VENUE 055


LEEDS HEADINGLEY


THE AUDIO UPGRADE AT HEADINGLEY CARNEGIE STADIUM BEGAN AFTER THE PROGRAMME OF STRUCTURAL CHANGES WAS COMPLETE AND THE CRICKET SEASON HAD STARTED, WHICH PRESENTED SOME INTERESTING CHALLENGES FOR THE INSTALLERS, TMC.


LEEDS, UK EUROPE/MIDDLE EAST/AFRICA


When the Winter Shed at Headingley Stadium was replaced by the Carnegie Pavilion (finished in May 2010), it represented the final stage of a staggered redevelopment, which has beginnings dating back to the start of the new millennia. This period of improvement has addressed each area of the ground, improving the infrastructure instrumental to the spectator experience, leaving the most significant until last. Tasked with launching the stadium into the 21st Century, Architects Alsop Sparch designed a visually captivating structure, which has superseded the Winter Shed and Media Centre on the north side of the stadium. The pavilion has been designed with different modes in mind. For high-profile cricket matches, such as international test cricket fixtures, the Carnegie Pavilion accommodates around 1,000 spectators, media players, players and staff. But during term time, with the UK cricket season shutdown, dining rooms and TV studios become classrooms and meeting rooms for 800 Leeds Metropolitan University students. The Media Centre becomes a lecture theatre. When less important cricket fixtures are being hosted, teaching continues and the functional marriage flourishes in equality. The Music Company (TMC) was initially consulted about tackling the audio installation in 2008, following work at another UK cricket facility, Trent Bridge. Stadium Facilities Manager at Headingley, David Ryder felt this was a key factor in TMC’s selection for the project: “There’s lots of people out there who can do it, but if


you’ve got someone who’s got experience of a cricket ground, they understand some of the issues of a professional sports ground.” Which begs the question, what are some of the issues? “Well, the first one is to make sure that all the parts of the ground can hear the announcements,” continued Ryder. “I know that sounds fairly basic, but you’re going from a County match day, when you might have 1,500 to 2,000 people in the ground, to an international day when you’ve got 17,000 people in the ground, and you’ve got boxes in use and you’ve got internal areas and external areas. The challenge was putting together a scheme that would cover all those different requirements, and of course, overriding it all is the health and safety aspect; we have to make sure that we’re fully compliant with all the legislation and emergency evacuation procedures.” With this in mind, TMC specified a TOA system comprising 100 speaker units across 24 different zones. Contracts Project Manager, Dave Turnbull, explained that a balance of high quantities and low SPLs was favoured: “We went for more localised speakers, and tried to keep the levels down, because they do have environmental issues round here, with the housing being so close. We wanted to keep the sound localised so we’re not putting a lot of energy into the local surroundings. It’s so exposed round here that any noise bleeding out will cause residents to start complaining on a regular basis. “As you can see, a lot of the speakers around the ground are discreet; we’ve tried to make them as discreet as possible, so that


www.mondodr.com


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36  |  Page 37  |  Page 38  |  Page 39  |  Page 40  |  Page 41  |  Page 42  |  Page 43  |  Page 44  |  Page 45  |  Page 46  |  Page 47  |  Page 48  |  Page 49  |  Page 50  |  Page 51  |  Page 52  |  Page 53  |  Page 54  |  Page 55  |  Page 56  |  Page 57  |  Page 58  |  Page 59  |  Page 60  |  Page 61  |  Page 62  |  Page 63  |  Page 64  |  Page 65  |  Page 66  |  Page 67  |  Page 68  |  Page 69  |  Page 70  |  Page 71  |  Page 72  |  Page 73  |  Page 74  |  Page 75  |  Page 76  |  Page 77  |  Page 78  |  Page 79  |  Page 80  |  Page 81  |  Page 82  |  Page 83  |  Page 84  |  Page 85  |  Page 86  |  Page 87  |  Page 88  |  Page 89  |  Page 90  |  Page 91  |  Page 92  |  Page 93  |  Page 94  |  Page 95  |  Page 96  |  Page 97  |  Page 98  |  Page 99  |  Page 100  |  Page 101  |  Page 102  |  Page 103  |  Page 104  |  Page 105  |  Page 106  |  Page 107  |  Page 108  |  Page 109  |  Page 110  |  Page 111  |  Page 112  |  Page 113  |  Page 114  |  Page 115  |  Page 116  |  Page 117  |  Page 118  |  Page 119  |  Page 120  |  Page 121  |  Page 122  |  Page 123  |  Page 124  |  Page 125  |  Page 126  |  Page 127  |  Page 128  |  Page 129  |  Page 130  |  Page 131  |  Page 132  |  Page 133  |  Page 134  |  Page 135  |  Page 136  |  Page 137  |  Page 138  |  Page 139  |  Page 140