Foster + Partners and HOK Sport, now Populous, designed the new Wembley Stadium, and Multiplex built it. The old stadium, which stood from 1923 to 2000, was demolished from September 30, 2002, and its Twin Towers came down that December. Construction ran from 2003 to 2007, and the FA took handover on March 9, 2007. The cost was £798 million.
It is an all-seater bowl with a sliding roof that does not fully enclose it. The arch is a circular-section lattice with a 315-meter span, or 1,033 feet, rising 436 feet (133 m) above the concourse. It carries the full weight of the north roof and 60 percent of the weight of the southern retractable roof. The roof covers about 40,000 square meters, 13,722 of them movable.
Capacity is 90,000, the largest in the United Kingdom. The first open match was a charity game on March 17, 2007, and the 2007 FA Cup Final on May 19 officially opened it.
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