latest news headlines
J&C Joel at the David Beckham Academy
Drapes specialists J&C Joel has installed a curved 40 metre tracking system including a full drape set for the main pitch-facing classroom at David Beckham’s London Academy in Greenwich, East London.
The state-of-the-art training facility is near to where the England captain grew up, and is expecting 15,000 students aged 8 to 15 to be enrolled by the end of the year. It’s one of the largest grass roots sporting initiatives in the UK.
J&C Joel’s International business development manager Fiona Blackett was initially asked to send information and documents about the company’s products and services by the project’s US based architect RTKL, who had just finished the US version of the Beckham Academy in LA. They found Joel’s via their website.
J&C Joel has worked in many large stadiums and sporting venues in the UK including Southampton FC, Nottingham Ice Arena, the Reebok Stadium in Bolton and Twickenham rugby ground.
Blackett comments: “It was great to work on a project that will be benefiting young people in the East London area, and it’s amazing to see how this part of London is being revitalized. It’s obviously great exposure for us to be associated with such a high profile project, along with all our other school and educational projects.”
RTKL’s brief specified that the main classroom needed breaking down into groups to be used by groups of youngsters aged 7-15yrs. The approximate length required was 21 metres by 3.5 metres in height. They wanted advice on the most suitable fabrics for the environment, and asked Joel’s to forward recommendations, samples and prices.
After discussing the requirements in detail Joel’s quoted and won the job. They then commenced the installation, working closely with the architects for their end client, Anschutz Entertainment.
The main classroom faces the full sized soccer pitch, and is actually a semi-permanent tented structure, resembling a large marquee. In addition to dividing the room into several different sized sections and break-out areas, they wanted to be able to black it out for video presentations, etc., for which JC Joel designed a bespoke tracking system.
This consists of 40 metres of track, dividing the classroom into four sections. Hall’s T60 track was chosen because of its industry standard status and it being the most cost-efficient option for the space.
The curtains are made form J&C Joel’s blue wool serge to match the Academy’s logo colour. Maximum flexibility topped the agenda, so the drapes were supplied in a variety of different sizes to create different sized rooms to suit the numbers of students.
Blackett says the most challenging element of the project was “ensuring the installation was suitable for the day-to-day rigors of student use. With the nature of the tented structure, we also had to ensure that the fixings were reinforced to cope with the expected substantial wear and tear.”
J&C Joel also supplied tracking and curtains in the physiotherapy rooms to create a series of examination rooms.
The track used here is Silent Gliss commercial track, used extensively in hospitals, and chosen for its aesthetics, durability and free flowing action ideal for quick open/close curtain actions used in medical rooms. The curtains here are made from J&C Joel Bolton Twill, a general workhorse fabric that’s not too heavy and therefore suitable for therapy curtain cubicles. As with the Blue wool serge, all fabrics are fully flame retardant.
The project illustrates the diversity of J&C Joel’s current installations and also the huge potential for entertainment industry drapes and tracking for all applications.
25th October 2005
HEADLINES
news archive
search stories
FOOTNOTE: Select the news type you require in the red band above; this will enable you to see the current news stories from that section
© 1999 - 2012 Entertainment Technology Press Limited News Stories
