Eco has set its sights on helping get Carlisle United and Annan Athletic fans back into their grounds after the coronavirus outbreak.

Eddie Black, managing director of Eco, is at the helm of a company which is building its headquarters in Annan. His firm is looking at safe solutions to help fans watch the footy.

The clubs are helping to test technologies at their Brunton Park and Galabank grounds, before they are rolled out other stadiums across the UK and worldwide. Solutions include testing pods, thermal imaging cameras, biometric face recognition, pre-book scanning systems, and pop-up polytunnels among others.

“Our solution is to do everything feasible to prevent a virus from getting into a stadium. We are looking at long-term, flexible solutions which will provide contamination control and peace of mind. We will achieve this with a combination of future-proof and adaptable technologies situated outside grounds.

The health and well-being of people is our number one priority and anyone running a football club, or any business, knows they are going to have to spend some money to ensure they are doing everything they can to provide a safe environment. I also know that they want to put in a solution which is future-proofed so they only have to spend the money once.

The first line of defence is thermal imaging cameras situated at a location outside the ground which can detect someone’s temperature. If the camera picks up a high temperature then that person would need to go to a nearby testing pod. Tests will be carried out at the pod and the results will be available within 15-20 minutes. If a person tests positive they will have to comply with all government and public health restrictions which are in place at that time, such as self-isolating. People who test negative, or who aren’t picked up as having a temperature by the camera, will then proceed to the entrance. But before they get into the ground they will enter a final sanitisation stage.

They will walk up to a hygiene portal which will have a touchless hand-sanitiser dispenser which will also activate a fine sanitising mist when people walk through, which will also have a tray to ensure the soles of people’s shoes are sanitised. Then fans will be able to continue into the ground knowing that they and fellow supporters have all gone through the same processes to keep everyone safe."