The Hammersmith Palais has undergone a major refurbishment - the 2,300-capacity venue has reopened after two years of disuse, thanks to a £1 million refurbishment which has given the famous 80-year old dancehall a new lease of life. Part of the upgrade includes a new sound system spec, the contract for which fell to Tarsin Ltd who in turn worked with Marquee Audio to supply the complete order. The new-look Palais boasts six bars and a VIP area. The main club system is based around a Nexo Alpha E loudspeaker system, driven by Crown MA amplification, and mixed through an Allen & Heath GL-3300. The outboard rack is plugged with industry standard Yamaha SPX-1000s and Roland SDE-330s. The front-end club and other source equipment also meets a high specification, and includes Tascam DA30 DAT player, Tascam 202 cassette player, Sony MDS-E55 and DRE1 minidisc recorders, three Technics SL1210 turntables, two Pioneer CDJ500 CD players and a Rane MP24 DJ mixer.

PLASA (the Professional Lighting and Sound Association) has introduced two valuable new Membership Services. The first new service, a Business Support Helpline, offers PLASA's UK members useful and relevant advice on a range of topics (including tax and PAYE, VAT, Employment Law, Company and Contract Law, Copyright and Patents, Debt and Debt Recovery) by advisors who are all widely experienced in their respective fields. This helpline will initially be completely free to members of the association, who will have unlimited access to the service.Also new is PLASA's Business Reporting Service: PLASA has negotiated an extremely competitive rate for business risk evaluation reports through Dun & Bradstreet, a company with 150 years of experience in analysing and assessing credit risks. This service is available to all PLASA members.

A trio of popular Welsh theatres have all completed new lighting installations, courtesy of Cardiff-based Theatre Vision, who specified a wide range of Strand products in each case. Theatr y Werin in Aberystwyth were happy to replace their old Strand kit with a new stateof the art system. Their entire complement of lanterns now comprises a combination of both fixed and zoom Strand SL luminaires and 34 Cantata Fresnels, alongside a new 530i desk loaded with Tracker, Networker and CommuniquePro and driven from 108 channels of Strand EC90 dimmer packs. Presently Theatre Vision are on site at Theatr Elli in Llanelli in a contract worth around £64,000, which is being supported by an Arts Council National Lottery grant. Again the company is providing an assortment of lanterns including 12 Alto Profile 14/32s, as well as a 520i control console and five LD90s. Further recent sales of Strand control desks by Theatre Vision include a 520i to the Dept of Theatre & Media Studies at Aberystwyth University, a 55i to St. David's Hall, Cardiff, and a 530i to the Taliesin Arts Centre in Swansea (along with six LD90 dimmers).

Expansion has forced amplification specialist, C Audio, to vacate its Potters Bar premises at Linkside House in favour of larger capacity at Cranborne House situated opposite on the Cranborne Industrial Estate. While production has been taking place at the larger building for some time, C Audio will now streamline its R&D, sales, marketing and administration departments in the one building with immediate effect. The new address for C Audio is: Cranborne House, Cranborne Road, Cranborne Industrial Estate, Potters Bar, Herts EN6 3JN. Tel: (01707) 643643.

Lighting director Victor Fable used a new Virtuoso lighting control console from Vari-Lite for September's MTV Video Music Awards, which took place in New York. Using a Virtuoso for just the second time, Fable worked closely with lighting designer Allen Branton and lighting directors Tom Beck and Michael Goodwin for the live broadcast from the Metropolitan Opera House. With a rig of moving lights including VL4, VL7, VL7B, VL5B, VL6 and VL6B luminaires, Fable found that the Virtuoso made his job easier. "It actually made doing a large show much easier than if I had used an Artisan console. I would have had to put the show on two separate Artisan desks and run them both, whereas Virtuoso handled 440 channels easily and managed it all quite well."He continued: "Virtuoso allowed me to load up many more chases and break up the show much more effectively and quickly. The ability to have more than the Artisan console's four submaster capacity was a lifesaver. On this show I used 16 submasters and broke it up into four areas and effects. I used a lot of macros to load in effects and I used a lot of snapshots, whether I was programming or playing back."

The APRS will act as a sponsor of the Joint Venture with British Trade International for the 108th AES Convention (19-22 February 2000) in Paris. UK exhibitors receive 60% of their space and construction expenses up to a ceiling of £2,300 and are eligible to exhibit with Government funding at AES Europe events twice within any given ten-year period, irrespective of where the exhibition is held. In addition to the Government funding, companies that have never exhibited previously on a UK delegation will receive a complimentary research package from British Trade International giving special pointers as to where to find export-related help, advice and information which should assist with their exporting efforts to the whole of Europe.

