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Power Logistics provided all of the power for the annual event broadcast live on Channel 4.
Weston-Super-Mare’s beach once again played host to T4 on the Beach on Sunday 20th July, 2008. This year the event attracted it’s largest live audience of 45,000 people and a total of 30 great artists, such as Kelly Roland, McFly, The Hoosiers, Scouting for Girls, Basehunter, Sam Sparro, Neo, Duffy and the Ting Tings.
This year was the event’s sixth birthday and it was bigger and better than ever before. Done and Dusted managed the event for Channel 4, bringing in Production Manager Tony Wheeler of Nine Yards to look after all aspects of the live production. Tony commented:
“This year’s event grew most significantly in the areas of sponsors areas and new TV studios backstage to accommodate the multiple broadcast formats coming out of the event. We like to keep our team consistent and once again entrusted Power Logistics to ensure there was uninterrupted power, particularly important for an event driven by its live television show. As ever they have been exemplary and taken all of the late changes an event of this nature throws up in their stride.”
Tony Harpur led the Power Logistics team providing all the power for the site that went from the main arena on the beach across the promenade, the road and onto the adjacent grassed area. Two 320 twin pack generators fed the stage lighting and a 450kVA twin pack generator fed the screens, PA, TV studios and broadcast trucks. Additional generators powered the temporary production areas, artists’ dressing rooms, hospitality areas, press tent, First Aid points, VIP bar and sponsors’ areas, Tony said:
“Under the scrutiny of TV cameras this event looks great, but there are always last minute additions to the site as TV producers come up with ideas that require electricity, so we have a contingency surplus to ensure we can match their requests. This is always a very busy site, built in public areas so great attention has to be taken with health & safety at all times; Tony (Wheeler) and the team all work to the highest standards, which makes this event a real pleasure to work on.”
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The launch of Cunard’s new ocean liner, Queen Victoria, in Southampton this week saw the top specialists in the world of events, including temporary power experts Power Logistics, pull off one of the year’s major event spectacles.
The Queen Victoria, which will replace the QE2 when it is decommissioned in 2009, was officially named by the Duchess of Cornwall and Prince Charles, in a dramatic ceremony, when the ship was revealed to the VIP audience through a wide transparent window behind the stage.
Power Logistics’ role extended above and beyond the supply of temporary power, as the company was required to ensure that atmospheric conditions in the temporary launch suite were ideal. This meant keeping temperature conditions pleasantly warm for the orchestra in their pit underneath the stage as well as for the audience of roughly 2,300 in the main auditoria.
At the same time, a key challenge was to prevent the giant window at the rear of the stage from misting over as it was buffeted by the cold sea winds.
The company had to ensure that the window remained bathed in warm air internally through a specially designed distribution outlet for the duration of the rehearsals and ceremony, allowing the dignitaries a breathtaking view of the new liner.
“Temperature control was very important on this show,” says Dave Oxley, Power Logistics’ chief engineer on site. “We used 1,500 kilowatts of heating to achieve the desired effect.”
Working alongside the show’s production director, Robbie Williams, the company provided a further 4,000kVA of temporary power requirements including load sharing generators running the technical production (lighting, sound, video) and site power, as well as all of the cabling and distribution equipment.
While the Queen Victoria presented an extraordinary view to guests, Power Logistics’ work demonstrated there was clearly more to this launch than met the eye.
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With the emphasis that London’s Mayor Ken Livingstone has put on the environment, it was no surprise when the Greater London Authority insisted its New Year’s Eve 2008 celebrations should run on bio fuel. Event power specialists Power Logistics were on hand to help Producers Jack Morton Worldwide lay on a remarkable lighting and fireworks spectacle for 700,000 people in Central London. As one of the world’s leading experiential agencies, Jack Morton Worldwide knew it needed a reliable power supplier to ensure the event went off with all the right sort of bangs. Consequently it asked Power Logistics to provide the temporary electrical supplies, along with nearly 5,000 litres of locally sourced 100% bio diesel manufactured to EN14214 standard.
