ADI Delivers for the Glasgow 2018 European Championships

EVENT FOCUS

ADI DELIVERS FOR THE GLASGOW 2018 EUROPEAN CHAMPIONSHIPS

Supplying in excess of 900sqm of LED screen hardware across all competition and non-competition venues for the benefit of over 250,000 spectators and the dynamic activation of brand partnerships. TPi spoke to ADI about its delivery of seamless visuals to the first edition of this prestigious sporting event.

The largest sporting event to be held in Scotland since the 2014, Glasgow Commonwealth Games featured a combination of ADI’s mobile and modular LED screens - in addition to plasma displays - to suit 11 specific indoor and outdoor locations.

ADI’s Special Events Project Manager, Mark Kimber, told TPi: “ADI has worked with Glasgow City council (and Glasgow Life) for over 15 years now, providing LED screens for all major outdoor events and occasions; from the annual Christmas lights switch on, through to large one-off events like the Glasgow Commonwealth Games.

“As a long-term supplier, we were invited to tender for the Glasgow 2018 European Championships in summer 2017 – we were made the official provider of large video displays, and also managed all vision distribution.”

Kimber continued: “The requirements outlined in the tender were a starting point for discussion, and once the contract was awarded, we site surveyed all 11 venues. We could then start to provide our recommendations and design a custom screen, structures and video distribution solution for each individual site. The brief grew for some venues, especially where there was a greater emphasis on the sports presentation, such as Tollcross International Swimming Centre. Athletes appeared from behind a 9m modular LED wall, with a super-wide 32:9 aspect ratio 90m screen hung from the roof above them – both in 6mm. Tollcross also featured 4 other LED screens and 8 LCD displays. A later

addition was a 46m stretch of digiBOARD digital sinage alongside the poolside to deliver dynamic brand activation for official European Championship partners.

“The SSE Hydro hosted the gymnastics competition and the brief for this venue was driven by a vast modular LED screen we supplied there for the World Gymnastics Championships in 2015. Building on the previous solution we improved the technology for the European Championships, with the same 225m size of display but using much higher resolution product at 4.6mm. This created a gigantic 4k digital backdrop to the gymnastics, delivering in excess of 10,000,000 pixels in a single display. “The screen offered image magnification and also supported the broadcast of multiple live data feeds. Multiple processors were used so that the sports presentation could be switched from super-wide to zoned content, including: 6 timing feeds, 1 mixer feed, 1 host broadcaster feed and 1 full screen background graphics.

“Some of the venues we supplied were also part of the Festival 2018 cultural programme, centering on George Square and Glasgow Green. With a huge line-up of live music performances, international collaborations and exciting evening events the screen requirements increased as the programme grew – for example we installed a 45m modular screen on the George Square main stage for Orbital’s set on the penultimate night.

“Essentially, we were working on sports presentations for Great Big

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EURO CHAMPIONSHIPS

Events to help achieve their vision; advising them on zoning screens and providing technical specifications – many of the LED screens weren’t a standard 16:9 aspect ratio, we had super-wide, athlete entrances, digital ribbon, etc.

“In total, we supplied technology across 11 separate venues, which had a fairly wide geographical spread – beyond the sites in-and-around Glasgow we worked at the Royal Commonwealth Pool over in Edinburgh and Loch Lomond for the open water swimming. As a business, we work across multiple event sites every day of the week, so we could centrally project manage and employ operational expertise to achieve the client’s extensive requirements for every venue.”

Nick Robinson, ADI’s Director of Screen Rental added: “Nine months of planning came to fruition with diverse, tailored solutions across a variety of sports and cultural venues. We’ve been able to add value through centralised project management of the screens and HD video signal distribution across all 11 locations. Our delivery of market-exclusive mobile and modular LED provided the very best quality to enhance production values and audience experience, while creating impactful digital platforms that elevated the European Championship’s brand and all associated partners.”

At each site, ADI worked with a number of other suppliers and stakeholders - from structural engineers to rigging companies and power distributors. Outside of the SSE Hydro, many of the indoor sites are sporting venues that were adapted especially for the Glasgow 2018 European Championships. Kimber elaborated: “For example, the proposed screen solution for Tollcross International Swimming Centre required extensive structural calculations to be undertaken before it could be approved. There was also a large health and safety aspect to all of the event staging, and every venue needed to meet CDM regulations and Principal Contractors were not from the live events sector, so we needed to adapt to their way of working.”

The ADI team were on site for three weeks in total, building and derigging the variety of custom scree projects, which the company also

designed. As one venue was installed another de-rigged since the individual competitions were staggered and the venues were live on different days, so over the three week period there was very little down time for the team. Tollcross International Swimming Centre took the longest to install at four days, but sites that only had a mobile LED screen requirement were much quicker, such as Cathkin Braes, with just a single day to load-in’.

With quick set-up times and sleek, manoeuvrable trailers, ADI’s awardwining iCONIC fleet provided big screen solutions for busy outdoor venues across Glasgow and the surrounding area.

Glasgow Green, which hosted the cycling road race championships and Go Live! at the Green, featured a mobile iCONIC 25 – the biggest LED screen on a non-HGV chassis – and the iCONIC 60S, which features a large 60m display and has the added bonus of a 25m stage that un-folds from the trailer.

ADI worked closely with Great Big Events, which managed the content, control equipment and operation of video. “We took their HD feeds (with the SSE Hydro using a 4k feed) and distributed them. We supplied the broadcast fibre or RF links at all venues to link sports presentation to the screens, and also worked with sound to embed audio.”

ADI also worked alongside festival and touring video supplier, Video Illusions for the European Championships 2018 . Robinson concluded: “We have worked with Video Illusions for five years and they’ve helped to supplement the modular element of our rental business. As a company, they’re a natural fit for ADI, like us they’re an innovative company and are happy to design and create bespoke solutions. They have an incredibly strong background in touring productions, concerts and festival rigs, and provide ADI with access to more product, as well as products that suit different projects with varied requirements.” TPi Photos: ADI www.glasgow2018.com www.adi.tv www.videoillusions.net

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