The Coventry Building Society Arena, also known as the Ricoh arena, is an award-winning exhibition and conference centre based in the easily accessible city of Coventry, with over 2000 parking spaces.

Maximising the revenue opportunities of major exhibition centres is vital to their success, and being able to adapt the space for multiple events is essential.

Working directly with the arena, Style was commissioned to install a vast moveable wall across the main exhibition space, enabling the room to be divided into two separate exhibition halls or opened into one huge expanse.

A Dorma Huppe Variflex moveable wall was the best option, with 44 panels covering the 54 metre width of the room, and 10 metres in height. This provided an acoustic rating of 55dB which means concurrent events can run undisturbed either side.

To ensure the smooth and safe operation of such a high moveable wall, Style also installed an i-Track.

This is designed to make the moving of tall moveable walls both simple and safe by using a sequence of curves and internal track switches to allow the smooth and easy movement of large, heavy panels.

Steve Williams, sales director for Style Midlands explains.

“Dorma Huppe’s i-Track is really effective where panel heights exceed 5000mm, when weight can become an issue.

“For this 10 metre high wall it was an important addition to reduce wear and tear on the track and carriers, and significantly extend the operational life of the moveable wall system.

“For the operator, it means the days of wrestling with oversized panels is now a thing of the past because the i-Track system harnesses the kinetic energy created by the panel movement and utilises that momentum to pass it in and out of the parking pocket.

“Track diverters are also used to manually program the carriers to automatically move each panel to the correct parking location.

“As well as ensuring the wall continues to give trouble free, reliable and smooth operation, this also has the long-term benefit of improving its lifespan and reducing maintenance costs.”

For more information about Moveable Walls click here