Among their range of services, Power Logistics has developed an environment-friendly service which offers all the reliability expected of a system run on conventional fuel. Power Logistics also provided power to the technical services on the Embankment (powering public address systems, plus offices for the production and emergency liaison teams) as well as power to the projection on the Shell building and lighting behind the London Eye. In addition, the company installed cabling and distribution to the lighting equipment for the London Eye and a number of sets on Trafalgar Square for video screen relays. In all, Power Logistics provided just over 1.4 mW of power generation from nine generator sets.
“This was a complex project that needed 100% reliability,” says ….Jim Donald, Executive Producer, Jack Morton. “We knew from past experience that Power Logistics could be depended on to ensure the event ran smoothly with this new approach.”
“We are known for having the expertise and the capability to supply the right equipment, so the client had confidence in our ability to work with the bio fuel,” says Power Logistics’ Project Manager, Rich Rayner. “We believe that this is a service more and more event organisers will be demanding in the future.”
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As H.R.H. The Queen expressed the hope that the newly developed St Pancras would be as much a destination as a station, the temporary power specialists, Power Logistics, were working hard in the background to ensure the spectacular opening event went without a hitch.
The launch event for the new rail link to Europe, High Speed 1, brought together the leading event suppliers in their field to deliver the most high profile launch ceremony this country has seen for several years. Produced by Flux Events for London & Continental Railways (LCR) under the technical direction of John Farquhar-Smith, event executive producer Jon Teeman and show creative director Mark Fisher, the station was opened by H.R.H. The Queen on 6th November.
Power Logistics provided power to all the technical services, including back up for sensitive areas such as the station frontage, catering, dressing rooms, lighting, sound, automation and stage, where appearances by David Coulthard, Kristin Scott Thomas and performances by Katherine Jenkins, Lemar and the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra were among the entertainment for the event.
Power Logistics’ Project Manager Richard Rayner oversaw the company’s involvement in the operation, providing four 455kVA twinpack generators, two 250kVA twinpack generators, one 200kVA generator and two 300kVA twinpack generators – nine sets in all, installed by Crew Chief Phil Screeton, Russell Seymour and team.
Richard explained:
“Although the power requirements were pre-agreed with the client, we were constantly balancing the production needs with what could practically be brought onto the site, given the sensitivity of the project, the heritage and timescales involved. This meant that communication on site was the key to the event’s success.”
Photograph: © Louise Stickland, courtesy of Flux Events.
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Britain hosted one of one of the world’s most unique and friendly international events this summer when the 21st World Scout Jamboree at Hylands Park in Chelmsford brought together 42,000 participants from over 250 countries to celebrate 100 years of the scouting movement.
This was the fruition of years of preparation by the Scout Association (UK) which started to explore the feasibility of staging the event as long ago as 1995. According to Neil Mayston, responsible for site operations for the Scout Association, preparations included a “dry run” at the EuroJam 2005.
Electrical generation and distribution was a key part of the infrastructure for the temporary site. The Scout Association has its own electrical team led by Simon Reavell, but an enormous amount of support was needed from Power Logistics, whose team for this event was headed up by Dave Oxley. “We used between 110 -120 generators which is a significant amount of plant,” says Neil, who had worked with Power Logistics previously at EuroJam. The company won the work with the Scouts Association thanks to its strong dedication to customer service, its competitive pricing and its logistical advantage as supplier to the V Festival which is held on the same site towards the end of August.
“The joined-up thinking was easy with Power Logistics,” says Neil. “Simon Reavell had designed the system and they were able to follow our designs quickly and efficiently. It wasn’t an easy job for them – they worked long hours but they never complained. Having their guys along was like an extension of my own team. I hate using the expression but they certainly earned Brownie points for their attitude to schedules, delivery and maintenance.”
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“I cant thank Power Logistics enough for all the hard work in both the pre-event planning, design as well as the dedication of the teams working through the days and nights running up to the 31st. Well done guys, it was a great event and its huge pleasure to be working with the best in the world!”