The autumn season is proving busy for Stage Light Design, the exhibition and conference creative lighting design specialists. The company is providing equipment, crew and lighting design services for no less than four stands at the massive Geneva Telecom quadrennial at the PalExpo. All stands have creative lighting designed by a collaboration between John Rinaldi and Alastair Crooks. In Geneva, Stage Light Design lit two shows for Intel, one in Paris and the other in Milan. These were re-runs of their highly successful imaginative lighting for Intel stands at the Networks show in Birmingham earlier in the year.

DJ equipment manufacturer Entertainment Technology, part of the Leaf Group, is moving to new premises. By 1st December the company's offices, warehousing and R&D will be situated under one roof at Unit 21, Warner Drive, Springwood Industrial Estate, Braintree, Essex, CM7 2YW, UK.

Following a record sales year for BSS Audio, the company is moving from their Linkside House premises in Potters Bar to the neigbouring Cranborne House. While the company's production facilities are already located at Cranborne House, the R&D sales, marketing and administration departments are relocating to the more spacious premises with immediate effect.The company's new address is Cranborne House, Cranborne Road, Cranborne Industrial Estate, Potters Bar, Herts EN6 3JN, UK.

Leicestershire-based Hawthorn Theatrical has supplied lighting, sound and projection equipment for a major production which marks the start of a Millennium celebration of 1,000 years of village life. The show, which involves 200 local villagers including a cast of 70, has been two years in the making and has been playing to packed audiences at St. Mary's Church, Goudhurst, Kent. Lighting designer Nick Gale used a mixture of MAC 500s and 600s for Gaudeamus!, along with StageScans, to complement the generic rig which included Selecon's pacific luminaires. One of Hawthorn's Avolites Pearl consoles was used to control the show's 200+ cues. Also supplied was a Martin Audio Wavefront sound system and Denon MiniDisc machines, overseen by an Allen & Heath mixer front-of-house.

Metallica will be performing in Berlin on the 18th/19th of November. Appearing with the Berlin Symphony Orchestra, the LD will be John Broderick. The Nine Inch Nails have just announced a five week tour - rehearsals commence late Oct for two weeks, then they're out from the 10th Nov. Roy Bennett designs, Gary Westcott operates. Despite reports in National newspapers that she's having trouble with her voice, Whitney Houston has extended her current tour of Europe until 11th Nov. LSD provide all bar moving lights. Simon Miles designs, Telson James operates. Bryan Adams has also extended due to overwhelming demand. The tour now runs until 10th December. The Pet Shop Boys will open their latest tour in the US at the start of November. Their first in over four years, they have once again employed an architect Zaha Hadid (a female with a reputation to rival Sir Richard Rogers) to design the. Lighting design sees the return of an old favourite, Mark Brickman. Rig details still to be announced, but expect something pretty wild.

The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) has worked with organisations across the music and events industry to update its guidance on health and safety at pop concerts and other similar events. The Event Safety Guide - A guide to health, safety and welfare at music and similar events (which replaces the Guide to Health, Safety and Welfare at Pop Concerts and similar events) is aimed at organisers of everything from major outdoor festivals with thousands of visitors to local concerts for just a few hundred people. The main changes cover more advice on the planning and management, and the guide also outlines how to carry out a risk assessment.

Island East is a massive new commercial and high class residential development in Hong Kong. Its remarkable 'by appointment only' corporate visitor centre includes show areas, meeting rooms and marketing suites tailored to different kinds of customers. One of the key features is a 180° video show, designed by Electrosonic, which uses five Barco 707 projectors, with butted images projected onto a metal mesh. The mesh screen has lighting effects behind and during the show, the centre screen splits to reveal a rear projected image. All video sources are from Electrosonic MPEG2 video servers. Electrosonic ESLINX is used to control the 48 channels of dimming, the video servers, the Peavey X-Frame Media Matrix and the motorised doors.

ATI has appointed European Audio Group (formerly known as GAE Sales UK) to handle distribution of the ATI and API Audio line in Europe. Based in the UK, EAG is a cartel of like-minded distributors who will keep their own names, but be a part of the Group giving ATI/API a solid presence throughout Europe. The ATI Group is the parent company of Audio Toys Incorporated, API Audio and Uptown Automation. Audio Toys manufactures the Paragon mixing console and associated rack mount gear, whilst Uptown Automation manufactures and installs moving fader and mute automation for analog mixing consoles.

High End Systems formed a new architectural division using the Lightwave Research brand. As a result, the High End brand will be used with entertainment lighting products and the Lightwave Research brand will be used for products developed specifically for the architectural lighting market. The promotion of High End's Charlie Hulme to Architectural Sales Manager for Lightwave products is the company's first appointment to the new division. Hulme will oversee sales and distribution, as well as design support of Lightwave products through High End Systems' worldwide network of manufacturer's reps, dealers and distributors.

