The Great Hall at ‘Ally Pally’ was completely refurbished following a disastrous fire in 1980 and a new glass roof installed. However, the roof was never intended to support heavy event production rigging, with a maximum loading of 1500 kilos on each arch and no greater point load than 500kg.
MJK Productions had produced the BRIT Awards in the Great Hall in 1995, using a ground-supported production. This time MJK’s Mick Kluczynski, production manager for the MOBOs, was determined to fly his production, the heaviest single element being a four-tonne followspot platform located high over the seated audience’s heads. "The loading restrictions made it rather critical, as it wouldn’t support even the weight of a mothergrid to carry a lighting rig. We had to get very creative. We went to the house riggers, Outback, and discovered they had been in negotiations with the original architects and engineers, and had got to a critical point when our show came along."
The production design for the MOBO Awards 2000 called for no less than 18 tonnes of equipment, including a massive Vari-Lite lighting system, Britannia Row’s Turbosound PA system and Black Pig’s video screens, to be rigged from a mothergrid flown from the roof. Outback’s Stuart Cooper explains: "The venue has given us more responsibility for rigging matters and we’ve been dealing directly with the roof’s original design team. The owners were aware that the roof loading was not helping them commercially, so a lot of effort has gone into finding a good solution."
Outback contacted Harry Garner, of consulting structural engineers Pel Frischmann, the original engineers of the roof, and worked with him on a solution. Garner suggested that instead of rigging from the beams, the show could be rigged directly from the giant 15ft-deep trusses that support the roof itself.
Chris Simpson of Alexandra Palace adds: "We are aiming to come up with a new figure for future productions and are working on changing the ‘headline rate’ that we advise to organisers, event producers and production companies."
Future events for MJK Productions include the BRIT Awards in February 2001 and the Dance Star Awards next summer.
