Velvet underground

Smithfield, in London, is famous for its meat market. Each morning, at the crack of dawn, burly meat porters rush to and fro with a side of beef or half a pig draped over their shoulders. Butchers chop at carcasses. Cleaners hose blood down the drains.

This isn't exactly the first place that you would look if asked to find London's newest and coolest nightclub, bar and restaurant venue. Smithfield, bordering trendy Clerkenwell, is emerging as one of the capital's cool-to-be-seen-in areas. Coffee shops have sprung up on many corners. There are starkly decorated bars selling designer beer. There is even a sushi restaurant.

And now, occupying what used to be the Metropolitan meat stores, is Fabric. The building has four floors of bars, including a roof restaurant, all above ground level. Below is the club. The two basement levels are accessed from the street via a sweeping entrance ramp. Once inside, clubbers are presented with a stripped down industrial scene. Bare brickwork walls and vaulted ceilings are the backdrop for exposed services and slick black floors. There is a main dancefloor and stage, a second dancefloor, chill out areas and a VIP area with a balcony overlooking both dancefloors and the circulation areas.

Due to the layout of the club, three DJs will be able to play simultaneously without any noise interference. This is quite a feat considering that the club has a sound capacity that electrical contractor Raytell's director Terry Deacon calls "mega". It is said to be equal to half of that of the entire Glastonbury festival. Deacon says: "There has been talk of folks' ears bleeding if the sound is turned up to full volume." And to top it all, the main dancefloor has a huge flat speaker, called body sonic, set into it to get those bass lines booming through your bones.

Behind the impressive boasts lie a lot of hard work. Raytell has been part of the team from the start of the design and build project and it has had to overcome some tricky installation problems in the process.

The building is bordered on two sides by electrified railway lines and so installing the main 1000 kVA transformer in the back of the club was a major job. Because it could not be lifted over the railway, the transformer had to be craned into position through a hole in the ground level floor, before having the transformer room walls built around it.

Power from the transformer travels to a splitter panel which feeds a 1250 A three-phase supply to the club and a 350 A supply to the bars and restaurant upstairs. Cabling and containment was a major part of Raytell's contract. This encompassed the show lighting, sound systems and backstage power. Power and containment was installed to termination points where specialist companies could install their equipment. In all some 400-500 m of trunking has been installed, along with cable trays and baskets.

A sophisticated fire alarm and voice evacuation system has also been installed. Interfaced to the sound system, a controlled evacuation procedure is in place. If an alarm is raised, staff in the control room have 90 seconds to assess the problem. If it cannot be rectified, stage two kicks in. All of the show lighting and sound systems collapse leaving on only the emergency lighting. The voice alarm then progressively evacuates the club and the bars and restaurant above.

Raytell has also installed Cat 5 cabling throughout the club. This creates a media network which is linked to high quality cctv cameras. Firstly, they are to be used for security purposes but, due to the quality of picture, Fabric will broadcast live images on to the Internet and via satellite to other clubs in Europe and around the world.

On the mechanical side, contractor Ductwork Erections Ltd (DEL) has carried out all of the installation work. Both the mechanical and electrical contractors have worked with m&e consulting engineer Harrington to fulfill the design.

The chiller plant and boiler house components have been craned directly into position on the roof of the building. Services are run down from there.

All of the mechanical, electrical and specialist services are operated from a control room housing the building management system. This too has been installed by Raytell.

Fabric is now open and artists including the Scratch Perverts, Monkey Mafia and Groove Armada are playing to a packed house. Deacon doesn't think he'll be visiting Fabric now it's up and running but foreman Foxy, with hard hat worn backwards, is well up for it. Get down to sounds from the underground.