The new purpose-built Bridge Community Church is a multipurpose building catering for conferences and live events, as well as weekly church services. The newly completed development provides the church with a comprehensive community centre that includes a 1000-capacity auditorium, café and other facilities.
"We use Elation products on all of our lighting installations due to the finished result and also the price of the units compared to similar products," stated Tim Mortimer, installations manager at Wigwam Acoustics. Wigwam has a well established reputation for work in churches and cathedrals, so was well placed to design, supply and install a comprehensive stage lighting package for the auditorium. Wigwam also completed a state-of-the-art audiovisual installation across the development.
Bridge Community Church attracts large congregations to services that include live music and were looking for a system that was simple to use, flexible and easy to configure. Wigwam's design brief also included the requirement for filming and relaying live HD video of church services and performances in the auditorium to locations throughout the building, for example when the congregation exceeds the capacity of the main hall.
All lights are LED-based Elation Professional luminaires, which dramatically reduce both power consumption and heat build-up. The lighting system consists of four Colour 5 Profile multi-colour ellipsoidal spots used for gobo projections; two DW Profile variable white LED luminaires with zoom and beam shaping used for front light; eight TVL 3000 II LED Fresnel lights with dynamic white LEDs used for front light; eight Arena Q7 Zoom Par lights used for stage wash from a rear truss position; and 16 x SixBar 1000 colour-changing LED battens used from the stage floor for rear wall effects.
"We have used Elation products on installations for the last six years and the backup and support we receive is one of the main reasons behind choosing the products. The support we receive from Elation sales rep Alan Rayner is second to none," Mortimer stated, adding that he believes Wigwam's involvement in the project from the outset has been a key advantage.
"It's worked really well as we have been involved right from the design phase, so the install is properly integrated into the building. The church has ended up with an absolutely fantastic development that, with the leading edge technology, is incredibly flexible and can meet their needs going forward."
(Jim Evans)
