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Minimal Space, Minimal Time and Maximum Weather for Star Events
November saw Star Events Group demonstrating its flexibility and efficiency with two major outdoor projects at the BBC’s Television Centre in White City, west London.
The first, on Monday 13th November, was an exclusive live show by Beyonce Knowles, for which Star Events Group provided a Morbit stage and associated structures, including dressing rooms and a technical area, all at stage height.
Space was extremely tight and the Star Events team had to work within exacting parameters - the location for the stage was adjacent to an access road which had to be kept clear at all times, Television Centre being one of the BBC’s busiest working facilities.
Front of House and camera platforms also had to be provided. However, due to the access issue, these and the changing rooms couldn’t be built until after 9pm on the Sunday night, after the Outside Broadcast (OB) trucks were in position. Once built, these then ‘trapped’ the OB trucks until the de-rig.
“Star Events Group was incredibly helpful in the planning and selection of the right stage and the team was great on the ground. The artiste's personnel were very impressed with the stage,” comments Dawn Davis, production manager for BBC Music Entertainment.
“The most complex part of the job was the logistics, which gave us a relatively small window in which to build some significant structures,” says Pete Holdich, Star Events Group project manager for the event. “There was a lot of work to be done between the Sunday night and Monday evening, but these are the kind of parameters which we’re well used to working within and it all went very smoothly.”
The tight timescale didn’t end there as, immediately the show ended (at 7pm), clearance of the site began. This had to be done overnight for a very different structure to be built for the live Children In Need broadcast just four days later. By 8am on the Tuesday, the space where the Morbit™ had been was transformed into a giant unloading area for a unique structure to service the Children In Need event.
Star Events Group were brought in by the event’s technical manager Malcolm Birkett, who liaised with the BBC Production team fronted by Scott Harvey and event manager Richard Greaves to finalise the concept.
“Television Centre is a unique building and Malcolm had designed an equally unique structure,” says Pete Holdich. “The ground support for the stage was assembled around the columns that support Television Centre and in front of the building for the video screen, with stair and ramp access for artists and equipment.
“The stage and support was built utilising our proprietary 15m steel 'midi' truss and Vertech masts to provide optimum trim beneath the building for the performance area and maximum load bearing capacity in front of the building to support the screen. The design worked excellently and the structure integrated with the building very well.”
Star Events Group also built a staircase and intermediate support tower which allowed main Children In Need presenter Terry Wogan to come straight from the studio to the stage - time being, of course, very much of the essence during a live broadcast. In addition, Star Events Group provided a 5m x 2.5m FoH structure, two FoH camera platforms and a FoH lighting tower / camera platform, plus rigging hardware and riggers.
The stage saw bands including Keane, Jamiroquai, Girls Aloud and McFly playing to an enthusiastic - albeit damp - crowd, MCd by DJ Chris Moyles. “The build was relatively straightforward,” Pete continues. “The main problem was that space was again very tight, as the site was across the main drop-off point for Television Centre.”
Unfortunately, while Children In Need was in progress the weather decided not to play ball, with heavy rain and wind rather dampening the atmosphere.
“As with all wind managed structures we deployed an anemometer on the highest and most exposed structure and briefed the production on our wind management procedure,” says Pete. “But thankfully it all went very smoothly, although the conditions were disappointing. Because of the rain Wogan only used the staircase once. It would have been used much more if it hadn’t been for the weather!”
22nd December 2006
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