| By: Kevin Hilton, European Correspondent | Published: November 9, 2009 |
The recent audio installation at The Brit Oval cricket ground in south London has won a prestigious award recognising its contribution to controlling sound levels. The John Connell Award for Innovation was presented to acoustic consultancy the Sharps Redmore Partnership at the Noise Abatement Society’s annual “Noise Oscars,” held this year at the Houses of Parliament on Nov. 4.
The award, named after the founder of the Noise Abatement Society, also recognised the contribution of Ateis UK, which supplied three “Messenger L” directional loudspeakers to go along the rear of the Peter May stand at the Oval. Sharps Redmore was brought in to minimise the sound escaping from the ground, which is a greater consideration in these days of Twenty20 matches, which are held in the evenings and rely on a lot more music, announcements, and general razzmatazz than the usual game of cricket.
“We want to provide the best possible coverage and quality to everyone who comes to watch cricket at The Brit Oval, but we also realise that not everyone who lives nearby is a fan of the game,” explained Clive Stephens, operations director of The Brit Oval, at the time of the installation, “so we try to ensure that local residents are not disturbed or annoyed by sound coming from the ground.”
The Award for Innovation went to Sharps Redmore for its approach to restricting the amount of noise that leaves the ground and potentially annoys people in nearby homes. “The controllable directivity of the Messenger means that the back-spill from the loudspeaker is pushed down at the same angle and doesn’t travel straight back to the windows of the flats,” explained Neil Voce, sales director of Ateis UK.
Voce attended the presentation ceremony and said the Ateis UK team was “very pleased” to have played a part in the installation, which, he added, was a combination of “sensitive sound design and the right equipment for the job.”
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