UK - This summer has seen the busiest festival season yet for Chris Beale Associates (CBA), whose packages of wireless, site-wide communications have been adopted by many outdoor events including Glastonbury, Download Festival, the V Festivals, Reading and Leeds, Latitude, T in the Park and Radiohead's Glasgow outdoor show, while corporate events have included shows for the Royal Horticultural Society.

The objective of CBA Wireless Events, the networking operations part of CBA, founded by Chris Beale in 2005, is to transform communications between the myriad companies and people scattered across event sites spanning hundreds of acres - Glastonbury's Worthy Farm being a prime example.

Today, Beale says that wireless is in demand across major event sites to an unprecedented extent. "It was our second year at Glastonbury in an independent role, contracted to supply IT, netwo

Show News - Loudspeaker manufacturer Tannoy makes a welcome return to the PLASA show after being absent for a couple of years. The company will be using the Earls' Court event as the platform for a first UK demonstration of its newest pro-audio product lines, VQ and QFlex, as well as exhibiting some of the existing V-Series loudspeaker range.

Executive News - Bandit Lites has announced that Peter M. Heffernan, a 30-year veteran, has been named president of the firm. Effective immediately, Heffernan will take the reigns and serve as both president and C.O.O., a role he has held for the last 15 years. This move comes at a time of growth for Bandit and is the logical step in taking the firm to the next level, says the company. Heffernan began his full time relationship with Bandit Lites in 1978 and he has risen through the ranks. He served as lighting director and/ or production manager f

UK - A famous Grade II-listed building in Leamington Spa has reopened as a vibrant multi-purpose venue, featuring Martin Audio line array reinforcement, following a £3.2m investment.

Dating back to 1926, when it served as the ballroom for the old Bath Hotel, the building still contains the original stained glass windows and the silver and gold leaf detail has all been reinstated.

With Leamington Sight & Sound (LSS) providing all the technical infrastructure (and acting as main A/V contractors), The Assembly has undergone a major transformation, with celebrity interior designer Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen helping to turn the former Gala Bingo site into a 1,000 capacity entertainments venue.

Given a brief to provide an infrastructure that would make The Assembly Warwickshire's premier music venue, LSS managing director Ian Potter and his installation manager Colin Bannister

USA - An Allen & Heath iLive digital console system, iDR-8 digital zone mixer and six remote control PL Series wall plates have been installed at the Children's Theatre of Annapolis in Maryland as part of a full audio system recently completed by installer, Audio Plus.

Anew construction, the Children's Theatre hosts local and regional theatre productions as well as other events. The iLive system, comprising an iDR10 Mix Rack and iLive-80 Control Surface, manages FOH as well as monitor mixing duties, and the iDR-8 manages audio distribution for the main loudspeaker system, monitors, and zone speaker management. There are a variety of Allen & Heath PL wall plates installed at key locations throughout the theatre, providing remote control access of the system.

"The iLive/iDR integration is the perfect solution for theatre as it is infinitely flexible and has a ton of feature

The Netherlands / UK - Under the leadership of Mecanoo Architects from Delft, the Netherlands, a Dutch design team has won the international competition for the prestigious new Birmingham Library project, which includes a theatre.

The building is slated to be the "best public library in the world" and will have an area of about 31,000sq.m. The new library and theatre will be connected to the existing Birmingham Repertory Theatre, with which it will begin an extensive collaboration, making the site an international centre for knowledge, education and culture.

theateradvies bv is one of the team members and will work on the new theatre as well as the renovation of the existing Birmingham Repertory Theatre. The project is scheduled to be completed in 2013.

(Lee Baldock)

UK - PLASA Media has revealed this year's short-listed nominees for the prestigious Gottelier Award, and opened up the online voting form at the PLASA Show website.

The voting is open to industry professionals worldwide, and will remain open until 12.00 midday (UK time) on Friday 29 August 2008. The winner will be announced at the PLASA Show on Monday 8 September.

Named in honour of the late designer, developer and commentator Tony Gottelier, this award aims to recognise the tireless product developers who have made a significant contribution to the development of the equipment and tools that enable our entertainment technology practitioners to continually push the boundaries of event production, presentation and installation.

Last year's inaugural Award was won by Tony Andrews of Funktion One for his decades of dedi

UK - The promise of new technologies and applications, plus a dramatically expanded educational programme, has helped drive the PLASA Show to its highest-ever pre-registration figures, with a record total of over 10,000 industry professionals already registered to attend.

