Installation

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UK - Advanced Audio & Vision Ltd (AAV) has completed the latest phase of an audio visual project for BBT Thermotechnology UK in Worcester.

Part of the Bosch Group, BBT (better known for its Worcester, Bosch Group brand) is the largest supplier of heating products in Europe, with an estimated turnover of approximately €2.5 billion. Around 1,800 personnel work for the UK division, many at the headquarters, based in Worcester.

Last year, as part of a £3.5m expansion project, the company commenced work on building an 'Energy Atrium' to showcase high efficiency and renewable energy products, as well as develop meeting room and conference facilities. By the time AAV Ltd were invited to take over the project at the start of the year, the AV fit out had become something of a fast track proposition. Tasked by BBT's IT and Network Project administrator, Gary Whenman with equippin

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UK - Stardraw Control, the multi-award winning control application from design and control software systems developer, Stardraw.com has been named as a finalist for the Technology InAVation 2007 award in the category of Most Innovative Control Product for Commercial Use. The nomination coincides with the landmark 5,000 user tally, an astonishing achievement in just over twelve months when the product was still only in beta form.

Stardraw's marketing director, Rob Robinson, is delighted that Stardraw Control has qualified as a finalist for the inaugural Technology InAVation Awards which will be held at the forthcoming ISE show in Amsterdam next February. "Stardraw Control has already been recognised at several prestigious industry awards, and the Technology InAVation nomination serves as further testament to the truly innovative nature of the product," noted Robinson. &

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UK - ChristChurch, London, has recently purchased an Innovason Sy48 Evolution digital console package to handle all of their FOH and monitoring needs at their new venue, the 1200-seat Piccadilly Theatre in London's West End.

Technical director Rhys Scott was looking for a console that would be intuitive to use, flexible, fast to work on and with high audio quality. Furthermore, as the console is largely used by volunteers, it needed to be accessible and logically laid out. "I met the Innovason team at the Messe in Frankfurt earlier in the year and was given a demo of the Sy48. It was extremely impressive, and there was no doubt that it met all of our criteria," said Scott. "We were looking to have the new console in place before we moved to our new venue at the Piccadilly Theatre, and fortunately for us, Innovason launched their 'New for Old" initiative just

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Canada - An Allen & Heath ML5000 VCA mixer has been installed in the fictionalstudio of the popular Canadian TV show, Instant Star. Now in its thirdseason, the TV drama chronicles the life of a feisty young rock star,Jude Harrison, who has won a recording contract with G-Major studios.

"Our main objective with Instant Star is to make the series as realisticas possible to accurately reflect the music industry, which is why wehad to have a fully functioning board and not just a set piece. This isenhanced with the presence of the Allen & Heath ML5000 mixer, which isthe centrepiece of our recording studio set in the fictitious 'G Major'Studio," explains executive producer, Stephen Stohn. "Many of the show'sfans are intrigued by the music business, so the challenge is to haveall the equipment working as a real studio with the mixer at the coreoperating as

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UK - Theatre sound specialist Orbital has supplied London's Young Vic with an advanced Q-series d&b audiotechnik system, which features as part of the newly augmented technical infrastructure of the theatre. Re-opening after an extensive 3-year redevelopment project, London's Young Vic has been transformed into a larger and more flexible theatre complex designed by London based architects Haworth Tompkins.

To meet the demands of The Young Vic's innovative and expanding programme, the project has radically enhanced its facilities both front of house and backstage. Comprising its main auditorium restored to the highest and ultra-contemporary standards, it now features two new spaces : the Maria (capacity 160) and the Clare (capacity 80). The Young Vic now also provides audiences with welcoming public areas, a split level Cut Bar & Restaurant - boasting extensive entertaining facil

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UK - Leeds' Grand Theatre, the performance base for Opera North, has reopened to great acclaim after a two year transformation programme by BDP.

The Grand Theatre built in 1878 was a major milestone in Victorian theatre building and is listed Grade II. Once described as "probably the finest theatre of its size in Britain," the Grand's 19th century facilities no longer met present day audience and performance expectations. Working conditions backstage and facilities for artists were increasingly difficult and inefficient.

The £16m first phase works on the theatre have involved new seating, improved sight lines, better ventilation and improved facilities for the disabled. Backstage, the fly tower and flying systems have been upgraded, and two new rehearsal rooms constructed on an adjacent site are connected to the Theatre by a wide bridge, which also acts as a sc

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UK - Loughborough Student Union (LSU) has recently completed an extensiverefurbishment, including an overhaul of its audio equipment, to providea state-of-the-art multi-function entertainment venue for its students.All of the audio mixing equipment selected for the six rooms was fromAllen & Heath.

