USA - In an effort to ensure the safety of guests, exhibitors, contractors and employees of the Washington State Convention & Trade Centre (WSCTC), a rigging installation and inspection programme is being implemented. Effective 1 October 2009, any rigging, either ground support or aerial, which falls within specified categories must be installed by an ETCP Certified rigger. In addition, rigging supervisors, who must be ETCP Certified, are required to submit inspection and approval documentation to the WSCTC of all rigging installations.

Ed Barnes, WSCTC vice president of operations, stated, "We began the process to certify all riggers working in our facility for the safety of the centre's guests and everyone working behind the scenes. Having rigging installed by ETCP Certified personnel provides the most reliable and efficient way for us to verify the level of knowledge and

UK - The prestigious Gottelier Award will be presented for the third time at this year's PLASA Show.

Named in honour of the late designer, developer and commentator Tony Gottelier, this award aims to recognise the 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.

The process of identifying the winner by peer voting will again consist of two distinct phases, but with a few subtle changes.

In the Nomination Phase, industry professionals will again be asked for their choices, but will also be asked to identify the specific product contributions that make that nominee a worthy contender. Based on the nominations received, a panel of industry expert judges will then be asked to decide

Iceland - Compared with the Pop Idol franchises in larger countries, the viewing figures for Icelandic Idol may not seem high. Yet this year's competition received over 70,000 votes from a population of just 300,000.

Once again it fell to Alfred Sturla Bodvarsson, head of set & lighting for the Icelandic TV company Luxor, to look after the design. As usual, he turned to his trusty stock of Maltbury Steeldeck to build something both practical and a bit funky.

The stage is made up of about 60 Steeldeck units with LED tubes inserted between them at intervals. The decks were covered in chipboard which was then given a gloss black finish.

Bodvarsson has also supplied Maltbury Metrodecks and Metrodeck Ultra to numerous other Icelandic venues.

(Jim Evans)

UK - At the recent Wakefield district business awards, Litestructures was awarded The Innovation in Business Award 2009. The Awards celebrate the individuals and companies who are helping to make the district one of the most dynamic in the region.

Adrian Brooks, managing director of Litestructures comments: "We are obviously delighted to win and gain recognition for our innovation. We feel that it was well deserved because as a company, we continually strive to move forward and develop new products and ideas."

Brooks invented the world's first aluminium truss system, AstraLite. Since then, many have followed: LiteDeck is now an industry standard staging system, the Litestructures rehearsal arena is the only facility of its kind in Europe, DigiTruss, and LiteSwitch are new lighting developments. Last but not least, the Backstage Academy is well on its way to training

Germany - e:cue lighting control - An Osram company, has introduced light-drive elite, its first standalone DMX controller and user interface for dynamic RGB LED lighting that does not require software programming. Users can easily control intensity, colour, and speed as well as setup their favourite colour-changing effects through light-drive elite's glass interface with touch-sensitive keys and touch wheel, says the company.

Jan Julius Miebach, e:cue's managing director for product strategy, said, "We designed this product to allow end-users to experience dynamic lighting as well create dynamic lighting scenes themselves. We specifically paid great attention to the user interaction with the device as well its aesthetic design."

The glassy interface features an LED ring around the touch wheel to guide users in selecting and adjusting colours, intensity, and speed as

USA - Milos QuickTruss showed how to overcome the challenges and engineering requirements of temporary structures for recent roof projects at two major baseball stadiums - Washington DC's Nationals Park and Baltimore's Oriole Park at Camden Yard.

The temporary structures served as television broadcasting booths complete with lighting, a complex map of cabling and electrical wires, and a weather-proof canopy to keep commentators dry during rainy innings.

The bespoke broadcasting booths were designed by Creative Dimensions, a full service exhibition and sign specialist based in Cheshire, Connecticut. Doug Carabillo, their director of business development, needed to cover all bases when assembling experts from many different industries. He was not familiar with Milos products, but had received numerous referrals from other vendors working on the project, and decided to utilise Qu

UK - Following the success of the 2007 Beautiful World tour, Brilliant Stages were again chosen to bring to life the imaginative and dramatic stage designs for Take That's Circus Live Tour 2009.

