SSUK, in partnership with LG, has delivered a cutting-edge AV system for North Ayrshire Council’s recently opened sports and leisure centre, The Portal in Irvine, Scotland.
The £20 million hub provides residents with fitness facilities and a completely digitised archive of Scottish history. The Portal offers a 25m six-lane swimming pool and multi-use gym facilities with commercial LG displays mounted throughout the centre.
SSUK and LG needed to provide an AV system that would complement the architectural design of the centre. The first thing visitors see when they come through the doors to the reception area is the 4×4 videowall display comprising of 16 x 47in LG 47WV50MS screens, which has been recessed into the wall and sits flush with the surrounding glass tiling and is configured in portrait mode. SSUK chose high brightness displays in a bid to combat the high levels of ambient light in the surrounding area.
The ground floor café area and first floor fitness suite each have an LG 55in 55LW340C screen, which shows music videos and live news channels. Each display utilises LG’s IPS panel technology, meaning that images are crisp from any viewing angle, with a span of up to 178°.
There is a first floor access walkway which links the Old Townhouse to the new leisure centre, on either side of the walkway there are two LG 43in 43UF640D screens mounted landscape, which will show historical material or artwork via the digital signage system.
Inside the archives area there are screens with multi-point touch capabilities, which are used as a digital library for multitudes of historic material. One touch screen is recessed into a custom built table which links up to an LG 55SM5KB display mounted on the wall so that visitors can browse books visually. For small events there are two mobile trolley stands with a 32in LG LW340C screen on each which are used with content being presented via the screens USB media playback feature.
Allan Hunt, account manager at SSUK, commented: “Our key goal for this project was to deliver a complete solution that would truly add value to the customer experience, using displays that not only looked impressive but also served a useful purpose. The most impressive part of this project was the installation of the 16 displays that make up the videowall located in the reception area, for this our team had to use a specialist high access motorised lift solution due to underfloor heating being present under the reception floor area, mounting the displays onto spring loaded brackets allow these to be fully serviced from the front. It makes a great centrepiece to the reception.”