LSU is one of the largest student union venues in the UK with a capacityof 3,400. Open seven nights a week, it plays host to a variety of DJs,bands and celebrity acts. The venue comprises a cocktail bar calledFusion; JC's traditional pub; Cognito, a retro room with illuminateddance floor; the main room, Room 1, incorporating a large stage anddance floor; a backroom bar, Bar 1; and Piazza, a large adjoining area.The LSU team also host outdoor events, including the annual Freefestmusic concert.

"We handle a lot of different events at the SU, and can progress from anintimate acoust

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Russia - A substantial Robe moving light system, complete with a Robe DMX Control 1024 desk and Robe haze effects have been installed into the brand new 400 capacity Plaza Club in Gomel, Belarus.

The building was previously a classic 1950s cinema, which has been completely gutted and rebuilt by Gomel-based Plaza-Invest who also own another successful club in the town. The Plaza has already become one of the hottest club tickets in town, partly due to it's spectacular lightshow.

The club features three bars and a dancefloor which is the heart of the space and a wide ranging music policy. The owners wanted to have one of the best lightshows in town so they approached Minsk based design, hire and sales company, Art Ramos Studio a.l.c. (ARS) to produce a design, and supply the gear. Art Ramos has been at the forefront of Belarus's professional entertainment industry lighting for 1

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UK - For a venue that is designed to be temporary, the Royal Shakespeare Company's Courtyard Theatre in Stratford Upon Avon exceeds expectation in many areas, with sound and lighting specifications that would not be out of place in any permanent installation. The venue also includes an Ampetronic induction loop system, intended not just to comply with the Disability Discrimination Act, but to satisfy the high standards the hearing impaired should be able to expect of a venue such as this.

Designed by the in-house team at Ampetronic and installed by Stage Electrics, the system has impressed both Tim Cullen, in charge of the project for Stage Electrics, and the venue itself. "I was really impressed when I worked with Ampetronic for the first time at the Wales Millennium Centre," says Cullen. "When I came here and installed this system myself, I was amazed with its q

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UK - PA Installations of Llanelli Wales have just completed a major re-design, and re-fit of a new audio installation at the Essex University, Colchester Campus Student Union.

Having operated for many years as the main focus of all entertainments and functions within the campus, the venue attracts several large name acts as well as breaking new up and coming bands and artistes. Consisting of a very acoustically live room with an approximate capacity of 750, the building offers a 1970's style construction with concrete walls, pillars and floors.

Andy Bonehill, operations and projects director for PAI, having already attended several meetings and presentations, knew without any doubt that to increase performance and value and to meet the high expectations of the experienced management team of the venue, as well as the notoriously fickle likes of the graduates, they would need a

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UK - Popular Leicester Square music bar Sound has relocated from the Swiss Centre to the prestigious No.1. Leicester Square building. The expanded enterprise now makes provision for a new bar, fine dining restaurant, private VIP rooms and nightclub, operating on the three floors once occupied by Home, and more recently the Marquee Club.

Sandwiched between the MTV Studios and Penthouse Club, managing director Roger Payne of Sound Too Ltd has spent £1.3m - part of it dedicated to a new Martin Audio sound system - supplied by LMC Audio and installed by Carl Broadhurst's CTS Productions.

When Sound reopened at the beginning of October it extended an 11-year association it has enjoyed with Leicester Square. In fact it was while working as a technician at the old venue that Carl first became acquainted with Roger Payne, nearly a decade ago.

The installer exclusively specifie

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UK - London bar and live venue operators the Canteloupe Group have extended their relationship with Soundcraft mixing consoles. Nearly three years after specifying a 32-channel MH3 multi-purpose desk in the FOH position at popular 500-capacity Shoreditch venue Cargo London, the company's contracted installers, Marquee Audio, have recommended a 24-channel GB4 console for the new Big Chill House at Kings Cross.

The venue is the brainchild of Big Chill Festival promoters, Pete Lawrence and Katrina Larkin, who merged with the Cantaloupe Group at the end of 2002. First they converted The Peacock in Brick Lane to the Big Chill Bar before raising the stakes with the £1.2m development of three original town houses (which had variously operated as The Crossbar, The Bell and Sahara Nights) into the 550-capacity Big Chill House.

