Case Studies → Entertainment Venues
Liverpool Arena & Convention Centre
LiverpoolBBTS staff meticulously snagged the entire £6m technical installation — including systems and infrastructure — at the Echo Arena and BT Convention Centre in Liverpool, which opened in 2008.
Originally due to open a year later in 2009, the project was brought forward to coincide with Liverpool's prestigious “Capital of Culture 2008” award.
Moving the building's completion date forward by such a timeframe on a project of this scale was not without challenges.
The fault-finding and snagging process was therefore a lengthy undertaking, given both the speed of the initial installation to meet the new deadline and the complexity of the technical systems.
The Arena & Convention Center (ACC) Liverpool had invested in excess of £6 million in state-of-the-art infrastructure, lighting, sound, and AV systems. However, due to the compressed window for installation, technical systems were not stable or reliable, and frequently caused issues during live events. In-house technical staff had little confidence that pressing a button would produce the expected result!
BBTS staff spent several months testing every technical system. This included testing every socket and every tie-line, of which there were thousands. Every piece of production equipment across the installation's various spaces was also rigorously tested.
A highly detailed report was compiled covering in excess of 700 discrete faults and issues.
With a thorough knowledge of the technical infrastructure at the Arena & Convention Centre, BBTS were then asked by ACC Liverpool to continue the snagging process, working with the city council, architects, builders, electrical contractors, consultants, and installers to address each and every issue identified in BBTS' report.
Three years later, through the hard work and dedication of BBTS staff, the outstanding issues had been reduced from more than 700 to just a handful, with the majority of those remaining being physical building design issues that couldn't be practically addressed, rather than faults with the technical production systems.
