The project has been co-ordinated by Valley's Kids, a local charity working with children and young people in the area. The £2.4 million refurbishment of Capel Soar is a massive boost to Valley's Kids and a major step forward in offering interactive environments for learning, working and experiencing a range of activities from football and theatre to dance, cinema and everything in between.
Theatre Technical Consultant Iain Hill from Illusion International originally thought the roof aperture would be ideally suited to a CABLEnet system and put the idea forward. He's been involved with Valley's Kids for many years, and worked closely with project architect John Card from ETP Projects in Cardiff.
Hill contacted Slingco's Nick Dykins, who took him, Card and a number of others involved including Richard Morgan and Denise Lord from Valley's Kids to see the CABLEnet installation at the Millennium Centre in Cardiff.
"Children and adults can work up there in total confidence - it's far safer than working off a ladder or tallescope" comments Hill.
The renovation project has left many of the Chapel's original features intact. The five CABLEnets all butt up to one another and are constructed from 3mm diameter 7x9 steel wire rope. They're capable of taking point loads of 250Kgs and a distributed load of 360 Kg (four persons). The nets have been fitted into the Chapel's original timber beams, and saddle mounted onto the present timber trusses. The method of fixing was quite challenging - being old, none of the building was level or straight! A Slingco crew of four completed the installation over two weeks, with the CABLEnets built in situ on scaffold platforms and woven onto the steel work.
Slingco's Nick Dykins comments: "It was a pleasure to be involved in the Capel Soar project. There is a genuine enthusiasm from the clients and design team who see the project very much as a community asset. Installing into old buildings is always rewarding, specially when you compare 'before' to 'after' ."
(Sarah Rushton-Read)
