London-based Staging specialist Maltbury has supplied Ambideck staging systems to the Combined Services Entertainment (CSE), the organisation which provides entertainment for British Soldiers serving around the world. The CSE stages more than 125 live shows in foreign locations every year. Four tours were recently undertaken to Bosnia and Kosovo at the tail-end of 2000, and it was for these shows that the Ambideck was specified. CSE technical coordinator Dave South had previously used Maltbury’s Steeldeck system, but opted this time for Ambideck, saying: "The reason we bought Ambideck this time was the superior design. Ambideck is simply stronger and better, and meets our needs perfectly."

Pan-european AV equipment rental company Heuvelman Ltd, has opened its first UK branch, situated in London. The company is a specialist in the supply of AV equipment to a range of clients including hotels, broadcasters, corporate clients, conference and event venues and can supply anything from a single projector to a full state-of-the-art installation. Voting systems, teleconferencing and IT rental are also supplied by the company.

The Institute of Sound and Communications Engineers has announced a programme of technical seminars for 2001. These include a tutorial on AFILS on 1 May, a two-day course on 'Basic Acoustic for Sound System Professionals' on 15 and 22 May and a one-day practical seminar on 'Measuring Loudspeakers' on 5 June. These courses are open to all, and full details with relevant fees are available from Cathy Mackenzie.

B&H Production Services has completed a sound system upgrade in the 150-year old St Saviours Parish Church in Sidcup, Kent - using Turbosound loudspeakers for the main PA. Four TCS-59 cabinets - two flown at the front of the knave and two flown at the mid-point - to provide the time-aligned delay. The installation replaces an old column system. B&H won the tender for the contract with a shoot-out against other loudspeaker manufacturers, and won due to the quality of the Turbosound boxes, which managed to contain the church’s internal reverberation problems to the greatest degree. John Ellis, who designed the system on behalf of B&H, commented: "The requirements were for a sound reinforcement system that would handle both speech and music. The church has held several large events since the installation was completed, and they’re over the moon with the results."

Laser Magic has opened an office in Bahrain, offering a full rental package which includes a wide range of laser systems, water screens, xenon projection and other special effects. The company has also invested in lighting from Martin Professional (MAC 500), Coemar (1200W washlights) as well as a range of smaller 250W and 300W intelligent fixtures from Coef. The company has also purchased new Sanyo XF10 projectors, the latest NEC plasma screens and high-quality active sound systems, making Laser Magic one of the best-stocked hire companies in the area. As one of the first projects undertaken from the new office, Laser Magic supplied equipment for the Amir's special concert in Bahrain on the 22 March.

PLASA Media has just learnt that Decoupe, the Tottenham-based distributor of theatrical products, has gone into voluntary liquidation. The company, founded in 1993 by Tom Mannings, specialised in supplying high performance lighting equipment to the entertainment industry, and was until recently the distributor for the range of followspots, luminaires and digital products from Robert Juliat. The company was also the UK agent for the MDG updated range of fog generators and the Sajem Copernik dichroic Par cans. The UK distribution of Robert Juliat product has now been taken over by White Light.

The liquidators are The Thompson Partnership, based in Halsall.

More details in the April issue of L&SI.

PLASA Media has learned that Home nightclub in Leicester Square, London, has been closed after an undercover police investigation showed there was open and serious Class A drug dealing and usage at the venue. Westminster Council made the decision to revoke the club’s entertainment licence with immediate effect, at an emergency meeting following police advice. Chief Inspector Chris Bradford, of the Metropolitan Police Clubs and Vice Unit, said: "We felt it was necessary to take the unusual course of action in a bid to try and eradicate this serious and open problem from the premises.

"A full investigation has been carried out by my officers and we have explored many other courses of action to avoid having to make this application. Our actions in this case should act as a warning to other premises where there is a serious drug problem that we are prepared to take every step in our power to solve the problem."

It is believed to be the first time that a club of this size has had its licence revoked, police said.

