TRANSFORMING THE LIGHTING EXPERIENCE IN MANCHESTER ARENA

Manchester Arena has the highest seating capacity of any indoor venue in the United Kingdom, and second-largest in the European Union with a capacity of 21,000 and is one of the world's busiest indoor arenas.

BRIEF

The brief was to provide efficient control of a new LED sports/house lights installation in the arena bowl and to transform the concourse area during events.

SOLUTION

amBX SmartCore lighting software solutions was chosen to manage the transformation.

Investment in the new LED house and sports lights required sophisticated control of the lighting settings, with an easy to use intuitive interface for operators. The amBX SmartCore system provides both Dali and DMX control to the lighting setup with custom-designed applications that match the venue’s operating needs.

The system manages the house lights in the arena bowl for events, and a second system controls the LED lighting installation to every column around the 400m+ concourse.

The thirty-two wall spaces were also lit by a combination of white and RGB LED lighting to add to the ambient effects and also convert the unused wall space into media and promotional sites. The lighting on these sites can be used to illuminate printed posters and media or create unique dynamic effects on images using coloured lighting.

The venue can now create a unique ambience for each event with dynamic effects from a choice of 16 million colour hues. The design of the application makes this complete task straightforward and easy to use by non-technical staff.

RESULT

The overall effect has transformed the operation in the arena bowl and the experience in the concourse area, bringing a major commercial opportunity through the use of previously unused space in the highest seating capacity venue in the UK.

As a result, revenues from concourse operations have increased since the introduction of this smart lighting system.