Steel bending Engineers Angle Ring put the Arch in Wembley

Despite the main curve of the 315m span Wembley arch being faceted in a series of straight sections it still required a large amount of complex bending to produce the lateral rings and jointing plates, which act as the hub for each section. 

Angle Ring was contracted by Cleveland Bridge UK to induction bend 800 metres of 300x300mm Square Hollow Section (SHS) for the rings which help give the iconic arch its shape.

Designed by Foster & Partners the arch needed to be a unique design to not only visually replace the famous Wembley twin towers but also structurally support the North roof & also provide about 60% support for the South roof structure.

The arch, weighing in at the equivalent of 10 Jumbo Jets, was constructed in phases with the 41 ‘steel diaphragms’ curved to 7 metres in diameter by Angle Ring being some of the first pieces on site.

As each truss joins the lateral support plates were curved to an elliptical profile to give a strong and smooth joint.
A total of 45 Tonnes of plates up to 50mm in thickness were formed and supplied by Angle Ring.

Due to a confidentiality clause which restricted any marketing of the project it is only recently that Angle Ring have been able to publicise their involvement in this outstanding project.

White Horse Bridge

In addition to the stadium itself Angle Ring completed work on the White Horse Bridge adjacent to the stadium.

Bespoke 500 x 500 x 16mm SHS sections were produced, fully welded and then curved as a ‘diamond’ section to form the sweeping plan curve of the stunning bridge.

In total over 100 metres of bespoke square hollow sections were produced with 90 metres then curved to elliptical profiles with radii varying from 13m to 60m