The LHC, a 7 TeV proton collider presently under construction at CERN, requires 1232 superconducting (SC) dipole magnets, featuring a nominal field of 8.33 T inside a cold beam tube of 50 mm inner diameter and a magnetic length of 14.3 m. To achieve such high fields whilst retaining the well-proven fabrication methods of cables made with NbTi superconductors, it is necessary to operate the magnets at 1.9 K in superfluid helium. For reasons of space and economy, the two dipole apertures are incorporated into a single iron yoke and cryostat (two-in-one concept). The design considerations and the experimental results, which have led to the design adopted for series manufacture, are presented and discussed. The aims and status of the short model and full size prototype dipole programmes are subsequently reported. Finally, the major milestones of the schedule of the dipole magnets series manufacture are given and commented
