Lee’s Landmarks – Meadowhall, LBA, Olympic Park

If you find that organising electrical jobs at your workplace can be hard work at times, imagine the challenges that those running major landmarks have to face. Here, we look at some of the awe-inspiring stats of three familiar landmarks.

Meadowhall

The largest shopping centre in Yorkshire and the 10th largest in the UK, Sheffield’s Meadowhall is this year celebrating its 25th anniversary, having opened on 4 September 1990.

Occupying a former steelworks site, the centre is clearly visible from the M1 and is lit up at night by thousands of bulbs that trace the shape of the building.

Essential stats:

• Floor area: around 140,000 m2 (approx. 1.5m sq ft)
• Number of stores: around 290, plus eateries and cinema screens
• Number of visitors a year: more than 25 million
• Number of free parking spaces: 12,000
• Amount of waste recycled: 97% 
(Meadowhall has its own recycling centre)

Electric facts:

• Meadowhall was the first UK shopping centre to install electric car-charging points
• The annual Meadowhall Christmas Light Switch On in partnership with Capital FM, this year took place on 4 November with bands including Nick Brewer, Philip George and Sigala.
• In 2013, the Christmas decorations included 875,283 LED bulbs – along with 3,600 crystal icicles and 8kg of glitter!

Leeds Bradford Airport

The fastest growing regional airport in
the UK for several years, Leeds Bradford Airport is situated north-west of Leeds near the village of Yeadon in West Yorkshire.

Winner of Best UK Airport at the Travel Weekly Globe Awards 2014, the airport has direct flights to more than 70 destinations worldwide and saw an £11m development in its passenger terminal in 2012.

Essential stats:

• Number of passengers: 3.3 million (in the five years between 2008-2013)
• Number of staff: more than 2,700
• Number of businesses within the 
airport: 50


Electric facts:

• 
There are currently proposals for a new railway station to serve the airport, if the Northern Electrification Task Force award funding for the electrification of the Leeds-Harrogate- York line goes ahead.
• In 1959, permanent airfield lighting was installed.

Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park

Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park is 560-acre site in Stratford, east London. It comprises a multi-use stadium, along with other sporting venues, walking trails, woodland and waterways, plus new homes.

The stadium was originally built for the London 2012 Olympics and Paralympics and is now used for major sporting events and as the new ground of West Ham United FC. Leading rooflight manufacturer Brett Martin has created a 25,000 m2 transparent roof to bring natural daylight into the stadium.

The park is also home to Britain’s tallest sculpture, the ArcelorMittal Orbit: a 114.5m (375ft) looping red steel tower designed by Anish Kapoor and Cecil Balmond. Visitors can ascend by lift for a panoramic view of London.

Essential stats:

• Size of stadium’s tensile roof: 45,000 m2 (147,638ft)
• Stadium roof width (at deepest point): 84m (275ft)
• Number of spectator seats: 54,000, including up to 428 wheelchair user accessible viewing spaces
• Number of people working on the stadium’s transformation: 5,000

Electric facts:

• 14 new floodlight paddles, each weighing 45 tonnes and housing more than 540 lamps, have been used for the stadium’s new roof
• The new Desso pitch will have under-soil heating
• A new floodlit 400m (1,312ft) community athletics track is being built next to the main stadium
• Copper Box Arena, London’s third largest sporting arena, has 88 light pipes incorporated into the roof to draw in natural light, helping to save 40% energy.