Montreal's Olympic Stadium roof removed as repairs continue

A familiar roofline in Montreal is disappearing.

Work teams have begun dismantling the Olympic Stadium roof in preparation for a new one.

Over the last few months the fabric and metal structure was removed from the top of the stadium. An engineer with the project, Nadir Guenfoud, says 20 per cent of the overall work is done.

“The first thing we had to do was to prepare the slab, so the field of play had to be reconditioned to be able to host the different kind of cranes that were going to circulate on the field of play,” he said. “After that, we were able to attack the roof, and, eventually, the mouth of this attacking the cables that are the suspension cables that are connecting the tower to the roof that was there previously.”

It’s a massive job with a massive budget.

Guenfoud said $175 million of the $870 million promised by the Quebec government has been spent.

Over the almost five decades since the 1976 Olympic Games in Montreal, the stadium's roof has often been under scrutiny.

Guenfoud said the new roof is a long-term investment.

“We've gone towards a rigid cladding that's supposed to be more robust, more durable, and so that's the choices we made to maximize the rate of reliability,” he said.

In the meantime, the stadium interior is exposed to the wet weather and winter cold, but delays are built into the timeline.

“By the end of this year, we're going to have completed the dismantling of the roof,” said Guenfoud.

Next year is going to be mainly for the removal of the technical wing and the installation of the new technical ring, and 2026 will involve the assembling of the new roof.

“Then, we're going to raise the roof towards the end of that year,” said Guenfoud. “And 2027 is going to be the completion of the work.”

The Olympic Stadium is slated to reopen in 2028, missing its 50th anniversary by two years, but Guenfoud said the venue will be back in the big leagues.

“The objective is to be able to host very big events like Taylor Swift, like other major events,” he said.