UK - Anolis LED fixtures have been specified and installed on the exterior facades of the newly opened Casino at Leicester Square, London.

The 55,000sq.ft, Paul Steelman (PSDG) interior designed venue is owned and operated by London Clubs Management (LCM) a wholly owned subsidiary of the largest gaming company in the world, Harrahs. Burrows Cave International (BCI) continued their relationship with LCM by handling the interpretation and realisation of PSDG interior design scheme from their London offices.

TMC were asked to provide an exterior lighting scheme that would come alive with colour and anticipation, generate interest and excitement among passers by and ensure that the world class venue stood out in one of London's busiest thoroughfares. They asked Robe UK's Bill Jones to collaborate in devising a lighting scheme to meet the client's requirements.

TMC's Martin Tarpy

UK - Drape and stage machinery specialists J&C Joel and Triple E have teamed up to supply and install eight large motorised Venetian acoustic banners to two large rehearsal rooms in the new £4.5 million Centre for Excellence in Teaching & Learning building at the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester (RNCM).

The Centre for Excellence in Teaching and Learning builds on the RNCM's international profile and forward-thinking approach to the training of young musicians, and on its impressive record on student employment.

The project was managed for J&C Joel by Tony Griffiths, who comments: "This was a great challenge to get 'just right', but great teamwork with David Edelstein and the Triple E crew made the process really smooth. It's a good illustration of the dynamic partnership between J&C Joel and Triple E on projects like this."

The banners are design

UK - A landmark on the Blackpool dance scene for many years, Rumours the Venue has recently undergone a complete refurbishment. The combined 800-capacity wine bar, night club and party venue enlisted Peter Bawden's Audio Sound Advice to create a new technology infrastructure. The locally-based installers were offered the contract by owners Betawell after having worked at Rumours' counterpart club, the 300-capacity urban nightclub Hush underneath.

Looking to redefine the way Blackpool spends its nights out, Bawden was entrusted with outfitting the venue with a top-spec sound, lighting and video system, and to satisfy the sound reinforcement he turned to Martin Audio.

"We've worked with the venue for almost 20 years, so we know it inside out," he said. Out went the old reinforcement system to be replaced by Martin Audio's new two-way passive AQ architectural range.

F

Spain - Featuring an auditorium, a conservatory, and an experimental theatre in the one venue - powered by more than 30 Lab.gruppen C Series amplifiers - the new Centro Cultural Miguel Delibes, located in Valladolid,, is being heralded as one of the most significant performing arts centres in Spain. The total audience capacity is in excess of 3000 across the three diverse spaces with the experimental theatre being multi-configurable to allow a wide variety of performance styles.

Chemtrol, a leading Spanish audiovisual design and contracting company, created and installed the audio system. Chemtrol División Teatro (theatre division) has vast experience with prestige installations of this type. Since 1987 they have been involved in projects such as the Palacio de las Artes, Valencia, Gran Teatre del Liceu, Barcelona, Teatro Real de Madrid, Palacio Euskalduna, Bilbao and numerous

Spain - The long-established and multi-award winning Space Club Ibiza has recently installed the first VisualDMX lighting control software system on the party island. The system is being used for controlling a 24 x 5 LED matrix positioned above the DJ booth and LED lighting, from AVR, around the main venue of the club. A touch screen with the VisualTouch software was also installed for direct access to VisualDMX.

Pedro Comesana, production manager responsible for all audio, video and lighting systems at Space Club Ibiza, states, "We wanted to create different areas inside the main room. Each bar has its own personality and we wanted to keep them all independent, as well as the different parts of the bars. We also have a matrix behind the DJ booth that we want to control, together with the bars and the ambient lighting."

Comesana continues, "Following on from ear

Spain - This summer a combination of Martin Audio's large W8L systems and W8LMD down-fill boxes and subs were installed in the new 4,000-capacity B3 multi-room dance venue in Dos Hermanas (just outside Seville), in combination with the best from the company's Blackline and AQ series.

Club owner José Miguel Losada was insistent that in keeping his dance music en vogue, he also wanted playback through the current fashion in line array systems - and thus Bernat Camacho and Jordi Rosselló, from Adagio SA, set up a full-scale demo of the maker's different systems.

The Martin Audio distributors were awarded the contract as a result of their close association with the lighting contractors, Stonex SA, while the fit-out was undertaken by installation contractor, Francesco Escoda. Camacho notes, "We could have proposed several solutions using Martin Audio components

West Indies - In preparation for this year's Cricket World Cup, a number of the island nations embarked on significant redevelopment programmess, both to their stadia and the surrounding areas.

