UK company secures seating contracts at Australia's major venue developments

Two of Australia's major recent venue seating contracts, at the soon-to-open Perth Stadium and the under construction Western Sydney Stadium, have been secured by UK-based company Bluecube.

Winning tenders against local competitors, Bluecube's first Australian success was announced in April last year.

With seating comfort being a significant design consideration for the Perth Stadium, the new venue's seat design and colours were a result of 18 months of consultation and testing with the development's Sports Fans User Group.

The 60,000 seats are 50cm wide with cup-holders positioned on seat backs.

Speaking last April, then Western Australian Sports Minister Mia Davies stated "the seat colour and design had to be durable for the unique Western Australian climate, be visually appealing, comfortable, not impact on on-field performance and offer contrast to the colours of our home teams.

“Seat comfort is an important factor and feedback from the Sports Fans User Group was hugely valuable during the design selection process.

“The seats are 50 centimetres wide with rubber cup-holders that will be located on the back of every seat, adding to the ‘fans first’ experience.

"To put their size into context, one new seat at Perth Stadium is about as wide as two bench seats at Domain Stadium - so fans will notice a significant difference when they come to watch a football game or cricket match in 2018.”

In addition to the Sports Fans User Group, sports that will be playing in the Stadium also had a chance to provide input.

The seat colours were also an important consideration and the selected natural colours complement the overall design.

This was particularly relevant for cricket as specific seat colours can significantly impact a fielder’s ability to sight the ball against the backdrop of the seats.

More recently, Bluecube have secured the tender for the Western Sydney Stadium.

In a statement, Bluecube advise that it "believes (that) product innovation, global manufacturing and distribution are key to maintaining our position as the market leader in public sector seating.

"Our approach is to recognize the individual requirements of each project and develop products and associated solutions that enable operators to manage and ‘flex’ their facilities efficiently."

Noteable Bluecube seating installations have been at London's Olympic Stadium, Lords Cricket Ground and Wembley Stadium; several of Brazil's 2014 FIFA World Cup venues and the King Abdullah Sports City in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.

Bluecube is represented in Australia by Daniel Ho along with Australia/New Zealand Partner Ace Seating.

Click here to contact Ace Seating via their entry in the Australasian Leisure Management Supplier Directory.

Images: The recent installation of Bluecube seats, which include grey, blue and beige colours, at the Perth Stadium (top) and designs for the new Western Sydney Stadium (below).

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