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Summit Sets the Scene for The BAFTAS
Summit Steel built an extensive trussing entrance and walk-way – consisting of 10 separate structures - outside the Royal Opera House in London’s Covent Garden for the 2008 British Academy of Film & Television Awards (BAFTAs).
This ran the length of Bow Street, forming an extensive red carpet area traversed by the celebrity-clad guest list as they arrived and entered the ROH for the event. The red carpet area was designed by Lucy Smail of West Design & Production. The structures were used to support lighting and sound equipment and scenic MiTrix video elements, and by the time it was finished, dressed and looking fabulous, most traces of the supporting metalwork were completely concealed.
It was the first time Summit has worked on the BAFTAs. Smail gave project manager Jay Call a brief of what she wanted – based on a simple, clean and elegant aesthetics - and he came up with the trussing and structural design to support it.
The 10 structures consisted of three different types: Type 1 – of which there were four - featured 4.5 metre rear legs and 5.5 metre front legs, incorporating a Keder rail for attaching the roofing panels, a set of classy transparent plastic skins with a white BAFTA head in the middle. The four Type 2 structures were each 5 metres long by 6 metres wide, with 4 metre legs at the back and 5 metre legs at the front. The two Type 3s were the longest at 6 x 4 metre bays long, with 4 metre back and 5 metre front legs. All structures were 6 metres deep.
The final Type 1 structures were used as the entrance and exit to the red carpet. Slightly taller, these imposing structures were designed to impress the grandeur of the occasion on the arriving guests.
All structures were built out of Thomas 30.5 cm SuperTruss and ballasted against the wind utilising 60 tonnes of lead weights, which proved a neat solution for keeping the tower leg footprints small, and also dealing with the uneven slope of Bow Street as it winds down the hill.
The timescale was tight. The road closures were limited to only a small overnight window each day, during which time the bulk of the work had to be done, so they had to work incredibly fast - and safely! No work could take place between 5pm and midnight each night to avoid disrupting the ROH’s repertoire programme and Bow Street is also one of the busiest pedestrian thoroughfares in central London – all factors for Jay Call and his 18 crew to contend with.
In addition to this, all the daytime work happening adjacent to and in part of a busy road open to all types of vehicles had to be extremely controlled. They worked in two teams doing 10 hour shifts to make it happen, and in close conjunction with West Design & Production’s two site/production managers Andy Cheeseman and Dikka Jones.
The build started at midnight on the Wednesday night. Everything had to be fully completed and matching the glamour of the occasion by Sunday early afternoon …. ahead of guest arrivals which started in the late afternoon.
The de-rig kicked in immediately the show came down at 9.30 p.m. on Sunday evening - and everything was cleared by 2 p.m. on Monday.
“There was enormous pressure and some very long days,” comments Jay Call, “but we had a strong crew and a great working relationship with West Design & Production, so it all went very smoothly.”
BAFTA Winners included ‘Atonement’, the movie adaptation of Ian McEwan’s novel which won Best Film and Best Production Design and British actor Daniel Day-Lewis, who won Best Actor for his performance in ‘There Will Be Blood’.
14th February 2008
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