Jim Donald, the events Executive Producer from Jack Morton
Posted in Testimonials |“Working in a venue that had never been used for this kind of event before, we brought in Power Logistics with confidence that they have the experience and expertise to work in a ‘virgin venue’, secure in the knowledge we would have stable, uninterrupted power. Once again they performed faultlessly.”
Tony Wheeler, Nine Yards
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Entertaining visitors at this year’s V Festival at Chelmsford was a tall order for some performers, pictured here backstage with the Power Logistics team who kept the power flowing throughout the weekend.
Power Logistics supplied all of the power and site lighting to the sold out event, with the team of 15 installing 25km of cabling and distro to carry the power from 103 generators around the Essex site. In the region of 70,000 litres of fuel was used to power everything from cash point machines up to the main stage’s huge pa, lighting and screens.
More than 6km of festoon lighting lit temporary roadways and footpaths for the 70,000 music fans and the production team that transformed Hylands Park into a festival town for the weekend of music. Power Logistics used shatterproof light bulbs on the festoon, minimising the environmental impact to the park.
Managing Director, Pete Wills, said, “This year’s festival has grown and the layout has been changed from previous years: Once again, Maztech created a well-managed festival behind the scenes and the fans certainly seemed to have enjoyed the smooth-running weekend.”
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Power Logistics has proved it can adapt to suit the sustainability needs of all its customers.
The organisers of Live Earth, were committed to minimising the environmental impact of the event. Consequently, Live Nation’s production team demanded the use of 100% bio-fuels in all generators, powering a televisual spectacular broadcast to an estimated two billion people, while keeping the carbon footprint as low as possible.
Sustainability is a policy that Power Logistics has been researching for some time and the company’s own trucks run on a bio-diesel mix to minimise environmental impact. For Live Earth they sourced 13,000 litres of recycled catering oil from North London commercial outlets, which was chemically treated by a specialist company in Wales. Come the day, managing director Pete Wills and the team were able to fine tune the generators to run effectively on the bio-diesel.
The needs of the world’s media at the concert placed a particular pressure on the generating capacity of the show, with extensive television infrastructure, outside broadcasting facilities and feeds to several hundred different stations requiring unbroken, consistent power throughout the marathon 10 hour show.
The power needs of the stage production were no less demanding, with headliners like Madonna, Keane (pictured), The Red Hot Chili Peppers, Genesis and Metallica utilising a full panoply of the latest sound, video and lighting technology (although low energy bulbs were used where possible).
“Live Earth has demonstrated that any event organiser wishing to switch to sustainable fuel for their concert or festival can do so in confidence,” said Power Logistics managing director, Pete Wills. “We have geared our services so that we can supply a mix of fuels or pure bio-diesel as requested. There are still questions being asked about the new bio-fuels, so we let our clients decide on how they feel and what they want to use. For the shows prior to Live Earth we were asked to run our generators on diesel, and we liaised with the generator engineers to ensure that when the site passed into the control of the Live Earth production team we were ready to switch to bio-diesel. The cost has been on a par if we’d used diesel for the fuel, although the filters on the generators will now need changing as this bio fuel is a little heavier. ”
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Power Logistics has supplied temporary power to the first four live concerts at the new Wembley Stadium.
The company’s success at Live Earth followed three other major shows at the new national stadium, starting with George Michael (the company supported the touring electricians on this show), followed by Muse and Concert for Diana; where Power Logistics managed all of the power requirements for the shows and formed the basis of the new working practices required at the new venue, as Pete Wills described.
“The new stadium is a very impressive venue, and as expected there has been quite a learning curve for the venue staff and incoming production teams to make this series of concerts run this well. We’ve been the guinea pigs ironing out the relatively minor teething problems that all major new projects of this scale encounter, so coming back for future concerts should be easier for everyone.” Immediately after Live Earth, Power Logistics also supplied the power for the Metallica show the following night.
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