Liverpool Football Club Anfield Tour, Liverpool

The stadium at Anfield has been home to Liverpool Football Club since their formation in 1892, but has recently undergone a huge transformation. With the construction of the new Main Stand, one of Europe’s largest all-seater stands, the capacity has been raised to over 50,000. This expansion offered great opportunities for new fan experiences, but also some practical challenges. That’s where we came in.

Working in partnership with Regal Blinds and Fisher Audio Visual, we were tasked with creating a striking visual solution to help guide fans through the new ‘free-flow’ Anfield Stadium Tour Experience. Certain areas of the Main Stand needed to be screened off or hidden, but importantly these areas needed to be re-opened on match days to accommodate the tens of thousands of supporters attending each home game.

The key to the survey of this project was the fixings for the blind systems. As these were not conventional useage of blind systems (not sat either inside or outside of a window), the survey team designed bespoke brackets and clamps, to attach to the structural steel girders, that supported the main stand. Various calculations were then required to determine that the weight of the blinds and brackets would not create any short or long term damage to the structure, nor would they fail and potentially drop, endangering either public or staff safety. In addition, on match days, the blinds were required to completely dissapear to enable maximum space for the fans within the concourse - we like a challenge!

Our solution was to design and manufacture twenty-two Eliminate roller blinds, each one over 12m2 and all motorised, spread over two floors of the Main Stand. We used a bespoke PVC fabric in single-length pieces for each blind, which were then printed with huge eye-catching images supplied by the LFC design team. We fitted them using ‘floating’ ceiling brackets, so when they were fully retracted on match days they are completely invisible to the throngs of fans passing below.

But the ingenuity didn’t stop there. To support the interactive digital elements of the free-flow tour experience, our printed blinds were added to the image-recognition system within the handheld audiovisual guides. When held up to our giant blinds, the images trigger a response in the device which autoplays additional sound and video content for visitors to enjoy. A fantastic meeting of engineering know-how with technological wizardry.

Edward Grimshaw, Managing Director of Regal Blinds, says of the project, “It’s a great example of collaboration between expert technicians within their own field to collectively deliver a bespoke solution, on time and within budget. Working hand-in-hand with our partners at James Robertshaw Ltd further enhances and solidifies the reputation that both companies have, especially when working for a global brand like Liverpool Football Club”.

We’re enormously proud of the work that ourselves and our partners at Regal Blinds and Fisher Audio Visual have put in on this project, and we’re excited about the opportunities and possibilities it has opened for the future. Check out the case study video to see the system in action.