UK - In celebration of one full year at its new 16,000sq.ft Lancashire-based facility, housing office, warehousing and factory space, family-run Slingco opened its doors to customers and other companies connected to the business.

Slingco services a broad range of markets with its wire rope and engineering solutions and a diverse range of companies were represented on the day - from theatre equipment suppliers to garage equipment suppliers, and from lift installers to aerospace designers, to name a few.

The move from the previous home four miles away has given the company a 50% increase in building size and additional land for expansion. With the building needing extensive remedial work prior to moving in, the Slingco team was able to shape the facility just as they wanted it.

On the day, sales director, Matt Dykins, introduced visitors to the full scope of the company's work

UK - The 5 Star Cases sales team has expanded with the addition of Richard Chilvers, who joins as technical sales representative.

Chilvers has been a 5 Star case user for 10 years, ever since his early days as an apprentice with lighting rental company, Hawthorn Theatrical. He has also worked as a technical manager at venues, including the Kings Lynn Corn Exchange and Arts Centre and the Princess Theatre in Hunstanton.

(Jim Evans)

UK - PLASA 2008 will be the second year of the prestigious Gottelier Award. Named in honour of the late designer, developer and commentator Tony Gottelier, this award aims to recognise the tireless product developers who have made a significant contribution to the development of the equipment and tools that enable our entertainment technology practitioners to continually push the boundaries of event production, presentation and installation.

Last year's inaugural Award was won by Tony Andrews of Funktion One for his decades of dedication to the advancement of loudspeaker design.

The Nomination phase of the 2008 Gottelier Award is now open, and industry professionals worldwide are being asked to put forward the names of individuals who they believe should be considered for this year's award.

Following the nomination period, a shortlist of the leading nominees will then be ope

UK - Stageco has developed a new type of stage roof whose three systems went on tour for the first time with Bon Jovi this summer.The Boogdak XL is a new variation on Stageco's existing range, combining the capacity of the company's classical four tower system with the look and convenience of the smaller Boogdak (arch roof). It will also get its first festival outing at T in the Park in Scotland this July.

"In response to modern production specifications, we decided we wanted to bring a new roof to the market," says Hedwig de Meyer, Stageco's president. "Bon Jovi needed three roofs and approached us for a standard roof type. We told them we wanted to invest in a new roof type and offered them the new, original product."

The Bon Jovi team has always used innovative production elements, where possible, to create an exciting live show, and the three new roofs

UK - Genie Industries has introduced the Super-Straddle accessory redesign. The Super-Straddle is an attachment that allows operators to mount a Genie AWP Super Series personnel lift above obstacles such as fixed seating in theatres, auditoriums and convention centres.

It provides 'up and over' access for the Genie AWP Super Series to be used in spaces that are otherwise inaccessible and hard to reach. Now available in all markets worldwide, the new Genie Super-Straddle was redesigned to meet the latest ANSI A92.3 standards and is CE compliant, the company says.

"The Super-Straddle is a versatile, efficient accessory for facilities such as schools and churches," says Kim Williams, senior market analyst at Genie Industries. "It allows easy overhead access for maintenance like changing light bulbs, replacing ceiling panels and even for touching up paint."

E

USA - In response to recommendations and requests from customers, J. R. Clancy has announced the addition of two new models to its PowerLift motorised winch line.

J. R. Clancy now offers the PowerLift Variable Speed 0-20 fpm motorised winch with a load capacity of 2,000 pounds. The new winch fills the need expressed by users and consultants for a motorized winch with no "bounce" at the start or end of a move, says the company.

In addition, Clancy has added the PowerLift Fixed Speed, 20 fpm motorized winch with a load capacity of 1,200 pounds.

"Some projects require short battens with only a few lift lines," said Tom Young, J.R. Clancy's vice-president of marketing. "PowerLifts use 3/16-inch lift lines, with a recommended working load of 525 pounds. This new PowerLift solves the potential problems with a three-line hoist using a winch that's rated for

Germany - Although Germany fell at the last hurdle in Euro 2008, the German branch of international staging experts Stageco achieved a strong result at the competition.

