The Abito Apartment building in Salford Quays Manchester stands ten stories high. Tony Hogg Design developed and engineered this tensile roof structure to span the building's central atrium.  BDP Architects in Manchester chose a tensile membrane for the fabric's wide span capability and ability to transmit natural light from above and reflect electric light from below.

The roof structure is 50 metres long and 30 metres wide, rising four floors over the south facing penthouse balconies. Eleven barrel vault membranes are tensioned between the rolled steel arches which are supported by tubular steel legs rising from base plates bolted to the building's upper levels.

The fabric is PVC coated polyester, the cables are stainless steel and membrane attachment components are primarily galvanised steel or aluminium.  The support structure is painted mild steel and galvanised for rain water flow to balcony level.

Our details and drawings were used to fabricate the membrane connection components and our 3D models of the base plates, legs and arches were used for the structural steel fabrication.