Key Features

Athletics

Though designed primarily for football, rugby and music events, the new Wembley Stadium is also capable of hosting world-class athletic events. 

A revolutionary solution has been developed to ensure that both football and athletics fans can enjoy perfect views, thanks to a temporary athletics platform that can be installed when necessary.

If Wembley is required to host a major athletics event, the prefabricated platform can be built over the lower bowl, covering some of the seats but creating the increased surface needed to fit an athletics track.  The platform will take just a few weeks to install and remove, making Wembley a versatile, multi-sport venue.

There has been significant progress on securing land for a potential athletics warm-up facility after discussions with the London Borough of Brent. Four possible sites have been identified, with Sherrins Farm likely to prove the most deliverable solution.

The platform solution is very similar to the current proposals for the New York Olympic bid.

The Arch

The most striking highly visible feature of the new stadium will obviously be the 133 metre tall arch that sits above the north stand. The steel arch is 315 metres long and will become the longest single roof structure in the world. It will be visible right across London.

The arch supports all of the weight of the north roof and 60 per cent of the weight of the southern side. By using an arch to bear some of the weight of the southern roof it is possible to retract the south roof to allow light and air onto the pitch.

The arch also ensures that there are no pillars in the new stadium which could obstruct the views of fans.

To read more about The Arch click here.

The Sliding Roof and the Pitch

One of the key challenges of the design team was to keep the famously high standard of the Wembley pitch while, at the same time, designing a stadium with stands that are higher and closer to the pitch than the original stadium and give better uninterrupted views.

Many new stadia have suffered from poor pitches as the stands in the stadia can leave large sections of the pitch in almost permanent shadow. Grass demands direct sunlight to grow effectively.

For this reason, the sliding roof remains an integral part of the design for the new Wembley. Options such as a palletised pitch (moving a patchwork pitch in and out of the Stadium between events) or regularly re-laying the pitch were rejected as inappropriate for Wembley.

Instead, computer models have been made of air movement and sunlight on the existing pitch and the unique moving roof designed for the new Stadium.

Royal Box

One of the most recognised features of Wembley is the presentation of trophies from the Royal Box rather than on the pitch. The new Royal Box is in the traditional position - in the middle of the north stand - as in the old Wembley Stadium.

The Bowl

A key feature of the current stadium is that almost all spectators sit in a single bowl rather than four separate stands. This is a central feature of the new design with almost all supporters or concert-goers able to share the event with 90,000 other fans and should contribute to a memorable experience and atmosphere.

The acoustics of the new ground will take the original stadium as a benchmark. Recordings taken during the 1999 FA Cup Final and models of the Stadium created by using three blasts of white noise during the England v Poland game in 2000 will form the basis of sophisticated computer models that will allow the design team to finely tune the acoustics of the new stadium.

The External Concourse

To accommodate an external concourse all around the Stadium, the new building will move 30 metres north, towards Wembley Park Station. This new stadium concourse will make it much easier, and safer, to enter and leave the stadium.

Orientation

The orientation of the Stadium remains east west, with the main façade pointing north down Olympic Way.