Stagecraft Theatre Services Ltd were contracted to overhaul the venue by removing all the old lighting bars and lights and tidy the venue up to turn it into a club environment to cater for all ages of customer and to make the venue more fun.
Bryan Kelly, Project Manager of STS explained what they did. "This is the first time that we have installed a rig at an ice rink and we thoroughly enjoyed working with the team at the Link Centre. STS was responsible for the design, installation and project management of the new system, which includes both static and moving lights. Three separate Milos truss structures were created for the main grid, which were hung above the rink along with a JEM 24/7 Hazer to create atmosphere."
In total, 102 fixtures were installed. The moving lights consisted of Martin MAC 500's. "We wanted to use fixtures that we knew would be reliable as access was an issue on the ice," says kelly. " The MAC 500 has been a solid performer in our hire stock and we knew they would be fantastic in this situation. Another concern was the fact that the air temp in the venue is very cold and very damp. The fixtures were installed and hanging roughly 12m off the ice for about a week before they were turned on, and when I went to power up, they had a lot of condensation on them, but started and worked perfectly and continue to do so."
Clive Seabrook from the Link Centre commented, "With the help of Stagecraft Theatre Services our ice rink lighting system has been transformed from an 80's discotheque to a modern and vibrant 21st century club."
Other lighting and control equipment included Par 64 Par cans, Zero88 2410 Chilli Pro dimmers, a Zero88 Leap Frog lighting desk and touch screen. Custom gobos are currently being designed for the rink to project images during matches played by The Swindon Wildcats.
(Jim Evans)