Marquee Audio installation manager, Scott Wakelin, wh

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UK - In Glasgow, the Classic Grand is under new management, and its new owners are thinking big. Their ambition is to be the number one live venue in Glasgow, if not in Scotland, and the installation of a new large-format Electro-Voice PA system was the necessary first step towards realising that goal.

The 500-capacity club is housed in one of Glasgow's first cinema buildings. Set over two floors, the Classic Grand's live music policy encompasses anything and everything, and gigs are usually followed by club sessions by the likes of The Friday Factory and Porno. With the venue also aspiring to attract corporate event hire, the criteria for a sound system was necessarily that it should be highly flexible.

Locally situated in Glasgow, Andrew O'Neill of Flashlite has been working with the club's owners for 15 years so he was a natural choice to re-furbish the technical facilities

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UK - PLASA, the Professional Lighting and Sound Association, in conjunction with The Eden Project and Lighting&Sound International magazine, is looking at the possibility of supporting a conference on environmental awareness in show and event production.

The proposed conference will broadly examine the current practices of the production industry and look at how companies and organisations can take steps to minimise the carbon footprint of staging shows, supplying and touring equipment, catering for audiences, etc. The event will draw on the expertise of the team at The Eden Project, the popular tourist attraction in the South West of England, whose environmental policies underpin a series of 'green' gigs at the venue.

At this stage, PLASA is gauging the level of interest in such an event, so we want to hear from everyone in the industry who would like to be involved. If you w

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UK - tsg, the UK's leading music programmers and system designers, have recently provided ILVA, the Danish furniture retailer, with Promedia hard disk systems and a bespoke music profile for all three of its UK stores.

Launched in the UK this year, ILVA is a different kind of home furnishing store with three 120,000sq.ft outlets in Thurrock, Manchester and Gateshead. Aiming to replicate the success of its existing Scandinavian stores, ILVA offers a wide range of quality furniture and accessories at affordable prices. It aims to set trends within home décor and provide inspiration for shoppers in an enjoyable shopping environment.

Designed by acclaimed Danish architects Schmidt, Hammer and Lassen, the stores have won civic architectural awards and have been hailed among the most modern and beautiful in Northern Europe. The flagship store in Malmo, Sweden, recently won 20

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UK - Vanguardia Consulting, the Surrey-based acousticians, sound system designers and noise control specialists, have been called in to design and specify a substantial temporary audio system for Twickenham Stadium's brand-new South Stand for the current series of Rugby internationals.

The system marks the six-month-old company's first live sound project since U2's legendary soundman Joe O'Herlihy joined the Vanguardia team in a consultancy role in September. The South Stand, which takes Twickenham's capacity to 82,000 for matches, allowed the stadium to host a record crowd when the stand was opened for the Investec Challenge match between England and New Zealand on 5 November. However, its roof has yet to be finished, meaning that a temporary solution had to be found to provide a fully certifiable public address and voice announcement (PA/VA) system to cover the South Stand for

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South Africa - The Stones chain of entertainment venues is rapidly becoming one of South Africa's most established and successful hotspots and has been successfully franchised across 19 branches nationwide. Two of the chain's key venues in Cape Town and Pretoria now boast state-of-the-art EAW sound systems throughout, supplied and installed by EAW's South African distributor, Johannesburg-based systems specialists, Surgesound.

Offering customers a huge choice of entertainment, Stones venues incorporate chilled lounge areas, up-beat dancefloors, live music stages and a relaxed bar and pool table environment, all open seven days per week. After hearing the EAW system recently installed by Surgesound in the Manhattan Club in Johannesburg, Adam Collingwood, operations manager for the Stones Group, had no hesitation in commissioning Surgesound to supply and install a customised Lab.g

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The Netherlands - The latest phase in the development of Amsterdam's legendary Paradiso nightclub was recently completed with the addition of Synco compact stage monitoring on long-term rental from Synco Europe through Ampco Pro Rent (APR).

The floor monitors, which are used both on the Paradiso's main stage and its smaller stage upstairs, are rented on a 60-month arrangement - under the same formula that applies to Synco wedges already on long-term hire to six other top Dutch clubs, the Tivoli, Het Paard, the Music Centre Utrecht, O 13, Nighttown and the Milky Way. The monitors were chosen by the club after their regular use there by both Dutch and international bands.