Italian loudspeaker manufacturer B&C has appointed London-based Proel as its official UK distributor. B&C speakers can be found inside many ‘big name’ manufacturers’ enclosures, but this is the first time the company will have had an active distributor and stockist in the UK. The appointment of Proel coincides with two new high-power woofers being added to B&C’s main speaker series, plus the launch of a completely new range of lightweight drivers. The two newcomers are the 18 TBX 46 and 15 TBX 40. The 18" driver will handle 1,000W AES and features a ventilated magnet assembly for higher power handling and lower power compression. The 15" TBX 40 will also handle 1000W AES and shares a similar design approach. The new B&C range is the company’s HPL (High Power Lightweight) series, which features neodymium magnets and high pressure aluminium chassis with solid heat sinks, allowing higher power handling and lower power compression.

The Gilbert Collection is an outstanding collection of decorative art bequeathed to the British nation by Sir Arthur Gilbert and currently on display in the new Museum of Decorative Art in central London’s Somerset House. A major grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund has financed the museum as part of the restoration of Somerset House, an 18th century architectural masterpiece by Sir William Chambers. Asked by the director of the Gilbert Collection to resolve the design problems faced with the lighting in the main galleries Rupert Little, technical director of LVS took on the job and specified the new Aureol Beam Shaper from Selecon. Poor positioning of tracks in the original installation were overcome by the flexibility and adaptability of the Aureols, allowing often difficult ‘shots’ to be achieved. From a design point of view, the performance of the fixtures, coupled with a clean design and minimal light spill made the fitting an ideal choice.

If you’re planning to be in Shanghai next week for PLASA 2001 at the Intex Exhibition Centre, take some time out from the show to attend the DTI-funded seminar by DHA Lighting on the use of theatrical lighting effects in architectural environments on Wednesday 4th April. As a DTI-sponsored activity, the seminar will deal with only UK-manufactured products, and PLASA stipulates that it is a seminar rather than a product briefing. DHA Lighting will be represented by Julie Harper, sales manager for Asia, who will address a wide audience through a translator. She will be using DHA products and a number of recent Asian projects - the installation of a silver DHA Gecko Image Projector in a high-tech show apartment and number of white DHA animation effects in a Hong Kong shopping mall - to illustrate how theatrical lighting effects can be translated seamlessly into an architectural context.

Avolites has recently supplied the UK‘s two major film, video and television lighting rental houses - AFM Lighting and Lee Lighting – with ART dimming systems, which will run at a guaranteed 100 % duty cycle with very low levels of filament and choke noise. When AFM Lighting approached Avolites about their need to selectively disable the RCB functions for individual dimmer modules, the Avolites design team was happy to accommodate.The resulting facility is now offered as an option to all Avo customers, whereby the RCB function of each dimmer module may be individually disabled via a push-button key-switch. This is a common requirement during live TV recording and film shoots, where lights must be guaranteed working, without the risk of a minor earth fault (e.g. dampness on lamps) tripping the RCB protection devices.

For maximum flexibility, the Avolites ART-2000 dimmers can have the RCB-disable option applied in groups of 12 channels - unlike other dimmers where the whole rack has to be switched into similar mode. AFM’s Chris Millard worked closely with Avolites’ R&D team, headed by JB Toby, to produce this feature. Immediately after delivery to AFM, the dimmers went to Leavesden Studios in Hertfordshire, and into action on the set of a high profile Warner Bros movie, due for release in the Autumn.

Continuing in the film and television vein, for Lee Lighting North, Avolites has supplied eight modules of ART-4000 dimming to add to their rental inventory. For Lee Lighting in London, a further supply of 11 ART-2000 48-way racks has just been complet

SJM Consultants has for the last four years been awarded the contract to provide technical and production management of Kensington & Chelsea Colleges' (London) fashion shows, which have been held at the college and at Chelsea Old Town Hall. For 2001, the show is to be held at Kensington Town Hall, Hornton Street London W8, on 22 May. Steve McNeil of SJM Consultants will be providing production management along with Svend Johanson of DSA Production Services, who are supplying the technical backup, set, catwalk and crew.

In order to continue supplying customers in London and the South East, Playlight will be moving into new premises in North West London following the auction being held in its existing warehouse on Friday 18th May. Dan McMullan is setting up the new base with Jim Ewart who will head the new operation. Ian Duff and Andrew ‘Chunk’ Charters will be providing logistical and technical back-up. The new office will be concentrating on the dry hire of lighting, sound, drapes and starcloths to the conference and theatre markets, as well as the dry hire of film gear to the industry. It will be up and running by July and operations will carry on as normal out of the existing warehouse up until that point. The northern end of the company has also come under the spotlight and will be concentrating on the above areas, but in addition, will have a division handling OBs, festivals and studio work. The company plans to streamline its hire stock through the auction and shed a large volume of sound and lighting equipment surplus to its requirements. Following the auction the company will be revamping the remaining hire stock and investing in new equipment better suited to the markets it works in.