With the show a year on since its redesign, the one-floor, two-hall layout has been refined and expanded to allow for new and returning exhibitors, say organisers PLASA Events Ltd.

And with new products topping the 'wish list' of the majority of visitors, there's no doubt that PLASA08 will definitely deliver, according to show director Nicola Rowland. "There's a real buzz building around the wide range of technologies and expertise on offer at the show and how these can be applied across the industry. It's a unique chance to see how projects are being delivered, how lighting, sound and AV systems are bei

UK - Vaughan Sound Installations specified, supplied and installed a complete integrated digital signage system throughout Swansea's new LC2 leisure centre, together with sound systems for the Main Hall, Gym and Wave Pool areas, plus AV/presentation systems for three function rooms.

Previously known as Swansea Leisure Centre, the facility has recently re-opened after a £32 million refit as a state-of-the-art water park and health and fitness centre.

Llanelli-based VSI supplied 32 Mitsubishi LCD commercial displays of various sizes, which are installed around the building. In the reception area, a 10m semi-circular Trilite truss is flown in the ceiling, and fitted with five screens showing general information and opening times.

For the 'Peak' multi-level Gym, VSI supplied a full sound system consisting of two arrays of flown TOA F2000 speakers, carefully positioned to g

UAE - Gearhouse Staging Connections has secured an exclusive three-year appointment as the event services partner of the new 1539-room ocean-themed Atlantis, Palm Jumeirah - the flagship resort of the man-made palm-shaped island development The Palm Jumeirah in Dubai.

A culmination of almost two years of planning with Atlantis, Palm Jumeirah management, the contract marks the group's first foray into the high-growth venue services market in the United Arab Emirates.

Gearhouse Staging Connections will assemble an onsite team of 15 "world-class technical and client services personnel" from its Dubai and Australian operations to deliver conferences, concerts, launches and events of any scale at the prestigious resort. The company will also install a range of multi-million-dollar audio-visual technology into the resort's facilities.

Staging Connections Group CEO Michae

UK - Mayfair's Zeta Bar at the Park Lane Hilton - already outfitted with JBL loudspeakers by the Sound Division Group (SDG) four years ago - has now transformed into Whisky Mist at Zeta. This has given the same installation company the opportunity to add a further generation of Harman Professional sound reinforcement products to the existing infrastructure, from the catalogue of UK distributors Sound Technology

The new bar and club is a joint collaboration between the Hilton, two of London's most successful nightlife pioneers, Nick House and Piers Adam, Jacobi Anstruther-Gough-Calthorpe and Marc Burton.

Open from 5pm every evening, with last entry at 2am, SDG's managing director David Graham knew instinctively how to transfigure the sound system in this sophisticated venue to optimum effect, having previously collaborated at the chic Mahiki for House and Adam.

Working

Poland - Audica Professional loudspeakers and amplifier/controllers have been installed in one of the Warsaw University of Technology's most historic and prestigious rooms, primarily used for conferences and recognized as a flagship conference facility in Warsaw. The University of Technology is the oldest technology university in Poland, founded by the visionary, Stanislaw Staszic.

The system was designed and installed by Tommex, Audica Professional's exclusive distributor for Poland. In addition to requiring the highest possible sound quality, the loudspeakers had to merge technology with the elaborate historic architecture of the room and Tommex proposed Audica MICROline and MICROpoint for their slim unobtrusive shape and neutral colour.

The system in the eight metre high Auditorium uses a distributed system, with ten MICROlines in pairs forming the basis. MICROlines' abilit

Sweden - The Hovet Arena is situated in Stockholm's famous Globe complex - the largest spherical building in the world. Turned into a multipurpose arena several years ago the 8,000-capacity Hovet today is used for a wide range of concert and corporate events -- but its predominant use is ice hockey.

Recently the venue underwent a complete refurbishment, and DM Audio, which has a long association with the entire Globe complex (including the Annex and Hovet) was awarded the contract to upgrade the audio infrastructure.

DM Audio's Lars Wern has been using QSC Audio's RAVE DSP signal transport platform almost since its inception - most notably at the Y2000 Eurovision Song Contest at the Globe, and the company subsequently carried out a major installation within the 85m high venue.

