11 minute read
UNBOXED
Sowing a seed
Dock Street Events’ Chris Clay and Jenny Hutt played an instrumental role in the delivery of PoliNations, an Unboxed project. Read on, as they discuss logistics, collaboration, and challenges
Did you know that 80 per cent of the plants found in UK city gardens did not originate in the UK? It’s a thought-provoking statistic and one that inspired Angie Bual, artistic director of Trigger, to create PoliNations, an urban space and garden – situated in Birmingham city centre – that has given diversity, migration, and inclusion a platform.
PoliNations – one of ten Unboxed: Creativity in the UK projects – initially grew from Bual’s early experiences of gardening during the first lockdown. Against a backdrop of the Black Lives Matter movement, she learned that more than 80 per cent of plants found in UK gardens originated overseas. This stimulated a powerful idea and debate around our roots, the future, and integration.
COLLABORATION
PoliNations consisted of five towering steel architectural trees. Their metal branches provided welcome shade for thousands of plants, which flanked a central stage that hosted poetry, performance, and debate.
Dock Street Events’ Chris Clay, managing director, and Jenny Hutt, director, helped Bual to imagine the project that welcomed visitors to Birmingham every day from September 2-18; the garden was open from 8am until 10pm.
Clay said: “The event site functioned in several ways. It was a place to visit, relax and reflect, or you could take part in a free programme of events, including yoga, meditation, theatre, and creative workshops, or experience the nightly Sunset Shift (a lighting and sound experience in the forest). Unfortunately, a large part of the live programme, including a collaboration with BBC Contains Strong Language, Mela, live music and DJs was cancelled after the death of HM The Queen, but the site remained open as a space for people to spend time and reflect.”
Clay had previously worked with Trigger on The Hatchling at Plymouth Hoe. Trigger brought Dock Street Events on board at the second phase of the Unboxed selection process to help create the budget and draft schedules and staffing plans. When PoliNations was selected as one of the ten projects to feature in Unboxed, Trigger asked Clay and Hutt to join the team as technical directors, overseeing technical and production and event managers.
Trigger set up a steering group, which Clay and Hutt joined, along with Bual and Natalie Adams, joint CEOs of Trigger, Fenella Dawnay, senior producer, Carl Robertshaw, design director.
“We worked closely with the architects and spatial designers, THISS, to advise on the site design from the perspective of audience flows, capacities, and emergency egress,” Clay continued. “We created and managed the technical and production budget and were closely involved with the procurement and recruitment process for technical and production services, fabricators, and freelance personnel.”
CHALLENGES
The trees’ steel structures were fabricated by SH Structures, the canopy frames were made by XKX Projects, and all the cladding was made by Airformance Design. The build was a tricky process that required intricate logistical planning.
“It was quite a tight site,” explained Clay. “We had to build the five architectural trees and then install hundreds of trees and thousands of plants and flowers. The planning of the build and deliveries was complex, as we had no storage or boneyard. Everything had to be done on a strict timetable. On our busiest days, we had five contractors, and 60 tonne cranes. Mobile elevating work platforms were needed to build the architectural trees. Deliveries could only come in at the northwest side of the site; everything was built from east to west, starting with the steel work. The canopies and cladding followed, and the landscapers worked behind.”
However, a challenging site was not the only obstacle. Clay added: “We did lose our bespoke LED fixture supplier quite late in the day, so had to appoint TLS Lighting very quickly and to a certain extent redesign the fixtures that were made for the tree trunks and for placing in the planting beds. Our original toilet supplier was also unable to deliver, but PTL came to the rescue. Because of the space available and the proximity of the hostile vehicle mitigation, we couldn’t use trailer bays. This made it more difficult to find a replacement.”
Clay continued: “Furthermore, the death of HM The Queen created a few days of uncertainty. Although the guidance was that performances and events could continue, Trigger felt that it was not appropriate to continue with celebratory events like carnival and live music in a public civic space, so, unfortunately, a lot of our events programme was cancelled.”
REWARDING
According to Clay, one of the most interesting things about this project was collaborating with organisations that do not usually work on temporary events. For example, THISS, the architects, Scotscape, the landscapers, and Arbor Nova, the horticultural designer.
“A big part of my job was learning about their work and then coordinating with our more usual event suppliers,” explained Clay. “It probably took more planning and meetings than you might normally expect but it was a rewarding process and right up to the completion of the build we were all learning from each other and adapting our processes.”
During the live phase of the project, Dock Street Events undertook an event management role, overseeing the running of the site and the programme alongside Al Pickard, production manager, and Richard Herrick, production stage manager.
Clay continued: “We put sustainability front and centre from the outset and made it part of the procurement process, looking at materials and processes. The architectural trees have gone into storage for future use, but all the live planting had a future life planned from the start. The trees, plants, and flowers were either given away to the public on the last day or donated to Birmingham City Council, which has distributed them to community groups and projects. We used a lot of sandbags and timber sleepers to construct the site, these have all been donated to the council, with some being collected by local builders’ merchants to be reused.”
It is this collaborative process and partnership approach that Clay has enjoyed the most. Clay concluded: “What stood out about PoliNations? For me, it was the collaboration between all the different contractors. Because of the size of the project and capacities, we had three different contractors make the trees. We couldn’t find one contractor to make all five trees, so we split the contract.
“We also worked with many engineers, architects, and landscapers that had not worked on events before. Every event build requires teamwork, but this project saw exceptional collaboration and coordination, as we oversaw the build of five giant architectural trees in the confined space of Victoria Square. The end result looked pretty spectacular.”
