AV Awards 2016 'Highly Commended'

proAV has recently completed a high profile, integrated AV scheme at the iconic St Helen’s building in the City of London. The project to refurbish Aviva’s UK headquarters was based around vast extensions to the lower floors and demanded a meticulous technical design and installation of its key AV elements. Such was the success of the project, the scheme was recognised in the 2016 AV Awards, achieving a Highly Commended place in the Corporate Project of the Year category for proAV.

When Aviva made the decision to transform the ground and basement floors to align with its upper floor spaces, proAV was commissioned by specialist AV consultants, CMS to deliver a remarkable programme of technological mastery. 

The spacious reception area now features two large format, fine pitch LED 7x4m video walls that display live content feeds to staff and arriving guests while multiple meeting rooms are equipped with the latest LFD screens, high-end video resources and powerful video and audio conferencing systems.  A wide-scale DigitalMedia infrastructure, HD video capture, streaming, touchpanel automation and control and dedicated AV central equipment room are further notable elements of the scheme. Crestron DigitalMedia was selected as the switching and infrastructure platform for its ability to consistently deliver the best image quality and fastest switching available in the industry – providing complete, end-to-end scaling and distribution over the network.

However, it is the magnificent video wall in the new auditorium that was always destined to dominate the Aviva project; indeed this is the world’s largest installed 1.5mm pitch indoor curved LED video wall. The 18x3.5m curved Unilumin 1.5 pixel pitch LED video wall covers an extensive canvas of just over 60 square metres of vibrant colours with multiple 4K and 1080 HD video inputs providing a maximum resolution of 11,520x 2,160 pixels.

Dual Christie X20 Spyder video processors drive the wall’s video processing in a unique combination that has set new standards in pioneering display technology. The result delivers some of the industry’s most advanced technologies for the onsite team to create, edit and manage the suite of multimedia sources during the presentations that take place in this incredible space. 

Within a tight project programme of just nine months to deliver the entire project, proAV’s project delivery team worked closely with other trades and the client to determine the most suitable approach, most particularly for the video wall.  The curved angle, heat output, power requirement and architectural finish had a direct impact on the auditorium’s construction, which needed to be suitably addressed.

With such a large investment being made in the AV solution, it was vital that the systems could be supported and maintained correctly, as Richard Evans, proAV's Senior Business Manager and lead for the project, revealed.

‘Early engagement was critical,’ he explained. ‘A support services contract was agreed to preserve the integrity and seamless operation of the new facilities and, as a result, we deployed dedicated FM engineers onsite to manage the infrastructure and systems. The engineers were introduced to the latter phases of the project programme and worked through to handover to the client to ensure a smooth transition before effecting the support provision of the contract.’

Successfully completed on time, within budget and according the consultant’s exacting specification, the client is delighted with the new, future-proofed AV solution that will meet its evolving business needs. 

The new Aviva HQ is already seeing great benefits from the new facilities, from the enhancement of the company brand and reputation as a leader in its sector to the intuitive controls that give staff new confidence in their presentations and collaborations with colleagues and partners.

You can read more about the Aviva project here.