Vienna's Fanzone, organised jointly by the city of Vienna and the tournament organisers UEFA, which provided entertainment and screenings of matches on big screens. Stageco was asked to provide the structures for the main stage itself, in Rathausplatz, a large Communications Centre, the Supervision EM 2008 (a public video viewing support) and a huge experiential marketing zone for the public, Meinl's Kaffewelt, welcoming 12,000 visitors per day.

Stageco Germany had no fewer than five project managers working on the Vienna Fanzone, including Stageco Germany's managing director Werner Herbst, who project managed the structure in Rathausplaz. Here, the company provided its Micro Arch stage, which hosted a variety

UK - Nelson Mandela celebrated his 90th birthday this year at the 46664 charity concert in London's Hyde Park with a spectacular show featuring artists from all over the World and 60,000 fans joining in their appreciation of the great man's achievements.

Adjacent to the stage, Arena Seating installed a bespoke, three tiered platform. It comprised a disabled viewing area with access ramps on level one, sponsors and VIP guest seating on level two and VVIP seating at the top level, complete with a cover, to host Mr Mandela, Prime Minister Gordon Brown and guests.

As an additional facility, Arena was asked to install a lift at the rear of the grandstand, making it easy for the guests to access the structure with minimal effort.

Arena Seating's sales and marketing director said: "It was a privilege to work with 46664, RW Productions and Live Nation to contribute to an event

UK - The Event Safety Shop once again contributed to a safe and successful Glastonbury Festival. Health and Safety is at the forefront of festival planning, and this year saw important legislative developments - notably the Control of Noise at Work Regulations and the smoking ban; both of which affected the Festival for the first time.

TESS worked closely with Licensee Melvin Benn to develop policy and deliver practical controls to meet the needs of both pieces of legislation. Independent monitoring proved the measures were an outstanding success.

This year, TESS, used a new computerised file sharing system to improve the exchange of health and safety information between the Festival, contractors and service providers. The huge amount of documentation generated by the event - and the need to scrutinise safety information, insurances and so on means the easy sharing and retriev

Serbia - This month's Exit festival in Novi Sad, has become one of the largest and most popular festivals on the European circuit.

Over 200,000 visitors are expected for this festival, which is located near the historic Petrovaradin Fortress, built high on the banks of the River Danube and offering a stunning view of Novi Sad.

The Exit festival was established in 2000. In 2007 it was awarded the prestigious UK Festival Award for the best festival in Europe for 2007, as voted for by festival-goers from all over the world.

Studio Berar, responsible for the technical organisation for the festival selected Prolyte to provide a large roof system for the main stage at Exit 2008. Prolyte is already established in this region, thanks to the enthusiastic support of Prolyte distributor PSP.

Novi Sad-based sound, video and light engineering and rental company Studio Berar contracted

Sweden - A Milos MR2 roofing system was utilised by designer Peter Samzelius of Peter Samzelius AB as the main stand superstructure for Swedish machine control solutions provider Scanlaser at the recent massive MaskinExpo.

The exhibition was staged at Barkarby Airfield in Stockholm and included a large demo site for working presentations of heavy plant machinery.

Scanlaser is one of Samzelius's key clients and he has designed all their exhibition stands for some time. He has also used Milos products for the last five years.

The Scanlaser stand space at MaskinExpo measured 25m by 30m, with the MR2 system measuring 15m by 13m for the main tent and 12m by 13m for the black tent. It was purchased specially for the show by Samzelius and will eventually be owned by Scanlaser. He comments, "I've wanted to purchase an MR2 roof for several years, and this new Scanlaser stand pro

UK - Based on the 2006 West End production at the London Palladium, Karl Sydow's Sinatra, directed by David Leveaux, is currently enjoying a successful tour of the UK.

Echoing the original West End design, the art deco-influenced set was designed by Tom Pye with significant input from his associate, Tim McQuillen-Wright. Bespoke staging company, Brilliant Stages, has constructed specialist components within the set.

The main band rostra, which carry the 16-strong Big Band, was the first section to receive the Brilliant Stages treatment. This three-tiered structure maintains the art deco look with a retro silver and black finish to each fascia, complete with soft black leather trim and brushed silver 'corrugated' risers. Each fascia incorporates concealed, clear, non-neon lighting acting as down-lighters on the corrugated risers, whilst the bottom fascia conceals a line

UK - The UK CCTV sales office at JVC Professional Europe has put in place a sales incentive scheme aimed directly at UK security installers.