Good news for clubland, because there's a brand new clubbing venture on the way for 2000! The former Music Factory, situated on the outskirts of Sheffield's City Centre on London Road, has been taken over under the Gatecrasher Group of Companies. Despite various rumours circulating, this will not be a 'Gatecrasher 2'. The Music Factory is a venue synonymous with Northern clubbing and bears an enviable history of successful club nights. The 1,270 capacity venue has been closed since April this year and will welcome a much-needed interior and exterior refurbishment. Plans for an extensive refurbishment, launch details, plus artist and resident information with a twist will be revealed shortly.

UK distributor Sound Dept has supplied an EAW sound system and Crest amplification to the discotheque Club 2000, which is situated within the Grill complex in Letterkenny, Co. Donegal. The installation contract was won by Scotland-based Northern Light following a visit by David Nazir and a demonstration of the system to Paul McGlinshey, owner of the 1,500 capacity venue.Nazir specified four three-way ASV 7652s, which are flown, and four SB528EP subs, configured in pairs and sited under the two dance podiums. A further four EAW MK5194s are used for infills, along with part of the old main dance system which was replaced. A pair of Crest CA18s power the subs, supported by a pair each of CA12s for the bass, CA9s for the mids and CA6s for the tops. The whole system is processed with a Rane DSP device. Nazir has commissioned another EAW/Crest system on behalf of Northern Light, for Polo Lounge club and bar in Glasgow, for King City Leisure.

A Mach loudspeaker system provides the sound at the Sound Academy, the latest dance venue to open in Ipswich, Suffolk. The privately-owned 650-capacity club has been fitted out with eight MS1262 compact, high performance mid/high boxes and 16 MS1181 compact high performance subwoofers located downstairs, and four MS1262s, eight MS118is and two M125i Installation Series top-boxes upstairs. Sound Academy has instigated a unique membership scheme in which customers do not have to carry cash - special membership cards debit directly from the holder's bank account. Both the sound system and the payment system have proved very popular already - the club currently has over 6,000 members.

Earls Court Exhibition Centre (home to the PLASA Show) and sister venue Olympia have been sold by the P&O Group to an acquisition vehicle backed by Candover and the Morris family for £183 million. Included in the sale are P&O Events, the organisers of PLASA, P&O Exhibition Services, which provides exhibition services to exhibitors and specialist catering business Beeton Rumford. The net consideration for the sale will be settled in cash, plus a £20 million loan note repayable over 10 years. Candover is a private equity company, whilst the Morris family owns City Industrial Limited which operates The Business Design Centre in Islington, London.

One of the hottest tickets of the moment has to be for The Eurythmics' reunion tour. Peacetour, in aid of Greenpeace and Amnesty International, opened on September 17th in Cologne and will enjoy a four month run before ending in London in mid December. Lighting designer Simon Sidi will work with a rig supplied by Light&Sound Design, whilst video director Matt Askem has the luxury of no less than three of Screenco's brand new Saco 15mm pixel pitch LED daylight video screens, plus two Barco projectors which will feature specially commissioned graphics from Tim Head.

At PLASA 99, the White Light Group launched Colourhouse Technical Presentations, its new specialist conference and exhibition lighting company. Formed to meet the increasingly demanding requirements of corporate and exhibition clients, the new operation is headed by Steve Bartlett, familiar to many in the conference trade from his time at TIS. He is joined by former TIS colleague Cliff Williams. Though Colourhouse was officially launched at PLASA, the team were busy prior to the show having already completed a corporate event for Blitz Vision at the Pyramids in Cairo.

Ethos Acoustics' newest loudspeaker, the Performer, has been delivered for installation in the soon to be re-opened Royal Opera House in London's Covent Garden. Selected for both on-stage use and for auditorium in-fill, the Performer exceeded the exacting performance targets set by the House, both in terms of accuracy and power from a small enclosure. The ROH joins existing user Trans World Television (TWI) with their selection of the Performer Pro variant. The speakers are rugged but unobtrusive, incorporating facilities for a full pan and tilt bracket, secure fixing for a safety chain and steel protection grilles over the over the drive units.

3D Productions, the Leeds based company specialising in Lighting Sound and Staging has just taken delivery of six Starlite Mk 5s purchased from Lane Lighting. The units went out immediately on 'Classical Fantasia at the Abbey' an outdoor classical spectacular at Kirkstall Abbey in Leeds with the Northern Ballet Concert Orchestra. On their return they will be used at Harrogate Theatre in ' Jack to a King ' by LD Paul Collie.

A new company has been launched to enhance Denmark's position in the lighting and truss manufacturing market. SeeLite merges together the activities of three companies - Paradise Tour Production Aps, Pan & Tilt A/S and Gøgler Lys Udlejning A/S and has been set up by Søren Nørgaard, Jens Lind, Frank Paulsen, Viggo Ladekjær, Leif Hellberg, Lars Nissen and Martin Corneliussen.