At the Hovet Icehockey Arena, DM Audio's Jan Petersson designed the sound system in stereo -

The PLASA Show got off to a flying start in London on Sunday this week, with a host of high-profile product launches from many of the entertainment technolog business's leading manufacturers. The draw of new technologies and a string of other highlights has made this a visibly successful event as we enter day three.

Tour News - With a canon of classic songs, unbowed enthusiasm and his musical faculties still sharp, Stevie Wonder has opened his first European tour for a decade. The US star took fans at Birmingham's National Indoor Arena on a two-hour journey through almost 50 years of songs that helped shape soul and pop. A sold-out crowd of 13,500 saw him play with a 10-strong band and four backing singers, including his daughter Aisha. Wonder, 58, now visits Manchester and London before other European cities.Festival News - Amy Winehouse has played her last scheduled show of the year

UK - Hawthorn has announced the appointment of Richard Chilvers and Derek Wilson to its expanding sales and installations team.

Richard Chilvers re-joins Hawthorns after a seven- year gap, during which time he fine tuned his skills as a venue technician and later in a sales role.

Derek Wilson, former MD of Elevation Rigging, has also joined Hawthorn's sales and installations team after many years as a Hawthorn customer.

"Due to the continued expansion of our sales and installation department we needed to recruit additional staff to cope with the increased workload. Recruitment can be a gamble and so we are delighted to be able to welcome old friends to the team" commented Hawthorn's MD, Martin Hawthorn.

(Jim Evans)

UK - White Light's installation team has provided the Richard Challoner School in New Malden with a comprehensive lighting installation for its newly-created drama studio.

The school has created its new facility by converting a former gymnasium to provide a flexible and intimate studio that can be used either as a studio space or, at the push of a button to bring out the electrically-powered retractable seating, as a studio theatre.

White Light's Roger Hennigan liaised with the school's head of drama, Neil Zoladkiewicz to work out the most efficient use of the school's budget to provide the most flexible and useful set of facilities.

"White Light suggested and advised on options, showing a keen understanding of the educational requirements of the new studio as well as the need to create an exciting new performance space," Zoladkiewicz notes. "As a result the e

UK - The RCCG Victory House in Bermondsey, London, is one of the parishes of The Redeemed Christian Church of God (otherwise known as RCCG), a worldwide church organisation established in 1952. For installation company Creative Digital Solutions, the large auditorium with a relatively low ceiling offered an exciting challenge to ensure all areas of the congregation had clear intelligible sound and images to support the vibrant worship.

Digital control hardware was used throughout much of this installation to allow full control of each individual piece of equipment, not only to maximise sound and visual performance, but also to make the system as user-friendly as possible.

The audio system comprises of ceiling-mounted Electro-Voice Rx speakers, including the Rx212H which is designed for horizontal mounting with a rotatable 3" central compression driver. There are three row

Qatar - La Cigale Hotel in Doha satisfies all the criteria of a modern five-star hotel. Whilst in La Cigale's rooms and suites the international clientele is pampered with luxuries of every description, the Madison piano bar offers entertainment all year round.

To satisfy the many and varied demands placed on the bar's sound reinforcement system, EV's partner in the Lebanon, Hi Fi Services, designed a solution comprising components including Electro-Voice ZX5, ZX1, RX115/75 and SbA760 systems. CP3000S amplifiers, also from Electro-Voice, and a selection of EV microphones round off the installation in the 300-seater piano bar.

"The stipulation was that the sound should match the state-of-the-art ambience of the hotel. With this system, it does just that," says Hi Fi System MD Oussama Mansour.

(Jim Evans)

UK - Situated in London's O2 Arena, Matter - the latest club spin off from the successful Fabric brand - has opened its South-East-London-facing doors on a vast 3000-capacity space.

Central to the installed technology is a 16-channel TiMax audio delay matrix, which controls every channel of the main Room One sound system, including the subwoofers and the Bodysonic vibrating floor. Matter's sound and lighting design consultant, Dave Parry, says: "Before we even knew how the final system would work together, TiMax was always going to be integrated into it whatever we did."

Matter is designed around the Kandinsky principle: vibration, lighting and music all coming together as a whole to provoke a trance-like state. Parry explains: "The whole lot - lighting, video and sound - moves as an integrated whole so as a very basic example, say the club is lit blue, I can ta

Sweden - The Europaporten Kongresscenter in the southern Swedish city of Malmö has chosen a Geo S12 line array system to reflect its unusual multipurpose identity; not only is this 820-seater auditorium the home of the Malmö Pentecostal Church, but it also actively markets its facilities as a congress centre and meeting hall.