The combined creative talents of show producer, Kim Gavin and set designer, Es Devlin devised a circus-themed set for which Brilliant Stages created a total of 5 stages, in addition to several pieces of staging wizardry, for the 20 UK stadium dates.

The main Performer stage, 18m wide x 17.8m deep with tech tunnels beneath and access steps on either side, incorporated six lifts: a piano lift, two double band lifts and a puppet lift for the show finale.

Two satellite stages with weather-proof tech bunkers beneath were linked by ramps to the main stage and housed sound kit and instruments. A 6m-deep C stage, also with tech bunkers, was located at the front of the performer

Once in a Lifetime - Acts including U2 and Aretha Franklin are to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the US Rock and Roll Hall of Fame at two concerts. The gigs, set to take place in New York in October, will also feature inductees including Bruce Springsteen, Eric Clapton and Metallica. Both Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel and rock trio Crosby, Stills and Nash are lined up to perform together. The concerts have been billed as "once in a lifetime" events. Jan Wenner, chairman of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Foundation, said they are "designed to celebrate the artists and their music".

The proceeds from the concerts will go towards permanent funding for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Foundation and Museum, established in 1984 by Atlantic Records founder Ahmet Ertegun who died in 2006.

Dublin Protest - People who live close to the Croke Park stadium in D

UK - A new, bespoke VVIP seating balcony installed at the Brit Oval in time for this summer's Ashes series was one of the season's best performances for Arena Seating at British cricket grounds this summer, as the players prepared to overcome their own challenges on the fields of play.

Arena also installed temporary grandstand seating at the other grounds visited by the touring Australian national team, namely 4,638 seats at Old Trafford, 3,645 at Edinburgh, 10,766 at the Rosebowl, 8,427 at Durham, 336 seats at Lords, 793 seats at Edgbaston, and a further 218 seats at The Brit Oval.

The Brit Oval's balcony, with its specially upholstered luxury seating, was designed to provide additional comfort in a spectacular environment for the club's VVIP guests. Arena Seating designed the facility in brushed aluminium and glass, using 70 seats based on Arena's Congress seat with weatherp

UK - Maltbury's new Backdrape is a versatile curtain and support system that features adjustable height aluminium uprights on steel baseplates, extendable aluminium cross-bars which simply hook onto the uprights, and black serge drapes which thread smoothly onto the cross-bars and join together with Velcro.

Packages are all tailored to precise customer requirements. The result is a kit that is as flexible as Maltbury's staging systems. With backdrape you can construct a line of curtains to the height of your choosing which will follow the rear of your Maltbury stage - or do something quite different. As always, those decisions are left up to you, says the company.

(Jim Evans)

UK - Following last year's innovative stage branding for Lovebox London Weekender, Sunbaba once again delivered for the 2009 event.

The vibrant London festival was held in Victoria Park on the 18 and 19 July and was headlined by founders Groove Armada alongside Doves, Florence and the Machine and Duran Duran, whose set featured a special guest appearance from Mark Ronson.

Sunbaba produced 125 lightbox panels made from backlit PVC for the Relentless Dance Area. The company worked alongside Lovebox set designers and Spacial, the set builders, to create the panels which spanned from the stage to five surrounding tower blocks. This illuminated the area and created a 'rave environment' at dusk.

To keep costs low and waste to a minimum Sunbaba produced each of the 125 panels separately, instead of covering the whole of each structure. Each of the panels was coded so that th

South Africa - Gearhouse South Africa, via its various companies, supplied design services and full technical production and crew for two recent high profile Nelson Mandela events in Johannesburg.

A 91st Birthday celebration party was staged in Mary Fitzgerald Square, with an eclectic line up of performers, attended by 16,000 people.

The previous week, Gearhouse SA supplied staging, lighting, sound and AV for the Nelson Mandela Foundation Lecture in Johannesburg City Hall. Professor Muhammed Yunus, winner of the 2006 Nobel Peace Prize and founder of the Grameen Bank addressed this annual landmark.

A strong party atmosphere pervaded Mary Fitzgerald Square, where the Gearhouse team was co-ordinated by project manager Bonni Meyer, working closely with show producers Out of The Box for the South African Music Promoters Association (SAMPA).

Gearhouse Structures built the scaffo

UK - HSL designed and built two special stage sets including DJ booths - complete with inbuilt digital and conventional lighting - for DJs Steve Angello (from the Swedish House Mafia) and Eric Prydz, who played the main stage at the 2009 Global Gathering event on 25 July.

