The spectacular curved steel roof, which weighs in at 750 tonnes, is made from 3,000 stainless steel panels and 250 glass panels. If the roof were laid flat, its 12,000 square metre area would be big enough to accommodate two football pitches.
Did you know that:
- most of the 3,858 tonnes of steel is hidden from view in the foundations and reinforcing the walls and floors?
- more than 1,100 concrete and steel piles have been drilled into the ground to support the massive structure?
- more than 18,000 cubic metres of concrete has been poured into the foundations of the building - that concrete could fill 23 competition-size swimming pools, make almost 5 million foot-square paving slabs - enough concrete flags to build a path 800 miles long from St James' Park, Newcastle, to the San Siro Stadium in Milan - and still have enough left to pave over the pitch six times?
