The Edinburgh Dome
Introduction
The photograph on this page of The Edinburgh Dome by Bob Embleton as part of the Geograph project.
The Geograph project started in 2005 with the aim of publishing, organising and preserving representative images for every square kilometre of Great Britain, Ireland and the Isle of Man.
There are currently over 7.5m images from over 14,400 individuals and you can help contribute to the project by visiting https://www.geograph.org.uk
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Image: © Bob Embleton Taken: 2 Jan 2007
The Edinburgh Dome, off Imperial Road, is owned by Malvern St James School and was built as a sports hall. It was named after the Duke of Edinburgh who opened it in 1978. The sports hall has now moved to a new one on Barnards Green Road. In 2006, the school applied for planning permission to demolish the dome but was turned down. In 2009 the Department of Culture, Media and Sport granted the dome Grade II listed status, describing it as 'a building of special architectural or historic interest'. The dome is a ‘parashell’ concrete structure and is the only one in the country. It was constructed using a pioneering technique in which liquid cement was poured onto a special neoprene membrane and then pneumatically inflated; in this case to a height of eleven metres. It took just one hour to complete the inflation and two weeks to complete the building. A moat was built around the base and openings made to allow access and let light reflect off the surrounding water to illuminate the interior of the dome. The parashell was invented by an Italian, Dante Bini, in 1967. The architects here were Godwin and Cowper from Stourport. The construction technique appeared simple, but in actual fact it required a great deal of meticulous planning and seemingly a good deal of luck, which perhaps explains why this structure is still unique in the UK!
Image Location
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