The scheme enables installers to be rewarded with either a handheld consumer JVC Everio camcorder or a portable iPod stereo system with the purchase of a certain amount of CCTV products from an approved JVC UK supplier.

Phil Wring, UK CCTV sales manager at JVC Professional Europe states: "This sales promotion has been put in place to offer our partners a fun product to go with their CCTV purchases, and should make an ideal accompaniment for the rest of the summer months ahead."

(Jim Evans)

UK - Vitec Group, which purchased Texas-based staging and rigging specialist Tomcat in 2006, is to close the manufacturing side of the Tomcat UK operation, with effect from 1 August 2008. The sales staff will remain the same, but will now operate under the banner of 'Tomcat Europe'.

In a letter to customers, Pier Luigi Gherardini, the general manager of Vitec's Staging Systems Europe division, said: "Tomcat is now completing its integration with the Staging Systems organization and continuing its expansion into the European, Middle East and African markets."

The letter continued: "Staging Systems will provide Tomcat with new state-of-the-art, 9,000sq.m facilities in Italy and Slovakia, where its capacity will be integrated and expanded, together with extensive R&D and engineering capabilities to support its new strategic geographical approach."

The compan

UK - Weston-Super-Mare's beach once again played host to T4 on the Beach on Sunday 20th July, 2008. This year the event attracted it's largest live audience of 45,000 and a total of 30 artists including Kelly Roland, McFly, The Hoosiers, Scouting for Girls, Basehunter, Sam Sparro, Neo, Duffy and the Ting Tings.

Done and Dusted managed the event for Channel 4, bringing in production manager Tony Wheeler of Nine Yards to look after all aspects of the live production. Wheeler comments: "This year's event grew most significantly. We like to keep our team consistent and once again entrusted Power Logistics to ensure there was uninterrupted power, particularly important for an event driven by its live television show. As ever they have been exemplary and taken all of the late changes an event of this nature throws up in their stride."

Tony Harpur led the Power Logistics te

UK - Event security specialists Showsec played an integral safety role in the series of concerts and festivals staged at Hyde Park, this June and July.

Three high profile events took place on two consecutive weekends, starting with the star-studded 46664 charity concert celebrating Nelson Mandela's 90th birthday on the final Friday of June. Hard Rock Calling took place on the Saturday and Sunday immediately following, with a bill headlined by the Police and Eric Clapton, while, on the second weekend, O2 Wireless hosted Fat Boy Slim, Morrissey, Jay Z and Counting Crows. The same site and infrastructure was also used for an additional mid-week concert by Jack Johnson.

Showsec were at the heart of event planning, with the company's operations director Simon Battersby appointed Head of Security for all three events. The Mandela concert boasted the largest capacity of 46,664, while

Germany - In the recent past, ChainMaster Bühnentechnik of Eilenburg has provided chain hoists and chain-hoist controllers for a variety of projects in Eastern Europe. One notable venue to be equipped was the Luzhniki Olympic Complex in Moscow - a stadium associated primarily today with football. ChainMaster supplied 120 D8 Plus 500kg chain hoists for the stadium. The equipment was used for the European Cup final between Chelsea and Manchester Unioted.

The Lomonosov Moscow State University has also invested in equipment from ChainMaster, including four D8 Jumbo Lifts (the 6-tonne model) to manoeuvre the university's heavyweight video cube into position and a D8 manual control for installation work also involving the video cube.

Also in Moscow, four VarioLift 500 hoists and four VarioTrolleys - electric running gear with integrated frequency converters and positioning units -

UK - Stage One, working with Cricket, a brand communications agency, helped to create a new photographic exhibition at the Royal Geographical Society (RGS) in London to celebrate Land Rover's 60th Anniversary.

The exhibition of 60 images, entitled Portraits of Adventure, consisted of 50 regular sized photographic images along with 10 specially commissioned four-metre high portraits by photographer Alastair Thain.

"We enjoy a close working relationship with both Cricket and Land Rover and are delighted to play a part in Land Rover's celebrations," said Simon Wood, sales director, Stage One.

