additional heaters. A vast heat recovery system has also been set up to protect the covered areas around the enclosure.

However, the stadium was not designed to be exposed to bad weather, agrees Nadir Guenfoud. “The most worrying thing would be extreme unforeseen phenomena. We will react to it as we go along, as in any other exterior project. […]but it is a reality that a construction site can be affected by bad weather,” he warned.

This summer, during the torrential rains of the storm Debbythe installations have overall “responded well”, according to the manager, who sees this as an encouraging sign.

Nevertheless, he hopes for a winter as mild as possible, particularly cold temperatures risking being dangerous for the state of structures, but also the plumbing network and the sprinkler system, especially in sectors that are less well insulated or heated.

Phase 2, namely the dismantling and reconstruction of the technical ring, must still be launched in 2025. This will be followed by phase 3, which involves the assembly and installation of the new roof which should culminate in 2027. The reopening of the Stadium is set for 2028, but no further details were given.

Ultimately, a light steel structure lined with a translucent glass hoop will take the place of the current roof, making it possible to better protect the premises from bad weather, but also to let in more light. The technical ring, currently made of concrete, will be replaced by a steel tube.

The Legault government, which is financing the project, hopes to attract more internationally renowned events. “Taylor Swift, Beyoncé, Bruce Springsteen”, these are the types of extremely popular artists “that Montreal and Quebec have escaped” because of the current state of the Stadium, the Minister of Tourism, Caroline, illustrated last March. Proulx.

With Philippe Teisceira-Lessard, The Press