New church is blank canvas for sound system

The completion of The Lighthouse Church in Heswall, Wirral, is the culmination of a nine-year project to build the brand new church as a place of worship, service and hospitality. As the previous 1960s building was showing its age, with many things wrong that were going to be very expensive to fix, it was decided to create the building that was really needed.

During 2022 delegated members of the church project steering group carried out a rigorous vetting process to appoint the sound and audio visual specialist, which culminated in Richard King Systems (RKS) being appointed at the end of the year.

Working in collaboration with the church, RKS designed a number of systems, which included premium-quality sound and AV systems for the worship area, with linked audio loop system, along with a TV, sound and audio loop system in the hall, and a sound and announcement system in the café.

Computer modelling was used to show which loudspeaker combinations would produce the required evenness of coverage, frequency range and power output. In addition, the brief stipulated that the system would be required to provide reproduction of a wide range of uses, from speech reproduction to full live band.

The main loudspeaker system from JBL exceeds all the requirements, while also sympathetically blending with the interior of the space.

The in-house sound system includes on-stage monitor speakers and outputs for in-ear monitoring.The main worship area system is flexible, with the wheeled control console being able to be operated from either the back of the worship space, or a side room when the whole floor space is required.

With its fully-glazed frontage onto the main high street at Heswall, The Lighthouse Church is now well placed to engage with the community.

In early October the church was consecrated by the Bishop of Chester, Mark Tanner, who after the service said the church was: “A symbol of hope; a symbol of being here for everyone; a symbol of belief in the future.”

• For further information visit www.richardkingsystems.co.uk