For the exhibition, Stage One was asked to construct a number of different items including several plinths, two of which were designed to take a Land Rover vehicle and one used to display an Alastair Thain camera. In the main gallery area four double-sided aluminium walls

Show News - Loudspeaker manufacturer Tannoy makes a welcome return to the PLASA show after being absent for a couple of years. The company will be using the Earls' Court event as the platform for a first UK demonstration of its newest pro-audio product lines, VQ and QFlex, as well as exhibiting some of the existing V-Series loudspeaker range.

Executive News - Bandit Lites has announced that Peter M. Heffernan, a 30-year veteran, has been named president of the firm. Effective immediately, Heffernan will take the reigns and serve as both president and C.O.O., a role he has held for the last 15 years. This move comes at a time of growth for Bandit and is the logical step in taking the firm to the next level, says the company. Heffernan began his full time relationship with Bandit Lites in 1978 and he has risen through the ranks. He served as lighting director and/ or production manager f

UK - Stage Electrics has appointed Ben Stephen as its new business development manager for London and the South East. He joins divisional sales manager Chris Patton and fellow BDM's Darren Beckley, Mark Burnett and Paul Roughton.

Stephen previously worked at Stage Electrics' Birmingham branch where he was responsible for hire and sales enquires.

(Jim Evans)

UK - Heavy rockers Def Leppard and Whitesnake specified Mojo Barriers crowd safety facilities for their latest UK tour. Mojo Barriers supplied 50m of its aluminium barrier system as well as barrier corner units which allowed the barrier to entirely surround the bespoke stage shape.

Leon van der Velden was Mojo Barriers' project manager, responsible for planning and installing the barrier system at the bands' 10 UK shows.

He said: "Def Leppard and Whitesnake are obviously two big artists for one line-up. So, with enthusiastic arena crowds, they were keen to work to the highest possible safety standards. This was a very well organised tour, with production manager Rocko Reedy switching between the UK tour indoor venues and outdoor European festivals. At this busy time of year, logistics were all spot on."

(Jim Evans)

UK - PLASA Media has revealed this year's short-listed nominees for the prestigious Gottelier Award, and opened up the online voting form at the PLASA Show website.

The voting is open to industry professionals worldwide, and will remain open until 12.00 midday (UK time) on Friday 29 August 2008. The winner will be announced at the PLASA Show on Monday 8 September.

Named in honour of the late designer, developer and commentator Tony Gottelier, this award aims to recognise the tireless product developers who have made a significant contribution to the development of the equipment and tools that enable our entertainment technology practitioners to continually push the boundaries of event production, presentation and installation.

Last year's inaugural Award was won by Tony Andrews of Funktion One for his decades of dedi

UK- Sunbaba worked with production company Sledge to supply branding for the innocent Village Fete in Regents Park on 2 and 3 August 2008.

The innocent Village Fete has a range of diverse activities suitable to keep all the family amused including musical performances headlined by the James Taylor Quartet, Son of Dave and The Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain. Interactive activities to take part in included alfresco dancing, duck herding and ferret racing as well as face painting, a funfair and giant game of boggle.

Sunbaba's signage was designed to fit in with the light hearted atmosphere of the fete. They produced 198 correx signs which included 10 'things to do while queuing for the loo' information signs, signage for the 'VNP (Very Nice People) secret garden party' and 42 x 'innocent facts'. They also provided 36 PVC signs including directional signage, central tower bran

UK - Serious Stages supplied three staging structures at the 2008 Latitude festival - one floating - and a pontoon walking bridge across the large lake to link the two main areas of the site. The Festival Republic event is set in the grounds of Henham Park, Southwold, Suffolk, and has become one of the UK's most sought-after boutique festivals. The Serious team of 16 was led by crew chief Gavin Harper.

Latitude's main stage was one of the new Serious 22m, four-bay Supernova structures, which was covered in white skins for the first time, and decorated around the front with Latitude's signature funky daisies.

This version of the Supernova was constructed with round trussing for a generally gentler and more spherical appearance. The stage space was 22m wide and 14.4m deep, with 11m of headroom and with a backshed at the rear for rolling risers, backline storage and to help facil

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