The 17,000-seat Queens Park Oval in Trinidad, the oldest Cricket stadium in the Caribbean, received an extensive makeover that covered both aesthetics and infrastructure. The venue, which has long been known as an acoustical challenge, was fitted with a new sound system comprising 109 Community R.5-HP loudspeakers, powered by Crown CTS2000 amplification.

Raj Patel of the global consulting group Arup's New York offices was brought in to see that uniform standards were met for intelligibility and acoustical consistency throughout the various stadia.

As Michael Pereira of Trinidad-based AMR Limited explains, the project presented several challenges, the most daunting of which was the tim

Indonesia - Universitas Pelita Harapan (UPH) in Jakarta, has recently opened a new multi-purpose hall, installing a state-of-the-art audio system based around Allen & Heath's iLive digital mixing system.

Established in 1994 by the Pelita Harapan Foundation, UPH provides high-quality facilities including TV, photographic and scientific laboratories, and an international-standard sports centre. The University boasts 31 departments and 9,000 students. The latest addition to the campus is the 2,200-capacity Grand Chapel theatre based in the University's Digital Campus, which houses the Faculty of Music.

Local installer, Kairos MultiJaya, was contracted to design, supply and install the sound, lighting and video projection system into the Digital Campus. Central to the installation is an Allen & Heath iLive system, comprising an iLive-112 control surface and iDR10 stagerack, which

Greece - One of Athens' few traditional theatres, the Pallas is a gem in the middle of this vibrant city. Built during the 1930s, the Pallas retains its art deco splendour while having just been subjected to a major overhaul. This has included the installation of Midas consoles and Klark Teknik signal processing equipment throughout its three venues, supplied by Greek distributor Omikron Control. The whole procedure was overseen by Omikron's sound system designer Vangelis Petridis.

The Pallas Theatre itself, a 1,500-capacity traditional auditorium, now boasts a Heritage 2000 at front of house, with Klark Teknik Square ONE Dynamics, Square ONE EQ and a DN500 Plus dual compressor/limiter. The adjacent Aliki Theatre has also been installed with a Midas H2000 while the new console in the Mikro Pallas is a Venice.

"It's great to have the Heritage here, and I'm very happy with

UK - The Honourable Artillery Company's new £6.5 million conference and events venue in the City of London was officially opened by HM The Queen on 18 May. The venue's Prince Consort Rooms can accommodate up to 750 people at a reception, or be divided into smaller areas.

The Prince Consort Rooms have been built in the shell of a Victorian drill hall. PSL has been chosen as a preferred supplier of AV and Production, and has already produced custom-designed sets for the venue. The Prince Consort Rooms have an inbuilt pinspot lighting scheme and audio visual infrastructure which will be augmented by PSL's high-tech inventory of display screens, digital sound reinforcement and state-of-the-art media servers and playback devices.

Diane Waldron, head of marketing and events at the HAC, says, "The City is short of flexible, large-capacity venues that can accommodate 300-pl

Portugal - The new Aquapura Douro Valley 5-star Hotel is immersed in the Port wine vineyards of Douro, Portugal, and all 50 rooms, in this converted 19th-century manor house, boast river and vineyard views.

One of the resort's most renowned features is its impressive spa with indoor heated pools, 10 treatment rooms, gym and thermal suite, while other features include outdoor heated swimming pools, heated plunge pools on the villas, library, tennis, Wi-Fi and a business centre, as well as a selection of bars and restaurants.

Harman Pro's Portuguese distributors Custodio Cardoso Pereira (CCP) were awarded the contract to supply an integrated sound system, which could be networked using Soundweb London DSP devices from BSS Audio.

Design consultant on the project was Roland Hemming, with Miguel Mendes managing the project for Passion of Music (PoM). Installation contractors were

Norway - Following major technical refurbishments, Det Norske Teatret (The Norwegian Theatre) in Oslo has specified ETC's most technically advanced theatre lighting console, Eos, along with ETC Sensor and Sine Wave dimming and an ETC Unison architectural control system.

Built in 1985, the theatre is the largest performing arts venue in Norway, with three multidisciplinary spaces offering a diverse programme of both in-house and outside productions. Increases in the technical complexity of shows and the changing nature of lighting design have demanded that the theatre replace its entire entertainment, house and work lighting systems with a more flexible network.

