Vodafone

Located in the technological heart of Manchester’s Media City, the Vodafone 5G innovation hub enables organisations and individuals discovery of the technologies that could transform their operations. Hosting a huge variety of innovative solutions, it is an immersive environment that educates and offers the chance to experiment with the future of 5G connectivity and Mobile Edge computing.

Built in weeks rather than months, Vodafone Business’ Digital Innovation Hub has four zones:

• A marketing suite
• A sandbox techspace for innovators and entrepreneurs to trial the technology
• A collaboration space for group interaction
• And finally, a sales and partners space to get hands on with products that are realised in the hub

Data

Design Agency: Platform Group

Client: Vodafone UK

Location: Media City, Manchester.

Project Size: Small/Medium

Fabrication time: 6 weeks

Installation period: 11 days

Our approach – the Helo Works way

A key attribute of the V-Hub were its dynamic angles, leaving little to no off-the-shelf options. Every element of the build required custom designed fitting and fixtures - a real blank canvas for our projects team and fabricators. Items such as the main entrance door were designed with a unique edge-to-edge glazing but needed to be built to last and withstand everyday public use. The result was heavy, in both design and visual impact.

Furniture was custom designed and fabricated to be flexible and agile in arrangement. Dimmable overhead and floor LED lighting was selected to set the correct mood for the activity, controlled via PIR sensors for ease of use and energy saving, whilst additional feature lighting pulses around the surrounding pillars.



Finished in a birch ply and satin laminate for a premium feel that fairs well against everyday footfall, our favourite feature of this build was the angled stand-out and halo-lit logo – proving that small changes in standard design processes can make a significant visual impact.

The Challenge
Exotic angles need careful consideration but given our in-house technology we find this more of an exciting proposition than a challenge.

The greatest hurdle we faced with this project came to us during the revision in 2020, as Covid-19 hit its peak infection rate here in the UK. Due to the investment made in our facility, the pandemic had little impact on our supplies, but our availability was slightly hampered for the installation