The gift of sound and vision

Electrical installations for most retail outlets would generally be considered straightforward, but when the client is fitting out a showroom with the most sophisticated audio-visual equipment on the market, things get a little more challenging.

That’s certainly the case for the 12,000 m2 state-of-the-art store currently being refurbished for the Northern Ireland Audio Visual Aids Centre (NIAVAC) in Belfast. The company specialises in high-end, audio-visual systems for sale or hire, and its customer base ranges from corporate companies to major events and even the homes of the rich and famous.

NIAVAC not only needs to display its exclusive range of products to its best advantage, its sales team also needs to be able to demonstrate the equipment effectively. That means installing complex cabling, with different requirements for different areas of the building.

And for the cable management system, the challenge not only involves catering for current needs but also future-proofing the store for the next generation of audio-visual technology.

One-stop-shop

For electrical contractor Millar & Matchett, the challenges involved in completing the electrical installation at NIAVAC’s new flagship store did not just involve the variety of products needed to answer the power, data, communications and audio-visual needs of different parts of the building, but the tight schedule, too.

“The whole refurbishment has been an extremely fast-track project,” explains Gavin Thompson, a director of Millar & Matchett, “and the electrical installation had to be completed within three months.

“For a project of this size and scope, that was always going to be tough, but by sourcing all the cable management equipment we needed from a single supplier who could provide us with anything we ordered straightaway, we have been able to work within the tight schedule.”

Millar & Matchett worked with cable management specialist Mita, which supplied a range of products including steel-wire cable tray, underfloor power track, floor boxes and dado trunking.

Quick fix

In addition to its main showroom, the NIAVAC store incorporates a series of demonstration rooms, including areas to showcase presentation equipment, interactive whiteboards, video-conferencing and home cinema. In addition, the store has its own repair workshops, a storage and distribution facility and an office area, which includes both an open-plan main office and a manager’s office.

All these areas had their own power, data, communications and audio-visual cabling requirements, which resulted in a different specification for the installation of each area. Throughout the building, Millar & Matchett used Mita’s Aemsa wire cable tray for containment of both main power cables and low-voltage wiring.

The power cables supply general power and lighting, and the low-voltage cables are used with the audio-visual equipment, CCTV and security alarm systems and the air conditioning.

“The product is easy to work with on site and flexible enough that we can make any changes we need to the installation layout as we go along. The speed with which we could cut, shape and fix the Aemsa tray helped us make rapid progress on site.”

Taking the floor

In the office areas and in the demo rooms, an underfloor installation was needed. Mita’s underfloor power-track system and prewired floor boxes met specific requirements and helped the contractor complete the installation speedily.

Millar & Matchett installed 72 m of underfloor power track to provide general power, data cabling for IT equipment and audio-visual cabling for the demo rooms. It was supplied with colour-coding and key systems for easy identification of polarity, with shuttered outlets every 300 mm to provide maximum flexibility.

In the office areas, Millar & Matchett installed Mita’s three-compartment floor boxes, with two compartments used for general power and the third for computer wiring. In the demo rooms, Mita’s four-compartment floor boxes were used, with the additional compartment accommodating audio-visual wiring.

The floor boxes were supplied prewired, which offers the advantage of repeatable quality, difficult to achieve on site. Prewiring also frees up skilled labour to work on other areas of the installation.

“The fact that the floor boxes were supplied prewired was great for us,” says Thompson, “because it helped us save vital time on site.”

Adaptable trunking

Throughout the offices and repair workshops, and in the interactive whiteboard demo room, there was a requirement for dado trunking to provide additional power outlets.

In the repair workshops and offices, Millar & Matchett used Cableline Ambassador trunking to provide a neat finish and smart appearance. At skirting-board level, the company used Cableline Envoy ER3 trunking to house additional power and data wiring.

But it was in the interactive whiteboard demo room that the dado trunking requirements were most specific. Millar & Matchett installed Envoy EL3 trunking, to utilise the squared edging.

“In this area of the store, NIAVAC needs to mount accessories on the walls above and below the trunking, so they need a straight, flat edge to ensure the equipment can sit flush to the trunking,” explains Thompson.

“It’s all part of future-proofing the building and making sure the electrical installation we put in can adapt to and accommodate changes as the range of audio-visual equipment grows.”

Future-proofing enhanced

In a sector where technology moves on as quickly as it does in the audio-visual world, predicting what advances lie around the corner – and which of those will be more than a flash in the pan – can be tricky.

But, for NIAVAC, the future is clear. Not only is the company on track to open its impressive new store on schedule but, thanks to the flexibility of the cable management solutions, additional wiring can be added if and when it’s needed.

“Mita’s Aemsa tray and dado trunking make it easy to add in extra lines of cables,” adds Thompson. “But even if additional containment is needed in the future, NIAVAC will be able to specify a product to integrate with the original installation. That’s the ultimate in future-proofing.”