ETC's Norwegian distributor Bright AS was responsible for both the equipment supply and the installation. Project manager Geir Sire says: "The theatre was looking to replace all its existing dimmers like for like,

UK - Academy Music Group's long-term A/V system suppliers, Marquee Audio, has taken an inventive approach to the installation at its latest Carling Academy venue in Oxford, scheduled to open in September.

Formerly The Zodiac on Cowley Road, AMG is investing £2m into the refurbishment programme and increasing the overall building capacity to 1,350, creating three, production-complete performance spaces.

Marquee Audio carried out a site survey and identified where they could overhaul and upgrade some of the existing equipment, re-cabling each room to allow them to be used as part of a site-wide network, for which they are designing an advanced control system.

Marquee Audio's project manager Scott Wakelin said that this installation was not only about what the integrators were able to achieve, but also the forward-thinking approach of Academy Music Group.

"Aside fr

USA - Part of the San Diego Zoo's Nighttime Zoo summer programme, Talamasca - Jungle Myths and Legends is new jungle-themed acrobatic show at the zoo's Hunte Amphitheatre. The show runs nightly until September. CBC Technical provided sound reinforcement for the show, including Electro-Voice XLD line arrays.

"The input end of the show is relatively simple - a DVD player providing four channels of audio along with timecode," says Scott Chester of CBC. "The steep and deep shape of the venue and noise restrictions outside means a balance of complete, controlled vertical and horizontal coverage and intelligibility is essential - something the zoo felt the programme was lacking last year. The XLD is proving the ideal solution."

Arrays of seven XLD are flown each side, each over two ground-stacked X-subs for low-end support. EV CP4000S amplifiers han

UK - Inaugurated in 1978, the Vishwa Hindu Kendra temple in Southall, west London, has recently seen the completion of a project to erect a two storey community centre, which has included a new function room complete with a Turbosound audio system.

Designed and installed by Electracoustic, the system features the TCS Compact series, with a pair of TCS-121Cs as main stage loudspeakers, plus four TCS-081Cs as delayed pairs down the length of the room.

"The TCS Compact series offers high audio quality at a very good price, but the colour option was also crucial as it was important that they were visually unobtrusive," says Electracoustic's Jon Trotter. "I also wanted a product I could use with and without bass cabinets, depending on the type of event.">P>Driven by MC2 series amplifiers and controlled by a Biamp Nexia digital audio controller, the system is req

UK - XL Video UK - working for show producers Sledge via Live Nation - supplied 70sq.m (350 tiles) of centre stage Barco I-12 hi res LED screen, two 15.5sq.m Hibino Chromatek 6mm Black Face LED flanking screens and a full camera/PPU package for The O2's staff opening party.

The event kicked off the high profile venue's new life as a major UK concert venue in grand style - with performances by Basement Jaxx, the Kaiser Chiefs and Tom Jones. The show was presented by Dermot O'Leary.

Packed close to its 23,000 capacity, guests were treated to a five-camera IMAG show directed by Kevin Watts. The four manned Sony D50 cameras were positioned one at FOH, two left and right high up in the bleachers either side and one hand-held onstage. The fifth camera was a hot-head rigged to a circular truss hung over the front of the stage.

IMAG was fed to the side screens, while the onstage scr

Greece - The Badminton Theatre in Athens has become the first Greek venue to install a Midas XL8 Live Performance System. The system was supplied by Midas and Klark Teknik's Greek distributor, Omikron Control.

The Badminton is now a 2,500-capacity theatre, but a clue to the venue's original function is in the name: it was created from a badminton arena built for the 2004 Olympic Games. After the games, the building was used to stage a four-month run of Cats, proving it could function as a successful theatre. It has been rented by the Athens-based A.B.C.D company for a 20-year term, and a major six-month renovation project took place which included digging down 7.5m to create an amphitheatre-style auditorium.

A.B.C.D. opted for the Midas XL8 when it came to choosing a mixing system. "We wanted to create a high quality theatre experience for our audiences by providin

UK - SPS has won a contract to design, build and supply a new conference stage environment for FT Conferences, to fulfil their busy global conference schedule. Furthermore, as part of this contract, SPS reports that it will also be supplying the AV solution at these events.

James Gunnell, head of global logistics at FT Conferences and Events, says: "We are delighted to be working with SPS. The professionalism and passion displayed by the team has impressed us immensely and they have delivered an exceptional service so far. I am looking forward to developing our relationship with SPS throughout the course of the year."

Robin Coles, managing director of SPS, adds, "We are very proud and excited to be working with the FT. With a company of this stature it is imperative to captivate and impress the highly successful business professionals who attend FT Conferences.

