Crawley College

Case Study

Background

Having worked with Crawley College and the Chichester College Group for many years now on a variety of sign projects we were excited to be involved in this prestigious project from the offset.

With the new Stem building under construction they were looking to not only invest in new signage that reflected the Stem concept for the main exterior sign and internals, but to also find a smart solution to revamp their existing signage around the site.

The Challenge

This project covered a wide spectrum of signage which in turn involved a variety of challenges along the way.

The new Stem building was going to be a state of the art facility so it was important to ensure the signage reflected this. The main challenge with this project was undoubtedly the timings, we needed to ensure that all the signage would be in place to meet the deadline for the opening of the new facility around the construction work.

We also had to find a way to bring the architect's vision for the main sign to life whilst not compromising the integrity of the new cladding.

Coinciding with this, we also had to revamp all of the existing external signage so it did not look dated alongside the new signs.

The Solution

Communication was key to the success of this project and we worked closely with Jane Williams from The Chichester College Group, Phillip White the site manager from W Stirland and Maria Sevillano from HNW Architects to make sure the deadline would be met. As with many larger projects this sometimes meant a compromise needed to be made due to obstacles we faced like the groundworks running behind, however the relationships we had in place made sure we always found a way around anything that cropped up.

The main building sign was a set of large stainless steel built up illuminated letters. We worked closely with Plillip on planning the positioning and fixing of these. Mounting these on rails was the perfect solution which ticked multiple boxes. It meant the wires could be hidden inside the rails, there were less fixing holes into the new building than putting up each letter individually and the weight was distributed. Phillip ensured that our positioning meant the rails could be fixed directly through to the supporting framework under the cladding. The new modern clad was 3 shades of grey so we also ensured the rails matched up to the grey they covered meaning once up they blended into the background perfectly.

The internal signage for the Stem building needed to be fresh crisp and modern so we opted for materials that reflected this. The directionals were 10mm clear acrylic with polished edges mounted on brushed stainless standoffs and we installed 5 large full wall graphics with a mix of Stem related imagery and Crawley College branding.

Finally we were able to refurbish a lot of the hardware on the existing signage which was cost effective as well as more environmentally friendly. We refaced all the existing totems which meant they only needed a handful of new smaller building signage which we supplied on ACM and aluminium.

The Results

The team at the college were delighted with not only the products but with the wealth of knowledge and experience that FASTSIGNS brought to this project. The new building signage looked amazing as well as ticking all the boxes in the brief and the refurbished existing signage looked brand new.

Working closely with all parties involved meant that despite the obstacles a project of this size will throw at you it can still run seamlessly. We are extremely proud of the work we do throughout the Chichester College group and the relationship we have built with them.