SAGE music centre, Gateshead - design and construction of the roof structure

The Sage Music Centre in Gateshead was opened in November 2004. This new music centre provides major new performance and teaching spaces for the North East of England situated on the south bank of the River Tyne, overlooking the river. The building is a key part of the rejuvenation works at Gateshead, following the Gateshead Millennium Bridge and the Baltic Centre for Contemporary Art, Fig 1.

The Sage Centre consists of three separate buildings, two main performance halls and a third smaller rehearsal space. These are interlinked with terraces, esplanades and basements, over-sailed by a shell-like steel roof.

This paper describes the conception, design and construction of the roof that encloses these three buildings. It is the first of two papers, the second of which will be presented by Connell Mott to describe the construction of the buildings beneath the roof.

Mike Cook, MA(Cantab), PhD, CEng, FIStructE
Buro Happold

Angus Palmer, BA, CEng, MIStructE
Buro Happold

Dipl.-Ing Johan Sischka
Waagner Biro