Established in 1999, BPL is a large charitable, not-for-profit company which oversees and manages a range of health, sport and leisure facilities, and several schools across the Barnsley, Doncaster. Bassetlaw and Pontefract areas. Their large Metrodome complex in Barnsley has its own water park, bowling alley, fitness centre and its Arena, which is used for sporting events, live music concerts, awards ceremonies and private functions such as wedding hire.
The Brief
The events team at BPL approached us in early 2015 about providing them with a large stage structure for their main arena. Due to the varied usage of the arena the stage is required to be easily dismantled and transported out the way (or to an alternate BPL venue) so needed to be modular in design yet able to handle larger loading of a full live band or entertainers and all their equipment.
Variable height was also a requirement to allow maximum flexibility of placement and of audience viewing potential.
The Staging
With all the requirements and variables taken into account, we quoted on our heavier duty Aludeck HD stage deck, which is a 2m x 1m platform with a huge 900 kg per metre square loading capacity with extreme durability and resistance to flex aided by a central spine support. They also have a significant weight to each platform at 44 kg which provides stability and stops unwanted movement on any floor surface. The main stage required was 10m x 6m, so would be 30 decks together. These would be attached to each other using leg clamps and inserts to the deck sides rail feature, giving a solid platform under foot.
Flexibility
Legs would be low level 200mm, medium 400mm, high 600mm, and extra high 1000mm variants to give maximum flexibility. With leg heights over 400mm, the use of safety railings to the sides and rear of the stage are strongly recommended, and often required for insurance purposes too, so ten 2m x 1m rails were specified, along with two height adjustable stair units and angled hand rails for them.
An adjustable sloping ramp unit was also required for wheelchair users and for ease of equipment loading when the higher legs are in use.
Sensible Additions
Also required were three stage deck transport trolleys which take ten decks each and are custom made to take the size and weight yet still be easy to manoeuvre. Ten SCA-01 decks is 440 kg so nearly half a tonne, but the specially designed trolleys can handle this with ease so are really an essential item on a build of this size.
In addition to the staging equipment, BPL also required several 3 metre long pieces of quad truss for use as a lighting rig across the stage and for the roof of the arena. Due to the size, weight and heights involved they also specified a pair of Fenix wide leg lifting towers which make raising and supporting a lighting loaded truss section a simple operation and gives it a good solid ground footing.
Systems at Work
Put into immediate use for an awards presentation evening, the supplied equipment provided the BPL events team with a fabulous and well sized stage area with a commanding presence in the large arena. Use of the 600mm legs allowed the stage to be viewable for the entire audience whilst seated at their tables, which also gave the award presentations and live music interludes an equally good view of their audience.
Use of the tower lifts made the setup and positioning of the roof lighting truss a quick and safe operation, with one of the supplied sections being employed as a crosslighting bar on some stage mounted stands.
The adjustable stair units were attached one each side of the stage, and the sides and back of the stage area were sectioned off using the supplied safety rails providing a well defined and secure platform.
BPL are thrilled with their new staging and truss, and were especially pleased with the time saving that having professional equipment brings to the setup time of big events. With the minimal time between ordering and delivery also being greatly appreciated, the heavy duty SCA01 stage decks performed flawlessly as expected and will become a mainstay of the Arenas many functions, with the additional safety and transport equipment helping things to run smoothly and without incident.
40 x SCA01 Heavy Duty 2m x 1m Anti Slip Stage Decks
10 x Safety rails 2m x 1m
1 x Access Ramp (for stage loading and wheelchair use)
3 x Stage Deck Transport Trolleys
2 x Adjustable 4 step Stair Units
4 x Quad / Square Truss Straight 3m sections
2 x Fenix WU11 Heavy Duty Truss Lifting Towers
160 x 200mm Aluminium Legs
160 x 400mm Aluminium Legs
160 x 600mm Aluminium Legs
160 x 1000mm Aluminium Legs
