UK - As reported in the October issue of Lighting&Sound International magazine, Slingco has installed the largest CABLEnet tensioned wire grid system in the world to date at the newly refurbished Bournemouth International Centre. The 2500 square metre installation covering the entire roof space of the BIC's main Windsor Hall was part of an £22 million refurbishment project for the building, undertaken by Warings Contractors Limited from Portsmouth for Bournemouth Borough Council in partnership with the South West Regional Development Agency.

It expands the seated capacity of the Windsor Hall to circa 4,200 and the seated/standing capacity to 6,500, making the BIC a truly world class multipurpose venue suitable for all types of productions - from conference to arena sized stage shows. The CABLEnet installation pips Slingco's previous world record, held by the IFEMA venue in Madrid, by approximately 100sq.m!

Slingco also achieved the rare feat of finishing their element of this enormous project ahead of time in just seven weeks, and on budget. The CABLEnet consumed some 36 miles of steel cabling and 75 tonnes of new steel. It's an elegant and highly practical solution that enables BIC technical and maintenance staff to have safe high-level access across the entire roof of the venue's main Windsor Hall. The house lighting rig is stored in the roof void unobtrusively and can be used wherever needed across the space. No shadows are cast by the grid when lights are shone through it into the space below.

(Lee Baldock)


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