Client Overview

Glamorgan County Cricket Club headquarters are situated at the SWALEC Stadium in Cardiff adjacent to the city centre and River Taff.

The location, originally known as Sophia Gardens, has been redeveloped into a magnificent stadium with a capacity of 16,000.

Vaughan Sound’s initial contract was completed in time for the new ground to host the historic First Ashes Test between England and Australia in 2009, and we continue to provide new products, commissioning, testing and maintenance services to the stadium to this day.

Project Brief

Vaughan Sound ,who have a long established history with Glamorgan County Cricket Club, worked with M&E consultant Paul Hinam of ‘Gallese Design’, to deliver the public address and voice alarm system design for the redevelopment of the stadium.

For the first phase of the project, Vaughan Sound worked in conjunction with main contractor Carillion and electrical contractor Whitehead Building Services.

The contract undertaken included the construction of three new stands and a cricket pavilion, together with new hospitality areas.

For the second phase of the contract, the existing cricket school was refurbished and additional hospitality areas added.

A new media centre combined with the above to complete the impressive transformation.

Technical Solutions

The TOA VX-2000 Series voice alarm range was selected for the project as it met the technical requirements expected by the client for use in modern sports stadia.

The DNH music horn range of loudspeakers were installed for the main spectator seating area to provide the quality and intelligibility of sound required.

A main control microphone was provided for match day safety together with fire microphone and paging microphone in reception for day to day operation.

Additional facilities included technical links for the outside event providers and independent broadcasters.

Baldwin Boxall Omnicare products were used for the disabled refuge and fire telephone systems throughout the stadium, which can be easily extended to meet any further expansion in the future.

Vaughan Sound later installed public address and voice alarm systems in the hospitality areas.

Completed ahead of the first Ashes test in Cardiff, Vaughan Sound worked closely with electrical contractor AMSER and main contractor Paramount throughout the project.

The original TOA VX-2000 stadium system was extended to over 300 speakers, in order to incorporate the newly constructed lounge and hospitality boxes, plus the revamped offices.

In addition to ensuring the equipment met STIPA Speech Transmission Index and also included the Trivision LED screens, the team fitted disabled refuge and alarm systems, efficiently meeting the client’s budget and tight time schedules.

Outcome

Vaughan Sound, in conjunction with CUK Audio, successfully delivered an audio solution that not only improved the quality of sound but complements the Stadium’s existing communications systems.

The new intuitive solution allows the audio to be easily controlled and monitored from a single control point.