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Perth’s new Optus Stadium

Welcome back and Happy New Year to all. This month’s blog is a bit special as we take a look back at the most highly anticipated project that Perth has seen in years. The Perth Stadium signage job was put out to tender in 2015 and the team at Kingman were very excited to have won the contract and to be the selected signage contractors for this mega project. The big K family are very proud to have been involved in yet another iconic architectural project.

 

This multipurpose stadium is one of the largest signage projects in terms of quantity of signs in a single order that Kingman has ever undertaken. The stadium consists of multi-levels and has the capacity to hold over 60,000 people making it the third largest stadium in Australia.

 

Kingman was responsible for the manufacture and installation of over 12,500 signs for this project. This signage package consisted of all the directional wayfinding signs, all the statutory signs and all the memorabilia signage internally and externally. Hassell, Cox Architecture, and HKS Sport and Entertainment, as part of the Westadium consortium, won the right to design the stadium and spent around 10 years in the process. Buro North was commissioned to design the signage wayfinding package to stage 2 design, and Kingman Visual won the tender for the design and construct which meant taking the design through to completion and making it more suitable for budgetary and construction purposes and refining the designs to suit the newly built stadium.

 

Signage design commenced in late 2016 and construction in early 2017. There were over 12,500 signs to be designed, drawn, detailed, engineered and planned. All to be complete by the end of 2017. Everything from toilet signage to 10-metre pylon signs on the grounds surrounding the project. Every sign had to be sufficiently detailed for approval by the builder, Multiplex, and of course, The State Government supervising body. That process alone could take weeks to appease all parties and in some cases, months. Works were deleted from the contract, and others increased, as is expected in any sizable project. Managing cash flow is always a challenge and with contractual conditions stating only works installed on site to be invoiced, meant managing the build criteria extremely close. Signs had to be drawn individually in 3D as well as placed into a BIM modelling software that shows where every single item in the entire building is, which then becomes the operation manual when the completed stadium is completed and handed over to the operators.

 

The wayfinding signage consisted of 4,180 signs, built primarily from aluminium and powder coated. The engineering had to be of a standard that withstood the flood zone rating of the location and potential for contaminated soil below 600mm. 4 main 10 metre totems, all with LED screens to convey imagery, video or text as needed as well as directing the public to their relevant gates were installed. Other signage was more “streetscape” signage, albeit designed more in keeping with the overall concept. The surrounding parks and lakes also needed signage to recognise the indigenous history of the area and were designed with integrity. Strict document control was in place on this project for every sign, the administration of the works was exceptional. The statutory signage alone consisted of some 5,396 signs, 476 of which were braille. Every door had to be identified, drawn and entered into the 3D modelling program. The memorabilia signage was designed by Fabrik Design in Fremantle who did a great job designing all the sporting nostalgia of players past and present. 467 signs were installed, constructed from polished acrylic, suspended, wall mounted and digital print. All artwork was supplied by the State but had to gain permission to use imagery from players, their descendants as well as confirming copyrights weren’t infringed. And of course, the spell check alone was mind-numbing.

 

This project was a mammoth task on paper however it was still not a problem for the highly skilled signage experts at Kingman Visual. Kingman’s can-do attitude was what made this signage project come to life. No matter the project, Kingman will make it happen! A motto we like to live by, which is why we always endeavour to deliver excellence in signage and in service!

 

Check out our case study on this project: Perth Stadium – Case Study

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