Edwin Shirley Staging (ESS), the international staging and structures specialist, has just completed another project for an event that is synonymous with the quintessential English summer season, the 2002 Henley Festival in Oxfordshire. The Festival, which took place in mid-July, hosted a diverse array of artists over a five-day period at one of England’s best known event sites, which is also home to the famous international regatta. ESS, having already this year been present at Epsom, Ascot and Wimbledon, and with Goodwood still to come, see 2002 as a successful year for the company in terms of servicing these classic calendar fixtures.

ESS delivered a 20m Orbit stage, called the floating stage as it was positioned in the Thames facing back to the riverbank, as well as producing a 14m wide, four-bay clear-panelled Superstructure building christened the ‘Transparium’ by the organizers, which was used as a covered venue for parts of the Festival’s repertoire.

ESS has seen an increase this year in activity for events demanding its smaller-scale and lighter weight solutions, which complement the stadium-sized projects that the company is well known for. Tim Norman, managing director for ESS, said: "We are delighted to have successfully completed the Henley Festival this year. The project has seen imaginative solutions deployed on land and on the river, with the Superstructure being used in a way that we have not seen since we launched it in early 2001. Clearly we would like to see more of these kinds of projects in the future."

(Lee Baldock)


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