In 2003 the Paradiso - which is housed in a beautiful former church, complete with stained glass windows that overlook the stage - completed a massive refurbishment of its main hall, which included the addition

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Germany - Bosch Security Systems has introduced a new version of its Plena All-in-One combined background music and paging system with DVD audio and video functionality. In addition to background music, the unit can also play DVD videos on a separate display, showing, for example, video commercials or slide shows in small shops, showrooms and boutiques. The new Plena All-in-One also features a digital FM/AM tuner with 15 presets to store preferred radio stations and a 120 W mixer amplifier, all integrated in a compact housing.

The DVD player plays normal audio and video DVD and CDs as well as MP3 encoded DVDs and CDs. In addition, it plays JPEGs on CD-R, DVD-ROM and DVD-R.

The unit has component, composite, and S-Video connections for video output and can play PAL and NTSC content in either progressive or interleaved scan. A TOSlink optical output is also available that suppor

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South Africa - The Stones chain of entertainment venues is rapidly becoming one of South Africa's most established and successful hotspots and has been successfully franchised across 19 branches nationwide. Two of the chain's key venues in Cape Town and Pretoria now boast state-of-the-art EAW sound systems throughout, supplied and installed by EAW's South African distributor, Johannesburg-based systems specialists, Surgesound.

Stones venues incorporate chilled lounge areas, up-beat dance-floors, live music stages and a relaxed bar and pool table environment, all open seven days per week. After hearing the EAW system recently installed by Surgesound in the Manhattan Club in Johannesburg, Adam Collingwood, operations manager for the Stones Group, had no hesitation in commissioning Surgesound to supply and install a customised Lab.gruppen-powered EAW system throughout Stones Tygerv

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Spain - French multimedia retailer FNAC has commissioned Vieta to kit out special event stages in all its new stores, commencing with the most recent openings in Murcia and Bilbao.

The French company FNAC is one of Europe's largest retailers of cultural and consumer electronics products, from books to TV sets to computer software. Vieta collaborated with FNAC on the 10th anniversary celebrations of its megastore on Barcelona's famous Diagonal. FNAC has asked for Vieta's PA speakers to be installed in new stores as they open across the country.

In each FNAC branch, an 'auditorium' is dedicated to different in-store marketing events, such as book signings, personal appearances by musicians or authors, and promotional demonstrations. In Barcelona, the store auditorium hosted a number of bands playing live, using Vieta's Fa-Line speakers. Deployment of a number of Vieta's highly-p

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UK - The development of modern, fully-featured performance spaces in both state-run and privately-funded educational facilities, has become something of a mission for Stuart Graham's company Clarity in Sound, Light & Vision. But even he would be surprised at the progressive approach taken by the Girls' Day School Trust (GDST) to the construction of a new theatre at Blackheath High School in south-east London this year.

The GDST is a group of 28 independent schools operating in England and Wales and Blackheath High School was founded in 1880 as part of the Trust.

The school's business manager Tony Sutherland says the project appeared on the radar soon after the Senior Department relocated to its new premises in 1994, and by 1999 a decision to build a £1.5 million, 345-seat auditorium - principally to be used for performing arts, ballet and school assembly - was rubber sta

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UK - Orbital Sound has recently completed the third and final phase of a year-long reorganisation program. Apart from doubling its staff and setting up rigorous benchmark testing, it has also involved some major structural work to expand the available space. The result is a highly modern facility, to service its clients in the UK and mainland Europe.

Bringing in experience from the retail industry, Samantha Loveless was appointed as warehouse manager in January 2006, previously with Amazon UK. Joining the company with absolutely no knowledge of sound equipment, but with considerable knowledge of warehousing, she has successfully implemented some rigorous changes to propel the company forwards as a leading rental and sales facility.

She commented: "On joining the company it was clear that it had enjoyed considerable growth in only a few years, and inevitably the warehouse

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USA - Indiana-based Apollo Design Technology Inc, a leading manufacturer and distributor of lighting effects products and accessories for the entertainment industry, was granted an occupancy permit for the recently completed 5,000sq.ft building expansion at its headquarters in Fort Wayne, Indiana. The space will be used for additional glass gobo production and warehousing for its growing lines of gel and motion effects products and accessories.

"Everyone at Apollo welcomes the additional space," states company founder and president Joel Nichols. "Not only can we expand and breathe, it will also allow us to pursue additional opportunities within the entertainment industry."

(Lee Baldock)

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