As the Hammers' future home continues to take shape, West Ham United are delighted to unveil previously unseen time-lapse footage of the Olympic Stadium's conversion.
With the very latest pictures from the ArcelorMittal Orbit and inside the Stadium bowl, supporters can watch as lead contractor Balfour Beatty make preparations for the arena's magnificent new roof.*
With the existing roof to be dismantled over a period of four months, the process, which began in November, firstly saw the lighting panels come down.
Temporary cables were strung across the field of play, thereby linking opposite towers to one another. Those cables form a spider's web-like structure to maintain the stability of the towers once the circumferential cables are disconnected.
Following the installation of this cable net, the floodlights were removed in pairs. Each pair of lighting towers was lifted and lowered to the ground using crawler cranes with 600 tonnes lifting capacity. The lamps were then removed and the towers dismantled.
Balfour Beatty is carrying out the work using specialist company Pfeifer. A team of around 20 abseilers erected all the temporary cables and removed the floodlights.
With the lighting towers down, attention has since turned to the ceremonies' tripods, which are fixed on to the compression ring - the outer circle of steel that runs around the top. They supported cables which connect across the venue to allow scenery and staging for the opening ceremony to 'fly' across the 'skyzone'.
Balfour Beatty are now to embark on taking down the fabric of the roof and gradually lower the existing cable-net structure, which will mark the completion of the roof's dismantling.
Thereafter, construction of the new roof, twice the size of the original, can begin in earnest in spring of this year. Measuring 84 metres at its deepest point, the world's longest cantilevered roof will cover every single seat.
This will be the first of many time-lapse videos featured here on whufc.com over the coming months, enabling West Ham United supporters to keep right up to date with the Stadium's exciting transition.
*If you are viewing this on a mobile device, you can watch the video at the following link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rh46yYqRRXw&feature=c4-overview&list=UUCNOsmurvpEit9paBOzWtUg