ASFC Hospitality and Conference Venue

Project

Commercial & Industrial

Client

Readstone Construction

Services

Fire, Security, CCTV, Commercial AV, Lighting Control & Automation Services

ACCRINGTON STANLEY FOOTBALL CLUB, HOSPITALITY & CONFERENCE VENUE.

For many, the words ‘Accrington Stanley’ are followed by the response: “Who are they”? This is thanks to a Milk Marketing board TV advert that featured this slogan in the 1980s, with two young Liverpool fans suggesting that if you don’t drink milk then you’ll end up playing for Accrington Stanley. Who are they? Exactly.

Accrington Stanley is one of football’s oldest names and they have a rich history that involves more than just being featured in a TV advert. They have played their home games at Crown Ground since 1970, though the stadium has had many names during that time owing to sponsorship. It is currently called Wham Stadium after a sponsorship deal was reached in October 2015 with local businessman Andy Holt.

Holt, owner of manufacturing company, What More UK Ltd. sponsors the stadium and in January 2021 work began on the construction of Accrington Stanleys new £2.5m hospitality and conference venue. This is when Readstone Construction, the contracted builders for the project, contacted GB Integrated Systems to see if they could supply them with a full turnkey solution for the project.

The remit was for the design, supply, install and commission of the fire, intruder, CCTV, lighting control, commercial AV and automation systems. GBIS met with the ASFC board of directors and Readstone Construction and, soon after the deal was pretty much sealed.

Simon Whittam, Co-owner & Director of Readstone Construction comments “One of the main briefs was that everything; air conditioning, lighting, AV – had to be controlled from one panel – A Control4 system. GBIS took this brief and designed a fully integrated system that not only met the brief but exceeded the customers’ expectations.

GB Integrated Systems Limited immediately got to work and throughout the design process, the client’s specifications were adhered to and continuously re-assessed. With site-wide cooperation and a high level of trust from the clients, GBIS were able to meet the performance and aesthetic requirements that both the board and the interior design team set.

Space Invaders, the chosen interior designers for the project, determined the overriding theme of the new space. An industrial sports bar aesthetic which can be adapted to a variety of settings from fine dining in the 1968 hospitality suite to playing darts on match days in the Coleys bar. By using a mix of floor and wall finishes, and varying furniture & upholstery, the space is cleverly zoned, and spaces of interest are formed to create more intimate surroundings.

GBIS worked closely with the design team to help achieve the mood-matching design required by the client.

Dave Burgess ASFC, CEO comments “Right from the outset – from the day they came in until handover day, GBIS were fantastic with us. They delivered exactly what they said they were going to deliver, and in a very smart, clean, tidy, professional way. The expertise that they provided made our decisions simple and easier.”

The project comprises of four distinct spaces: Coley’s bar, The 1968 Lounge, The Chairmans Lounge and the Snug/buffet lounge.

An Advanced fire alarm with Hochiki ESP devices was installed, HikVision ‘Deep in mind’ external/internal CCTV, a monitored Texecom intruder alarm system, Yamaha Commercial distributed audio system with a mixture of commercial 100V line Sonance speakers, 4K Large screen projection screen, 15 no. Commercial large TV screens, control4 lighting control.

All of which is controlled by Control4.

The results: The new hospitality and conference lounges house an impressive combination of technology and equipment. The Control4 system consolidates control for lighting, security, air conditioning and AV via a single interface that is accessed through Control4 touch panels or the Control4 mobile app, eliminating the need for switches, TVs, remotes, cable boxes and other visually intrusive controls.

Chairman Andy Holt said “It’s been two years in the making and we are proud of this venue. This is for the community of Accrington to use, it’s for the club to be able to support itself financially and it’s another step forward for Accrington Stanley. I don’t think that there is a venue like this at any other football club”

With a perfect mix of hospitality options, interior design, AV and automation all in a safe and compliant environment – the ASFC hospitality suite has something for everyone.

Supply chain used:

Fire

Advanced

Hochiki

Intruder

Texecom

Orisec

CSL

CCTV

HikVision

Samsung Commercial TVs

Epson Projection

Screen Research

Bluestream 4K Video over IP matrix

Yamaha Commercial Audio

Sonance beyond sound

Automation

Control4

Lighting control