Indoor Snow Centre Graphics
Image Group Install 3,500 Square Metre 'Freeze' at Chill Factore.
Manchester-based large format digital print and exhibition specialist, The Image Group, has successfully installed the largest vinyl print in the company's history.
This incredible 12-week installation will be on for the enjoyment of the skiing fraternity at Chill
Factore, the country's finest all year round, snow-based leisure experience, located next to The Trafford
Centre just off the M60 in Greater Manchester. And thanks to the Image Group, indoor snow seekers will look
out across a spectacular alpine scene, blissfully unaware of the enormous logistical challenges the company
met and overcame to install the monster 3,500 square metre graphic. No fewer than six abseilers on 200 feet
of rope plus two cherry pickers combined to deliver one of the company's most spectacular
installations.
The Image Group sales director Rick Jervis said:
"We were given a blank canvas by Chill Factore and asked to recreate an Alpine scene. It's been our biggest
challenge yet requiring the largest vinyl print we've ever completed. But printing the artwork was just the
beginning!"
"We knew this was never going to be a straight forward installation. We couldn't drill into the walls
because the finished environment needs to be temperature controlled. And we couldn't use scaffolding
because of the weight, cost and time."
"Our solution was to draft in special cherry pickers and train our team to use them. This worked well for
the first six weeks of the installation. But once a tin floor was laid containing glycol pipes to create
the alpine temperatures - the cherry pickers were too heavy to use."
"That's when we called in the crack abseiling team using can-span machinery to control ascent and descent.
There was no room for error. We needed to line up each image perfectly on the overlap or the effect would
have been ruined. We often relayed two or three times to ensure a perfect match."
The Image Group alpine scene is a backdrop for Europe's longest and widest real snow indoor ski slope - the
centrepiece of the £31 million 23,225 square metre venue. It will include three separate but
inter-connected real snow slopes catering for skiers and snowboarders of all abilities.
There will also be a toboggan run and a separate children's snow-play zone featuring igloos, ice-castles
and slides. The themed 'Alpine street' scene will offer shops, bars and restaurants with panoramic windows
and balconies overlooking the slopes.
Rick commented,
"This has been a real milestone installation for the Image Group and we'd like to thank Chill Factore for
their support along with partners like Robert MacAlpine who helped such a challenging project run so
smoothly."
Chill Factore Chairman, Peter Moore OBE, added:
"With a project of this complexity we rely on every subcontractor's flexibility, professionalism and can-do
approach in their work. And the Image Group more than typified the level of service we expect."
"The sheer scale of the project clearly restricted options available for the installation of this enormous
graphic but we were especially impressed with how The Image Group showed both creativity and flexibility to
meet challenges and ensure the installation was completed on time and with the minimum of fuss."
"The result, as people will soon see for themselves, is simply spectacular."
