SSDA 2026: Structural Steelwork Engineering at Everton FC's Hill Dickinson Stadium

Everton FC's new 52,769-seat Hill Dickinson Stadium on Liverpool's waterfront incorporates a structural steel barrel roof designed by Buro Happold and fabricated by Severfield. The structure utilizes trusses cantilevering up to 50m over the east and west stands, along with parallel trusses spanning up to 175m across the north and south stands. Employing high-strength S460 steel and detailed deflection analysis kept the completed roof weight to 130kg/m² across its plan area, including purlins and cladding rails. Design optimization between RIBA Stages 3 and 4 eliminated 900t of steel, corresponding to a reduction of 2,200tCO2e in embodied carbon. To ensure accurate geometry under dead load, the fabrication model was developed at both final design level and construction pre-set heights, supporting pre-assembled sections erected up to 60m long before controlled de-jacking.

Key takeaways

• The barrel roof structure combines parallel trusses spanning up to 175m over north and south stands with 50m cantilevers over east and west stands.
• Utilizing high-strength S460 steel and design optimization reduced roof weight to 130kg/m², cutting 900t of steel and 2,200tCO2e between RIBA Stages 3 and 4.
• Dual-stage modeling accounted for deflections per grid line, enabling pre-assembled truss sections up to 60m long to settle into alignment via controlled de-jacking.