| Chelsea FC receive the Premier treatment with electric makeover |
| Wednesday, 04 February 2009 00:00 | |||
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Electric roller blinds by Premier Electric Blinds have provided flexibility for the Chelsea FC museum. Chelsea Football Club’s Stamford Bridge stadium is the home to ‘the Blues’, and the scene of many victories. The recent redevelopment of the football museum and event space inside the stadium could be classed as one of these triumphs according to Premier Electric Blinds.  The football museum is open every match day to the public as part of the stadium tour. Visitors come from around the world to see the home of their football heroes, and the museum charts the club’s history over the last century. The space is also used as a corporate entertainment venue on home match days, and is available for events of all kinds at other times. When the club appointed Mather & Co. to design the refurbishment of their museum earlier this year, they had a need for twenty ‘flexible, reliable and stunning blinds.’ Working in partnership, Premier Electric Blinds and the principle contractor Scena Projects designed blinds for windows which backed onto the stands, to cover two bar areas and to act as room dividers. Scena sourced the block-out PVC fabric media UV digitally printed with players past and present. Premier manufactured the blinds in-house to ensure the highest level of craftsmanship. All the blinds were over 2.3m wide with over 2.5m drops, so 52mm and 62mm tubes were required. Somfy LS40 240v motors were used and hardwired into an indoor RTS infrared box. Four RTS1 handsets control the blinds in four banks. The window blinds ensure that on match days the away fans cannot see into the museum to any event which is being held. The blinds drop down from behind pelmets on guide wires to provide a wall of Chelsea players. Some of the images are split over two blinds with only a 300mm gap between the blinds. This required careful manufacturing and positioning of the stops to ensure the picture matched perfectly. The room dividers drop down through ceiling box pelmets and hang between moveable display cabinets. They draw you down the room, telling the Club’s story on both sides of the blind.
Sarah Bagg, stadium tours and museum manager said: “Everyone is really pleased with the blinds as part of the refurbishment. It has increased the use of the space significantly.” Premier Electric Blinds have also supplied automated home cinema blinds to Salomon Kalou, and with their own newly refurbished showroom just down the road from Chelsea’s training ground in Surrey, they are pleased to be linked with such a success story.
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Premier’s team of installation technicians worked alongside Scena’s electricians and carpenters for three days to a tight schedule to ensure the deadlines were met. Close co-operation and the early involvement of Premier meant the job went smoothly. Paul Stroud of Scena said: “When Scena win a contract it is important that we have sub contractors that can deliver a quality product on time, as well as ensuring a reliable, competent after sales service. Premier Electric Blinds were able to offer all of this.”
