Members of the UK Green
Achilles Building Confidence
Wimbledon Tennis Club
Anyone for tennis?
Wimbledon’s Millennium Building. The All England Lawn Tennis Club’s new Millennium Building at Wimbledon provides state-of-the-art amenities and, with its prime period of use occurring in the summer, solarshading was a major concern. Levolux was approached because of its ability to provide bespoke systems and, having already worked with the LTA, well understood the Club’s needs.
With the Millennium Building being used by players, press and photographers, ballboys/girls, officials, Club members and LTA councillors a number of different shading solutions were required.
The changing rooms, press areas and officials’ offices
For the changing rooms, press areas and officials’ offices some 180 bespoke Levolux roller blinds were produced in a white linen fabric, specially woven with vertical stripes in the Wimbledon colours of green and purple. This was more complex than it would at first seem, since not all the windows are the same size, therefore, considerable design and manufacturing effort had to be developed to keep the spacing of the stripes uniformed.
The roller blinds are manually operated but employ a bead chain and a spring to ensure the system is robust and will not fail or be damaged if the hem bar or fabric is pulled instead of the chain. Translucent to allow those inside to still see out, the blinds serve the triple purpose of sun shading, privacy and glare – an important factor where there are computer screens and TV monitors.
The restaurant area
For the restaurant area around 40 Roman blinds were supplied. These again feature stripes in the Wimbledon colours but the angled glazing presented an added complication, the heading of the blinds are tapered to suit each blind and individually made for the panel it shades.
| Architect: | BDP Partnership |
| Products used: | Internal Roller Blinds |
| Austrian, Roman and Festoon Blinds | |
| Electronic Controls |