A 20-year quest for a permanent home for its river yachts finally led Woods’ Silver Fleet to its prestigious new Woods Quay home in central London, where guests are offered a floating Michelin-standard Tasting Room and a spectacular bar, along with 140m of private Thames moorings.
‘When we first heard about the pavilion project, we knew it was the kind of unique venue that could really benefit from our expertise,’ says Flipside Soundsystem MD, James Cooper, on completion of the venue’s ‘discreet yet powerful’ A/V system. ‘We understood exactly what they wanted to achieve with Woods Quay and how we could deliver something above and beyond their expectations.’
The opportunity to create the new base came with the purchase of an old pub boat, The Queen Mary, located just 100 yards from the company’s previous temporary location at the Savoy Pier. When The Queen Mary was floated away, it revealed a piece of London history.
‘Underneath that there was an original Victorian steamship pier,’ recalls Kate Woods, Design & Development Director Woods’ Silver Fleet. ‘It hadn’t been used for 100 years; it was built when Sir Joseph Bazalgette designed Victoria Embankment for steam ships to ferry people along the Thames.
‘We got rid of everything, all the stuff that had built up over the years and we put in exactly the same walkway down that there would have been when the Embankment was first built. Then with the help of Simon Skeffington from Architecturall we designed this very sleek new pavilion with great architecture and build quality which has gone into its place exactly in the same spot.’
With the pavilion designed, thoughts turned to equipping it in a way that would bring out the best in the venue as a premium events space. ‘Because we were investing a lot in the architecture of the pier, we wanted the A/V system to be well-powered and well thought-out but also discreet and not affecting the lines of the structure,’ Woods says. ‘We wanted it to be powerful but discreet and obviously very sharp and high-level because it’s the luxury market that we’re working in and we needed to match people’s expectations.’
Flipside devised a system that could give premium sound yet disappear into the background: ‘We’ve worked extensively with Yamaha equipment over the years, and knew they would have the right solutions for the pavilion,’ Cooper explains. ‘The premium look of the speakers, powerful amplification and processing were the right backbone for the system. We were then able to add in specific solutions from brands such as Apart Audio, Outline and Sennheiser to complete the package.’
The entrance area is covered by Yamaha’s VXC6 ceiling loudspeakers, with the same used for the tasting area in combination with Apart’s CM20DT. Over in the bar it is the VXS8 and VXS5 surface-mount speakers supported but the VXS10S sub providing the reinforcement. Additional Apart ceiling speakers and a removable Outline Eidos 108 S subwoofer complete the bar system. Processing is courtesy of a Yamaha MTX5-D matrix, while power is via the manufacturer’s XMV family amplifiers.
‘Completing the signal chain are a Sennheiser EW300 G4 wireless microphone set for announcements a Yamaha PGM1 paging mic and an Apart PCR3000R MkIII media player, which all serve as sources for the system. Simple control for the end-user was another important factor, with Yamaha MCP1 and DVP1V4S control panels providing access to the core settings.
‘The acoustics in the pavilion are actually pretty good,’ says Cooper. ‘The straw roof that the speakers are installed into provides plenty of absorption, so it was easy to create a controlled, uniform sound throughout the venue.’
The A/V system was installed as part of the pavilion fit out project at Tilbury Docks before being moved to its permanent home. And with the doors now open, the Woods’ Silver Fleet team are very happy with what Flipside has given them. ‘Everything seems to be working really well and we’re very pleased with it,’ reports Tamara Kamur, General Manager at Woods’ Silver Fleet. ‘There is a lovely little architectural feature where you press a button on the oak panelling and you’ve got all the A/V connectors behind that. You can just literally push a DJ booth up to it and have it there without affecting the aesthetics the rest of the time.’
