Bringing construction safety to life with CR Reynolds
How do you make an important construction safety message stand out, particularly to children and families?
That was the challenge CR Reynolds brought to HelloU Creative as part of its work on the Cleethorpes Market Place regeneration project.
CR Reynolds is delivering the regeneration scheme on behalf of North East Lincolnshire Council, transforming the historic Market Place into a more attractive, accessible and pedestrian-friendly public space.
With construction taking place in the heart of Cleethorpes, communicating with the public is an important part of the project. The site naturally attracts attention and curiosity, particularly from younger visitors, so CR Reynolds wanted to find a creative way to help people understand the dangers of a live construction site.
Together, we created something a little different.
Meet Riley
Working with Chris Butts, SHEQ & IMS Coordinator at CR Reynolds, we developed an augmented reality experience that turns the construction hoardings into an interactive safety message.
The colourful signage encourages people to:
Stop. Look. Think. Stay Safe.
Visitors can scan a QR code using their phone or tablet to meet Riley, CR Reynolds' virtual safety manager.
Riley guides children, families and other visitors through some of the dangers they may encounter around a construction site and explains why it is important to stay safely outside the working area.
Rather than simply asking people to read another safety sign, the idea was to give them something they could explore and interact with.
Bringing the future Market Place to life
We also wanted the experience to tell the wider story of what CR Reynolds is creating behind the hoardings.
After completing Riley's safety journey, visitors can select the Cleethorpes sign and point their mobile device at the artist's impression displayed on the fencing.
This is where the magic happens.
Using augmented reality and AI-assisted storytelling through a HelloU Creative Storycoin™️ experience, the static image comes to life, giving people a glimpse of how the regenerated Market Place could look and feel. It connects what people can see happening today with the finished public space being created for Cleethorpes.
Why use AR for a safety message?
Augmented reality gives us the opportunity to communicate the same message in different ways.
Instead of only reading information, people can see, listen, interact and explore. This can make communications more engaging and, importantly, more memorable.
Research into AR has also found positive results for engagement and learning. One large review looked at 64 studies involving more than 4,700 people and found that using augmented reality had a positive effect on learning.
For a project like Cleethorpes, that's particularly interesting. The audience isn't one particular group of people. It's children, parents, residents, visitors, businesses and people simply passing through the town.
The experience therefore needs to be simple enough for everyone to understand while still being interesting enough to make people stop and take notice.
That's exactly what Riley was created to do.
A different way to use construction hoardings
One of the things we love about this project is that CR Reynolds has looked beyond the traditional purpose of construction signage.
The hoardings still perform their essential job of separating the public from the live construction area, but they have also become a place to educate, engage and tell the story of the regeneration.
Chris Butts said:
“It has been incredible to collaborate with Helen on this project which combines traditional construction site safety signage with innovative AR technology. From the moment I met with Helen to discuss this concept, to the installation on site, I was impressed by her creativity and enthusiasm.
“We would like to thank Helen for all her hard work in bringing our idea to life. We cannot wait to see the impact that this signage has and where we take this technology next.”
And that's what makes this project particularly exciting for us at HelloU Creative.
It started with a very simple goal from CR Reynolds: how can we communicate construction safety differently?
The result brings together safety, creativity, technology and the story of Cleethorpes' regeneration in one experience.
So, if you're passing Cleethorpes Market Place, look out for Riley on the CR Reynolds hoardings, scan the QR code and give it a try.
Just remember:
Stop. Look. Think. Stay Safe.
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