Malmö's Europaporten is home to one of Sweden's largest Pentacostal congregations, but its spacious modern auditorium is also a popular venue for conferences, live music performances and corporate meetings. Its search for a new and versatile sound reinforcement system led to the consideration of several blue-chip brands, and the contract was awarded to Nexo after a series of on-site demonstrations.

"We prepared very well, studying the room's characteristics carefully and staging a very successful demo which showed off the Geo S12's strengths of au

Germany - The Halle Münsterland is the largest events centre in the region of Westphalia. 80 years after the first events were staged there, the Congress Hall has made a significant investment in a new sound reinforcement system for its main auditorium, a cutting-edge design driven by an EtherSound audio network via a digital matrix, allowing the settings of different sound reinforcement situations to be retrieved at the push of a button.

Jens Schmidt from installation specialists Trendco and Norbert Sangermann, the acoustics expert from CAMCO responsible for fixed installations, joined forces to design a system tailored precisely to the Congress hall.

For Schmidt and Sangermann, the concept design had to accommodate possible future requirements while offering the clearest possible signal transmission. Decision-makers at the Halle Münsterland focussed strongly on the reliabi

UK - Absolute Lighting and Events has recently created the look of Liverpool's newest statement club, Cube, using LED lighting effects from Tryka and club lighting from Martin Professional.

Built across four glass-fronted floors, Cube provides a juxtaposition to the raft of small bars in the centre of Liverpool. The lighting design, by Neil Riley, director of Absolute, has worked this position as far as possible. By colour-washing each floor-to-ceiling window as a separate zone using the Tryka K2 LED RGB Strip Module, the message stands tall and is immediate: Cube is far from square.

The club area starts on the first floor, above the ground floor restaurant and pre-bar area lit with original lighting fixtures sourced from Italy and Spain. The first floor seating areas are illuminated using Tryka RGB Module 3 lighting units - in total 250 were used across the first and second f

UK - The Brighton Centre conference venue, has revitalised its long-serving Electro-Voice PA system with the replacement of all the existing amplifiers with EV's latest DSP-controlled P1200 RL Precision Series amplifiers, running IRIS-Net remote control and system supervision software.

Known to many in the UK as the venue for high-profile conferencing, as used by the Conservative Party and the Trades Union Congress, the Main Hall of the Brighton Centre routinely accommodates prestige exhibitions, banquets and leisure events. With its flexible seating, it can accommodate 4,500 seated delegates.

The Main Hall's house PA was installed in the 1980s, a centrally-flown cluster of Electro-Voice loudspeakers which has worked for over 20 years. Brighton-based specialists MBI Sound & Light has maintained the Centre's facilities since that time. "With the important TUC conference lo

UK - eMerging, the UK distributors for Merging Technology's products, have completed a lengthy high-definition upgrade project at Lime Pictures, Liverpool. Lime, who produce Channel 4's successful soap Hollyoaks virtually continuously 52 weeks a year, began a thorough overhaul of their video and audio production and editing facilties in 2007 to enable the show to be produced, edited and broadcast in high definition.

The completed upgrade has involved eMerging in the design, construction and installation of six new audio dubbing suites at Lime, each with Merging Pyramix audio Post-production DAWs, VCube HD high-definition video playback systems, and Merging Ramses control surfaces.

Alongside the equipment from eMerging, Lime also purchased new HD Sony HDC-1500 cameras, built a new Central Apparatus Room (CAR) with a 102-Terabyte Data Direct video production SAN, and adde

Ireland - Specialist installation company Northern Light has fitted sound, lighting and communication systems at the new opera house in Wexford, south-east Ireland.

Built on the slightly extended footprint of its predecessor, the initial scheme for the new Wexford Opera House was developed by architects and building service engineers from the Office of Public Works (OPW), acoustic consultant Arup Acoustics and theatre consultant Carr & Angier. In 2005, the design team was completed through competitive tendering, with the appointment of Arup Consulting Engineers, Nolan Ryan QS and Keith Williams Architects.

Colin Cuthbert, Northern Light's managing director, said: "I was delighted that Northern Light was selected for the technical installation in this €33m (£25.6m) new build venue. Professionally, the project demonstrates the team's expertise and abilities extremely

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