As well as excavating the basement and adding a major extension to accommodate new teaching facilities for the School's Music and ICT departments, the original church hall has been completely refurbished so that it can function as a multi-purpose venue. The hall now serves as a high-tech lecture theatre for school assemblies and conferences, a performance and rehearsals venue for school music and drama productions, and a place for the church congregation's weekly services and functions.
The main requirements for the control system were to provide a multi user interface that enabled easy selection of various preset lighting scenes, and that the system be as unobtrusive as possible. A.C. project manager Adam Beaumont specified an ETC Unison architectural control system due to its wall-mounted LCD screen, ability to be easily programmed and adaptability to the hall's many different lighting requirements. The controller's DMX override feature also enabled a main show lighting console to be plugged in and used independently of, or simultaneously with, the Unison for major performances. The system also permitted additional control panels to be situated discreetly around the venue and customized to provide users with convenient access to specific presets - e.g. the organist, pulpit, control position and foyer lighting etc.
As well as specifying, installing and programming the control system, A.C. also supplied the majority of equipment for the hall's lighting system and was responsible for rigging truss and lanterns, and fixing booms. Equipment supplied included 44 ways of ETC Sensor dimming, a Zero88 Fat Frog show control desk, Tourflex Datasafe 2 DMX cable and various custom mains and control facility panels. Luminaires included 16 x ETC Source 4 EA PARs fitted to Litec truss for orchestral down lighting, 16 x ETC Source 4 Juniors, 26 degree fitted to lighting booms, three ETC Source 4 Juniors, 26 degree for specials and six Chroma-Q Broadway scrollers for use with S4 Juniors. Lighting bars included a 250kg winch set fitted with 12 way IWB and six vertical black anodized lighting bars with four 15A sockets on each. Truss supplied was Litec QX30 - 6 x 3 custom black anodized with internally wired 15 amp sockets.
Gary Brunton, project consultant on behalf of the School commented: "A.C. carried out the project very efficiently and quickly. They delivered my lighting specification brief to the letter and both myself and the school are delighted with the result."
(Sarah Rushton-Read)