Destiny's Child, the Houston, Texas-based group, has been out touring the USA during March to celebrate their successful album, ‘The Writing's on the Wall’ and to promote their new CD, ‘Survivor,’ released this spring. For this short stint, lighting contractor Theatrical Media Services (TMS) from Omaha, Nebraska, has provided LD Shane Preston with a rig of High End Systems products including 25 Studio Spot 575s, 13 Studio Color 575s, eight Dataflash AF1000s and one F-100 fog machine, along with some conventional gear. Lighting crew chief Raymond Werthmann says the show is "constantly moving" with a moving backdrop, kabuki drops, and lots of "extra surprises." The High End gear is on every truss, Werthmann says, with eight of the 24 Studio Spot 575s on the floor and all Cyberlights in the air. Werthmann comments: "The equipment is working well. It always does. It's like all High End fixtures - you put it up there and it works. You don't have to think about it."Joining Werthmann on the lighting crew are Aaron Stinebrink and Audra Breyer. The multi-award-winning Destiny's Child plan a bigger outing this summer, with a larger show and more equipment . . .

Edwin Shirley Staging, the international concert staging company, will be providing all the staging and general contracting services for the Backstreet Boys as part of their forthcoming South American tour. This part of the tour will last two months and visit four different countries and will end with a concert in San Juan, Puerto Rico on 20 May. Staging for the tour will involve a provision to hang an 8 tonne video screen suspended from a 25 metre high roof with 12 metre PA wings. ESS will be acting as project manager, hiring local subcontractors to provide equipment and labour.

Trantec’s award-winning S5000 microphone system is currently being used on a touring revival of the popular Thirties musical by Cole Porter, Anything Goes. The system was supplied through Wigwam Acoustics Ltd. The four-month UK tour kicked off in Blackpool and will complete its run in St Helier, Jersey, where it will be for the whole of the summer. The 14-channel belt-pack system is being used by all the lead performers and key members of the chorus. The positioning of a live band in the middle of the set means that radio mics for the cast are crucial. Sound designer Glen Beckley is also using an S5000 system on the current UK tour of the seventies disco musical, Oh What A Night.

Barco has signed major contract agreements with eight leading cinema dealers. Abbott Theatre Equipment Co, Bell Theatre Services, Bright Star Systems, Cinema Equipment Sales, Media Technology Source, National Cinema Supply Corporation, Omnex Pro Film and Universal Cinema Services have all signed rental agreements with Barco Digital Cinema.

Barco Digital Cinema is one of only three licensees of Texas Instruments’ DLP Cinema technology. TI developed DLP Cinema technology in close co-operation with key players in the film industry, and will continue to work closely with Barco to develop commercial products based on this technology. "One of the most frequently asked questions about digital cinema is: Where are the engineers and technicians going to come from, to install and service equipment in this new technology?" said Harry Mathias, Barco’s director of Digital Cinema, America. "The dealers, that are our new partners, are the companies who designed, equipped, and serviced, most of the major new stadium seating multiplexes in the world today. These dealers have an army of experienced cinema technicians that are being trained in the new technology by Barco’s extensive training department."

Stagetec has been awarded the contract to design, supply and install a feature architectural lighting scheme for St Johns Beacon in Liverpool. The project, in association with Lee Forde from Liverpool Vision, consists of 10 Studio Due City Beams mounted on the roof tops of surrounding buildings focused on to the Beacon, a 400ft high tower housing the local radio station. DMX distribution will be achieved between buildings using the Interactive Technologies radio DMX units. The system will be controlled from a Compulite SP-4D rackmount replay unit linked to a CompuCall telephone to DMX interface allowing the whole system to be controlled from the building's telephone system. A Compulite SparkTOP system and CompuCAD software is part of the package, enabling the lighting to be programmed off-site and then loaded into the SP-4D. The project is due to be completed by the end of March.