News We capture biggest rooftop construction project at Wimbledon in 10 years

Already seeing action from Novak Djokovic, Serena Williams and Roger Federer at this year’s Championship, No. 1 Court has a brand new roof – which we time-lapsed throughout its installation.

As the second-biggest tennis show court in South West London, this £70m rooftop project involved meticulous planning from start to completion.

Liaising at every stage with main contractor Sir Robert McAlpine and our clients Groundbreak Productions, our engineers meticulously planned & coordinated a strategy to ensure consistent, high quality capture for the seven-month duration of these significant works.

Securely fixing two of our camera systems to high-rise cranes built onto the roof of No. 1 Court, the first of these faced northwestwards to record exterior developments, which included the installation 11 650-tonne roof trusses and accompanying steel frame.

The second of the two systems was positioned facing the south east, overlooking the 12,000-capacity inner bowl of the tennis court.

As part of our dedicated service to provide our clients with the best possible angle of their project, we also carried out strategic repositioning of our camera systems as work at the court progressed.

Above: the newly installed roofing framework visible via one of our time-lapse camera systems installed overlooking the inner bowl of Court No.1.

Fully accredited, our engineers were able to safely plan and navigate the logistical challenges of installing at height, on such a busy but unique site.

The overall project required over 40 miles of scaffolding, more than 130km of electrical/ data cabling and around 750 personnel working on the project each day. Capacity of the court was also increased by around 1,000 seats as part of the redevelopment.

This adds to our extensive experience working on other high-profile sporting projects, including the inaugural European Championships in Glasgow and The Open Championship at St Andrew Links.

Time-lapsing tennis history

The No.1 Court project is incredibly important for Wimbledon: for the first time in the 142-year history of The Championships, play on the second-biggest court can easily be protected from unfavourable weather conditions at this year’s tournament – currently ongoing.

This also comes 10 years after Wimbledon’s Centre Court was fitted with its iconic state-of-the-art retractable roofing system.

These improvements are the current focus of wider long-term plans for the All England Club and follows the refurbishment of several hospitality suites, a new 18m big screen for “Henman Hill” and the opening of the new two-tier “Court 19 Plaza.”

Images captured by our two time-lapse camera systems have been used by Wimbledon to publicise these developments on various platforms, in the build-up to the 133rd Championships this month.

The official unveiling of the new roof took place back in mid-May, with which the added bonus of rain allowed the redevelopments to be fully showcased on the day.

We are honoured to have been commissioned to capture this project – one of the most complex and technical feats in Wimbledon’s history – further reaffirming our status as the chosen provider for capturing the UK’s most prestigious construction projects.

Above: our camera system captures cranes strategically lift steel trusses into place atop Court No.1.