That's the same place as last time, except it was slightly further to the left as you look at KC's statue. It looks like either there has been shoddy workmanship along that stretch of roofing or there is a design fault given that will probably be where the prevailing winds hit the stadium hardest. If it's a design fault then that could turn out to be a real nightmare as this will be a recurring problem without an adjustment to the structure of the roof.

A single occurrence of this could be down to teething problems with a new build. That it has happened again is very serious and worrying.

From that picture it looks like we have a roof made of aluminium foil.

God that's awful. We're screwed if this problem can't be sorted.

This is a big worry. It obviously needs to be rectified before the widnes game, but the contractors wont be allowed up there whist the winds are still as bad. Also, how do incidents like this affect the ground safety certificate??

Looks like a specification issue to me - the structural engineer/designer has specified a roof lining that should be able to stand the wind loading, only to find in the cold hard light of day that it cant. The trouble is, the cantilevers that hold the roof structure will have been designed to carry the loading that the current materials provide. If you now have to go for something more substantial, it will be heavier and the steelwork may not be designed to carry it. Most dead loading will have a 60% factor of safety, which may be upped as its a roof that could at some stage be covered with snow. That may be sufficient to enable them to reinstall a new roof lining that is more substantial, but only the Structural Engineer would know that. I think Saints will have no option but to make a statement on this pretty soon.

Look more like someones cut corners with the fastenings, rather than the building materials themselves. Perhaps that section was done on a Friday afternoon.

Get it sorted ASAP Saints.

Some explicit shots on RedVee show the damage from inside the stadium. A big hole above the control room with fibreglass all over the home end of the pitch and water damage inside the control room area. It's shocking. I just can't imagine us being in a position to hold any kind of match there at this rate because clearly the contents of the roof would have cascaded down on to the home end family stand plus the West Stand. It's a damn shame.

Feckin rediculous innit!!
Whoever did the roof need to be named and shamed,proper cowboy job second time Its happened!

Click on the link in my previous post.

exactly! I imagine Sir Mac has made a rather loud phone call to the developers/contractors/roofers

First home game back at Widnes?

Will the pitch be ready for then?

Pitch is getting laid very soon i think if not already. I think from start to finish it takes 12 weeks. Think its been around that. Sorry to say guys, although the wind and gales today are very strong, that should not happen to the stadium. Hope you can sort it.

Does anyone remember an episode of Rogue Traders where they had a roofer on the from St Helens called Bob ? His work was appalling and thats being kind, when he was confronted about his shoddy roofing it was f-ing this and f-ing that, when Matt Allwright confronted him and called him a rogue Bob wern't impressed, he showed him his fist and said your gonna get this if you call me a f-king rogue trader again.

If the guy that did your roof turned up in a clapped out Astra with the exhaust blowing then your better starting again from scratch.

Unbelievable really. Am I being overly sceptical by worrying that the club has gone for a mega cheap design and is going to pay for that now?

The winds today aren't exceptional, they will happen a good few times a year. If the stadium cannot handle that level of wind it is going to be an expensive and painful few years for someone.
Does anyone know if the club or its insurers have to cover these losses or the construction company? Or is it the design element that is deficient?

Yes.

or to put it another way...

You? Be overly sceptical? NEVERRRRRRRR!!!!!!!!!

It's an act of the rugby gods...no seriously the winds where bad but not as bad as some we've had recently..more on the way it seems.

According to the chairman the club opted to keep the capacity at 18,000 and go for a higher spec stadium so I would imagine that you are being overly skeptical. I'm sure the company who constructed the roof will be more than concerned to find out exactly what has happened and thoroughly check the roof to ensure it does not happen a third time.


I can assure you that at 7.35am today they certainly were.

We aren't the only ones to have suffered wind damage to a new roof. Epsom racecourse has suffered the same fate only that one sounds worse as reports are stating that half the roof has actually blown off. I think ours folded back and exposed the fibreglass underlay which then blew all over the place.

It is interesting (in a low level way anyway) that the bit of roof that peeled back during the last lot of howling gales has remained in place this time. That leads me to speculate how much of this is down to either shoddy workmanship or underestimating the degree of fastening the aluminium sheeting requires.

I imagine the stadium is under guarantee and we won't have to cover the cost of the repairs.

We're lucky it's happened now and not during the season, we have time to fix the problem and ensure it doesn't happen again. Let's hope the cladding will also help with the wind resistance, theres alot of open gaps at the back right now.

Saints doing it on cheap, don't be silly

A cost of £25m doesn't suggest we did it on the cheap.

The cost of £25m has nothing to do with it and dont prove we've not done it on the cheap.

Speculating it is down to the roof construction company doesn't help the situation any & without any shred of evidence one might want to be careful until facts are borne out. Exceptional conditions, slight design flaws or combination of many other factors all might have contributed to create the situation. It's a shame but rather now than when a match was on so it's a blessing indisguise tbh.

To be honest, that wind was not exceptional, it weather that a brand new £25m stadium should have no problem. Other buildings in the area didn't have the problem.

The fact this is the second problem weve had with the roof is worrying. I just hope we don't have this problem every time high winds come and hope it don't effect the safety certificate that we going for.

I honestly can't see the Widnes game being on, the roof will need to be assessed and then repaired but firstly we need it looking At and with the wind still being strong, nobody can get up to look.

It had crossed my mind...