USA - One of America's leading education and research facilities for health professionals, the University of Minnesota's Academic Health Center (AHC), has chosen a Renkus-Heinz ICONYX system for its central teaching forum - the Mayo Memorial Auditorium in Minneapolis.

The six schools and colleges that make up the AHC include the disciplines of medicine, dentistry, nursing, pharmacy, public health, and veterinary medicine. The Mayo Memorial Auditorium is used primarily as a lecture hall, but also serves many other functions.

Architects Smith Group, based out of Minneapolis, with principal architect Ted Davis and project architect Nick Woodard, were awarded the task of renovation, while technology consultants Elert & Associates of Stillwater, MN were engaged to analyse the auditorium and design a system capable of delivering seamless, first class speech quality.

In effect, the

Eire - The Theatre Royal in Waterford has purchased a Jands Vista T2 lighting console. It was supplied by local theatre consultants Dirk Baumann Lighting (DBL Lighting) as part of an upgrade to the venue's existing lighting system, which was over 30 years old.

The Theatre has been Waterford's main centre of culture and entertainment since the mid Seventies, providing the region with a varied programme of professional and community-based music, drama, dance, variety, pantomime and other live productions.

DBL's Dirk Baumann was appointed to re-design the existing lighting grid and provide a much more flexible system to suit the theatre's current and future needs. Once the lanterns, grid and dimming were in place, Baumann was also asked to specify a more powerful console to make the most of the new lighting infrastructure.

The Theatre has purchased a Vista T2 console for its ne

UK - Harman Pro UK has recently supplied two Soundcraft Vi6 digital mixing consoles to Camden-based electrical contractors RAG Support for installation at Koko, the North London live music venue.

One of the Vi6 desks is used as the mixer for the on-stage monitoring, the other as the main front-of-house desk. The installation completes RAG Support's refit of Koko's new sound system, which was designed by Harman Pro UK's engineers and which RAG Support has been putting together at the venue over the last few months.

Tim Hamper, FOH engineer at Koko, comments, "It's great to finally have our two Vi6 desks permanently installed here. Harman Pro UK have been closely involved with the design of the refit at Koko from the outset, and so we were offered a Vi6 when it was still in development. We've had a test desk in as the FOH console here for months and it's been easy to learn

UK - Three out of the 14 inaugural RIBA National awards, presented at a ceremony in London, went to projects from the portfolio of young theatre consultancy Charcoalblue. They comprise The Roundhouse, Camden; The RSC Courtyard, Stratford-upon-Avon and The Young Vic, London.

Charcoalblue's specialist consultants worked in close association with architects Haworth Tompkins on the award winning Young Vic; John McAslan and Partners on the critically acclaimed Roundhouse and Ian Ritchie Architects on the RSC's groundbreaking temporary new home - the Courtyard Theatre.

Andy Hayles, managing director of Charcoalblue comments: "It was a great night. We're extremely proud to have been so closely involved with all three winning projects. It's great to see our contribution recognised from time to time."

(Jim Evans)

UK - Contemporary Spanish restaurant La Parrilla is at the epicentre of Swansea's proto-industrial chic development, dubbed "SA1". This involves the transformation of miles of derelict, neglected old docklands - complete with original buildings and architecture - into a trendy waterside development. PAI was called in to come up with an integrated sound and AV solution plus lighting control for the eaterie.

La Parrilla is owned by Daniel Tercero, who commissioned Swansea-based interior design practice Thomas Parry to create the interiors, who in turn asked PAI to come up with the relevant technical infrastructure. The PAI team has worked with Thomas Parry on many previous projects, and on this one they collaborated closely with main designer, Matt Bailey.

High production values were at the core of the technical installation, for which a C-Burn computer music system wa

USA - Wybron reports that the Dubai Mall Aquarium, a permanent installation in the world's largest shopping mall, located in downtown Dubai, has purchased 226 Large Format Aquarams and InfoTrace Control and Management System. The aquarium expects to install Wybron's fixtures and the InfoTrace system in September.

Wybron's Aquarams will illuminate the 164ft aquarium to allow visitors to see sharks, stingrays and other species of fish in their natural habitat. Each Aquaram contains up to 32 gel colours and is water resistant. The InfoTrace system will control and manage all of the fixtures via the RDM platform.

"We are very pleased with the spike in sales of our architectural fixtures," said Larry Turner, Wybron CEO. "Wybron continues to introduce new outdoor lighting technology as we expect the demand for lighting designs to grow in the overall architectural and

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