SUPPLIERS LIST
Lighting hire and power distribution –
Liteup Events Bespoke LED fixtures – TLS Lighting Sound – Stage Sound Services and Sound Quiet Time Rigging – James Longrigg Rope Access Staging – Origin Technical Production, Steel Rentals, and Staging Services Marquees – Event in a Tent and UK Marquee Hire Special effects – Confetti Magic Crew – Silverback Security – FGH Security Event medical cover – Promed Fencing – Safe Fence Portable buildings – Mobile Mini and Wernick Events Toilets – PTL and Excloosive Radios – 2CL Branding/Printing – Sunbaba Furniture – BE Event Hire, Get Set Hire, and Number 8 Events Plant hire – Charles Wilson
Raising the roof
The events industry may be challenging but it has not stopped suppliers from innovating. Staging experts discuss trends and new products
Serious Stages rounded off a mad festival summer, supplying Reading and Leeds festivals with two TZ Roof main stages and multiple platforms, hosting a line-up featuring Dave, The 1975, and Artic Monkeys.
Serious Stages’ contribution to the UK’s first full festival season since 2019 saw 140 stages built across 28 festival sites. In fact, the company built 36 stage roofs, plus tented platforms, hosting more than 2,000 artists, along with installing customdesigned front-of-house towers, assisted viewing platforms, speaker delay towers and creative installations.
Serious supplied stages and ancillary kit to BBC Radio 1’s Big Weekend, Liam Gallagher at Knebworth Park, Newmarket Racecourse, Latitude, and two Wireless sites – Birmingham and Finsbury Park.
Abbey Thomas, operations manager at Serious Stages, described the season as “busy”, as she talked about the summer season. The TZ Roof at Reading and Leeds was specially adapted, increasing the roof capacity from 45 tonnes to 60, and at Download, Serious Stages’ engineering expertise enabled Paul Stanley, KISS frontman, to zipwire across the crowd at Donington Park.
NEW PRODUCTS
Festival Republic is Serious Stages’ biggest client. Currently, they are in talks to engineer a new 25m-30m flat roof system that will deliver better shows for artists and a better experience for live audiences.
Thomas explained: “We are talking to clients about what is good for bands and live audiences, including finding more effective ways of installing stages quicker, reducing costs for the client and reducing the amount of trackway and plant needed.”
Thomas said that promoters and organisers are mindful of cost, but the price of steel has shot through the roof. However, this has not stopped staging suppliers from developing new products.
Acorn Event Structures has developed a hydraulic stage with a Mega Roof that requires 50 per cent less trucking, Kultour will be at The Showman’s Show with a new 12m x 10m mobile smartStage, and The Stage Bus, a Birmingham-based events production company that provides solarpowered staging solutions, has released the latest version of its newest stage, The Stage Box.
The Stage Box is built into a converted 20-foot shipping container. It provides a stage platform, which can operate from the back of a truck, or as a detachable unit which can self-dismount using hydraulic legs. The entire stage is solar-powered and can run for up to eight hours on a full charge. Combined with its nature as a self-contained unit which can be locked up and safely left at any event site overnight, this makes it the ideal choice for small to medium-sized events, corporate activations, sports events, weddings and more.
THE STAGE BUS
© Carolina Faruolo
BUSY MARKET
The Stage Box was first launched in 2019, shortly before the pandemic struck. In the two and a half years since then, the team has worked hard to improve the product and refine the design.
Andrew Teverson, managing director of The Stage Bus, said: “Our relaunched Stage Box provides greater longevity, but with the same level of versatility and the unique personality of our original Stage Bus. It has been engineered with power efficiency and ease of use at the front of our minds - the whole thing can be deployed and set up in a very short amount of time and provides powerful AV capabilities to any event site.”
Teverson described the events market as volatile. He explained: “This year, things have gone from standing still to running at a hundred miles per hour, and even at the end of September, the season isn’t showing any signs of coming to an end. At The Stage Bus, we’re getting last-minute calls every week asking for staging for the following weekend – and we’re making it work, despite a shortage of staff and a shortage of equipment.”
Thomas concurred. Serious Stages is taking calls every week from organisers looking to secure kit for 2023. She is mindful of committing too much but hopes to offer more availability soon, as there are a few gaps in the company’s calendar.
Teverson continued: “The question of what next for the events industry remains – as the cost-ofliving crisis continues to bite, will we be back to square one, standing still again as ticket sales dry up?
“We like to think not. At The Stage Bus, we’re confident that we’re growing – and we’re going to keep growing – because we’re doing something that people want. We’ve been building solar-powered mobile stages to a high standard for over 15 years, and we’re adapting to what the industry – and, most importantly, our client base – needs.
“We’re confident that our commitment to solar power is more important now than it’s ever been. Instead of the carbon footprint that comes from multiple vehicles and traditional generators, you’ll use only a fraction with us. And while traditional power sources might be increasing in cost in line with the current economic situation, solar power doesn’t have that burden.
“Fifteen years is a long time in the events industry. We like to think we’ve been going this long because we’re doing something right. With any luck, we’ll still be here in another 15, because we’re going to keep innovating and progressing, no matter the challenges that present themselves.”
Staging experts, including The Stage Bus, have been supporting a range of clients with festival stages and site structures this summer. The festival community and economy are recovering from tough pandemic years and have shown resilience, by creating some incredible experiences for artists and audiences. Staging companies are delighted to have supported clients.
Teverson concluded: “I’m very proud of our teams, operating successfully across a busy, challenging summer, where all events were stretched with shortages of experienced people, resources and price rises.”
SERIOUS IN ACTION
