...you never know what treats are in store!
Hotel Chocolat, a premium chocolate maker based in Britain, has recently relocated to its new facility in Pannatoni Park, covering an impressive area of 429,107 square feet. Located adjacent to junction 16 of the M1, the facility will be known as “The Hotel Chocolat Northampton Factory Shop and Café”. In addition to offering the brand’s popular range of products, guests can also indulge in a unique selection of factory specials.
The Challenge
Adding signage to this formidable space may appear to pale into insignificance, but there were plenty of hurdles we had to tackle. Firstly the size. The external signage boxes had been specified to be well in excess of 4m in height. Secondly the expanse of flat cladding and the amount of black ink in the graphics would be prone to absorbing more heat than usual. That extra heat, once cooled down over night, was liable to create further tension problems causing unsightly wrinkles in the fabric. The third request was to have the signs partially illuminated where only the lettering appeared and the white tag line. Finally, to sweeten the deal, we were asked if could we could organise the delivery of the skins as well as the boxes.
The Solution
In the past, our trade customer, Douglas Signs & Designs UK Ltd, would favour a black clip tension system, but this was clearly a job for our innovative NovaFlex system. This system creates the tension evenly around the whole perimeter of the frame using a standard drill, far exceeding what a hand can do with a plastic clip. This creates a stable and highly taught skin eliminating any future re-tensioning maintenance. By the same token, this also eliminates any problems that fluctuations in temperature will cause. We work very closely with Oshino Lamps UK Ltd who have developed the most energy efficient LEDs on the market. The flexibility of these products allowed us to custom fit the modules accurately behind the areas that required illumination. Lastly, because we run our own fleet of lorries, we could deliver all the boxes and the skins on behalf of the contractors from our Bristol headquarters.
The Impact
In terms of value for money the savings will be felt for years to come. Not only has re-tensioning maintenance been drastically reduced by using our NovaFlex system. The access to the LEDs and electrical transformers are uniquely accessed from inside the building, eliminating the need to remove the skin on the outside of the building.The site is a great destination for Hotel Chocolat’s customers and is now really easy to find thanks to some great signage!
What they said...
“Having worked with Nova Aluminium, I know when I ask for something it will be delivered with the quality expected. They work with you at all times to make sure all the bases are covered. With the introduction of LED technology over the past few years it’s a lot easier to leave it to Nova’s expertise than give the installers a box of components which will add time and probably not end up as you imagined. Thank you to Paul & the Nova team for making my life somewhat easier when it comes to sign boxes.” Mark Walker - MD - Douglas Signs & Designs UK Ltd