The performing arts and technical production courses at the university require carefully designed spaces for teaching and research and Anselm Hall, a space previously used for exams, presentations and lecture style teaching, fitted the bill with its small technical infrastructure and raised stage.
Ian Stickland, theatre consultant project manager at Charcoalblue said, "We were tasked with creating a more suitable space for the students and research fellows in the performing arts department. As such the existing Anselm Hall was partitioned into two rooms - one primarily a dance studio and the other a space for teaching technical theatre and performance. This required new power, audiovisual and overhead rigging and we knew that Doughty Engineering would come up trumps with the solution we needed for the overhead rigging."
The solution involved the installation of five Doughty hoists which were installed by LSI Projects. Coert Van Dorsten, projects engineer at LSI, explained, "The venue needed a hoist that was compact and lightweight and the Doughty hoist was perfect. Weight was an issue as we were working with an existing roof but the hoists were low profile and also architecturally pleasing, ensuring we got around all potential challenges with ease. This is the first time we have used a Doughty hoist but we will certainly be looking to use them in future projects, as they are very competitively priced and offer a good solution."
To meet all the requirements of the brief, Doughty also developed a new low weight cover to reduce the overall weight of the unit and was also able to adjust the cable management to house the exact facilities required.
Stickland added, "It is always a pleasure to work with the team at Doughty. As a consultant, having someone like Dan Phillips, project sales co-ordinator at Doughty, on the end of an email or a phone enables us to work with our client to come up with the ideal solution, then with Doughty's help quickly work this into an engineered and costed solution, which generally makes for very happy customers."
(Jim Evans)