HSL was approached by Duncan Holmes from BPM Special Effects just 10 days before the event staged at Long Marsden Airfield in Warwickshire, and asked if they could create and build a special visual concept for both artists. They wanted something to add impact, excitement and atmosphere to both their performances - which took place in bright daylight and touching dusk.

HSL's Mike Docksey project managed the mission. Overnight, he came up with a design for Angello, whilst HSL's Mike Oates produced one for Prydz. These were drawn up, presented to the artists and given the green light - with now just a week to go

The Netherlands - Mojo Barriers has made a rounded contribution to the 2009 U2 360º tour as the Dutch company underlines its international capabilities by supplying 700m of curved aluminium barrier system for the world tour.

Having been contracted to supply the touring crowd barrier system in late 2008, Mojo Barriers' project team was thorough in preparing the largest, most complex touring barrier system the company has ever designed. As the footprint of the gigantic stage spans the width of the stadium pitches, both the central stage and concentric 'B-stage' are closely surrounded by live audiences.

Safety was at the top of all concerned parties' priorities list in designing the barrier configuration, which used all elements of the Mojo Barriers system plus some custom-built elements. The challenge was managed using all Mojo Barriers' experience and flexibility.

Mojo's man

UK - PLASA 2008 saw the successful launch of Litestructures LiteConsole. DJ, Paul Oakenfold, commissioned Litestructures, in association with partners Pioneer and Anolis, to design and manufacture a special touring console to highlight Oakenfold's stage presence.

The system (3m wide, 1.5m high and 1.2m deep) is lightweight, modular, easy to assemble, accommodates two 50' plasma screens at the front and has Oakenfold's name laser cut on the front fascia along with the Perfecto label branding on side panels.

Oakenfold's LiteConsole has toured the globe, supporting Madonna's Sticky and Sweet tour and Lenny Kravitz.

The DJ comments: "I have been very impressed with the level of professional support and advice received from the Litestructures team, I am delighted with the beautiful piece of staging technology that has been produced. It made sense to custom design my o

UK - For the eighth year running Hawthorns has supplied Walk the Walk's MoonWalk and SunWalk power walk challenges in aid of Breast Cancer charities.

As well as supplying the London MoonWalk held in Hyde Park, Hawthorns has also supplied the Edinburgh MoonWalk, and also the Bristol and Newcastle SunWalks.For the two MoonWalks and over 27,000 walkers, Hawthorns provided lighting, sound, staging, rigging and power distribution which was installed into De Boer's massive 'pink palace', a 150m x 60m Galaxy structure.

Three artics of lighting, sound, rigging, power distro and site services made their way to Hyde Park for the main structure and nine smaller ancillary marquees. Hawthorns used six main generators and over 10 miles of cable to supply the marquees, 280 toilets and numerous catering wagons with power.

Hawthorns also introduced t

UK - Organisers praised Showsec following a successful Camp Bestival this July. In the event's second year, audience numbers increased by 50% from 10,000 to 15,000.

Loud Sound's event director Jim King commented: "We were very happy with the operation undertaken by Showsec at Camp Bestival. They had the right staff with the right attitude for the show and helped make it a pleasant and relaxed experience for all concerned."

Showsec supplied over 250 SIA licensed event security professionals to Camp Bestival, a new style of family oriented festival sited at Lulworth Castle on the Dorset coastline. The festival is the brainchild of promoter Rob da Bank, produced in collaboration with Loud Sound, and its standing results from it setting out from the start to cater for families, rather than adding feature areas for children as an afterthought. The sit

UK - 5 Star Cases will once again be displaying a selection of its 'standard' flightcase ranges available from the wide range of case styles and specifications, as well as highlighting its custom design and build capabilities.

A recent addition is the Touring Production Rack. Aimed at lighting, sound and theatre technicians, this foam-suspended rack system features a fold away TFT monitor and a keyboard drawer plus various 19" rack-bays. Primarily designed to house a Mac Pro, it can also be built to accommodate a range of PC system cabinets.

Also on display will be 5 Star's newly launched Arena range of general purpose road trunks. Arena trunks are available in three sizes, the Arena 600, 900 and 1200 from stock (black only) or to order in 5 Star's standard range of colours. All are finished with the standard Penn-Elcom hardware.

