Preparing for Eurovision

eurovision-2023-liverpool_m

Eurovision is probably the biggest live event to come to the Liverpool City Region since the Capital of Culture in 2008. As ACC Liverpool’s Hard FM partner, Kimpton are incredibly proud to be at the heart of delivering it.

It’s an exciting time for us in our 60th year in an incredible period of growth for the region.

Since it started in 1956, with just seven participating countries, Eurovision has grown to become the longest running annual TV music competition in the world, with 37 competing nations.

This year, in its 67th year, The UK are hosting the live events on behalf of Ukraine and Liverpool was selected as the host. Liverpool’s Eurovision is set to be one of the biggest and most spectacular events in its long history. Of the 37 nations taking part, 31 will compete in two Semi-Finals with 10 successful acts from each Semi-Final joining 4 of the ‘Big Five’ (France, Germany, Italy and Spain), hosts the United Kingdom and Ukraine in the Grand Final on 13th May 2023 at the ACC Arena.

As the FM partner to the ACC Arena, we have been working hard on site to prepare for the Grand Final, that will be watched by over 160 million people worldwide and over 10,000 people in the Arena itself.

In order to supply the power needed and be able to capture the visual extravaganza that Liverpool’s Eurovision will deliver, the infrastructure requires some modification. The power demand is vast and to ensure absolute continuity of supply, some serious temporary power has been provided. This will power the whole campus, in the extremely unlikely event of a total power failure across the City of Liverpool.

A new Outside Broadcast TV Compound has been created on the river side of the campus. This requires additional, and back-up power and for the cabling to be delivered into the arena itself. As this would mean crossing roads and walkways, we are creating new Cable Bridges both outside and within the Arena, to safely route the cables.

Once the cables enter the building from the Cable Bridges, new routes through the building labyrinth had to be created. This entailed drilling a series of 6” and 10″ holes through the concrete walls to allow the cable feeds to run internal distribution areas.

We have also been working on the seating arrangements within the arena. In order to create additional camera positions and a gallery for the judges, seats are having to be removed and some modified, before refitting. The job is a balance of creating the required space and allowing as many people to enjoy the live event from within the Arena.

We’ve also been doing some more ‘traditional’ HVAC work, in addition to our FM role.

Over the last few months, the Kimpton team have replaced old, inefficient non-condensing gas burners, with new, and far more efficient condensing gas burners to 12 Air Handling Units in the rooftop plant deck. This entailed alterations to the gas supply, Building Management Controls System, along with the required electrical work, before commissioning the entire system.

Most people visiting the Arena will never see this work, but it’s critical to deliver on the long-term carbon reduction plan and deliver lower ongoing running costs, whilst providing a comfortable environment to relax and experience the performances.

We’re on a very short countdown to the grand final and just a few weeks until the beginning of the celebrations. So watch this space as, in just 12 days, the world will be turning on their TV’s to see Liverpool at its very best, on a very sparkly world stage.

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