THE excitement was in tents as Hampshire erected the first part of their innovative roof on their new £17 million HQ at West End.

The distinctive, tent-like canopy over the club's cricket Academy was flown after a ten-hour operation, which involved 11 electric winches working from the top, 22 manual winches working from ground level, two cranes and three cherry pickers to hoist the two tonne, 40m by 20m PVC coated polyester material.

Preparation to raise the canopied roof across the four 26m-high masts took ten days.

The fabric to create the roof was made by Architem of Bristol, who calculate and pattern the fabric by computer, and the pieces are then tailored together using traditional sailmaking techniques.

The canopy roof is the signature of architects Michael Hopkins & Partners, who designed a similar one for the Mound Stand at Lord's and Hampshire expect to erect the second canopy roof for the Main Pavilion within the next six to eight weeks.

The erection of the roof puts work on the new ground back on schedule after a month's delay when one of the supporting spars collapsed into the pavilion.

Despite still needing to find £5 million to build their dream home Hampshire still expect to start playing First XI cricket at their new home at the beginning of next season in April.