5 Star's Tour Grade is another popular p

UK - Richmond Theatre was built in 1899 as the Theatre Royal and Opera House. In June 2008 Maltbury were invited by Tim Foster architects to submit a proposal for the orchestra pit in-fill. This was part of a bigger project at the theatre and the deadline was very tight.

To simplify the changeover Maltbury strengthened the walls of the pit and created a load-bearing 'shelf' around the inside face. Decks were kept to a maximum of 2ft wide so they were easy to handle as they dropped into place on the ledge. No legs were needed. Maltbury also took on other specialist carpentry work on the site at short notice.

(Jim Evans)

USA - Gerriets' new dance floor tape applicator G-TR allows for taping of dance floors and carpets in an upright position. The ergonomically designed tool reduces much stress on back and knees. The precise engineering of the applicator makes laying long distances very easy and comfortable, says the company. "Just start, roll, tape, cut and start the next panel."

According to Gerriets, the lightweight (11lbs) tool allows for 3 to 4 times faster operation than working by hand. The cutting mechanism on the handle provides easy and comfortable operation. A storage bar for two spare rolls allows for taping long distances without any breaks.

(Claire Beeson)

South Africa - Gearhouse South Africa's Durban and Johannesburg branches combined resources and skills to provide all technical production - including rigging, sound, lighting, AV and sets - required for the high profile launch of Emirates Airline's new non-stop service between Durban and Dubai.

The show was produced by Emirates with support from The Event Production Company and staged at the Inkosi Albert Luthuli International Convention Centre in Durban. It was project managed for GHSA by Durban branch operations manager, Stuart Andrews, who comments, "Emirates is a six star client and extremely precise in their requirements. Our local knowledge of the venue coupled with the fact that we could draw on expertise from other areas in the company to supply elements like the bespoke staging, enabled us to deliver these exacting standards."

The event was divided into thr

USA - Pharos Architectural Controls has announced the appointment of Thomas Ladd as its product manager for North America. Based in Boston, Ladd will provide support and training for Pharos users and be a point of contact for our distribution partners and key specifiers.

Managing director, Richard Mead, said: "The time was definitely right to establish a direct Pharos presence in North America. It is so important to us to provide great support to all our customers from beginning to end of their projects and having Thomas on the team will help us do just that."

Ladd received his introduction to lighting control while at Production Arts in New York City in 1999. Two years later he joined the New York Office of Electronic Theatre Controls. His position as field project coordinator for ETC paved the way for him to expand his controls knowledge and programming skills in t

UK - In June this year the screen-to-stage musical Sister Act - premièred at the London Palladium. The original 1992 film grossed over $200 million worldwide. The theatre adaptation transfers the story to 1970s Philadelphia and the cast includes Patina Miller as Deloris Van Cartier, Sheila Hancock as the Mother Superior and Ian Lavender as Monsignor Howard.

Delstar Engineering kitted out the Palladium with a modular floor 15 years ago and was invited back again to enhance the engineering capabilities of the theatre for this fresh and exuberant show.

The installation includes a walkway and an arrangement of over 40 dedicated working winches that drive a variety of effects ranging from small flown pieces to heavy scenic walls. Delstar also installed a complex show deck, incorporating an inner and outer revolve that can raise and lower lifts while rotating as a central fo

UK - With little more than a month to go until the PLASA Show, organiser PLASA Events has confirmed over 40 exhibitors new to this year's event, as pre-registrations look set to match 2008's record levels. Pre-registration for PLASA09 is still open, with a 50% discount for online bookings (see website below).

New & Returning Exhibitors
Exhibitors new or returning to the show include Adam Hall, A.T. Industries, All Access Staging & Productions, Ambient Lighting, Artistic Licence, Avid Technology, Bestlight, Bison Produkter, Coemar S.p.A, Entertainment Equipment Supplies, Flying by Foy, Gerriets, Indu-Electric Gerber, Klotz Audio Interface Systems, Laserworld (Switzerland), LumenRadio, MediaLas Laserproducts, NEXO, Picturall, Prism Media Products, Promoberg, Pyrotechnology, R K Sound Engineering, ShowCAD Control S

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