Durham initially began work in January, having been brought in by John Teeman, executive producer for LCR, who had seen his work on The Queen's Golden Jubilee and the recent Winter Olympics in Turin. "My brief," continues Durham, "was for a theatrical reveal of the station. The main challenge was that it's been beautifully restored and architecturally is already very well lit. Having decided that an orchestral and AV presentation would underscore the event, we were led to the need for a big infrastructure installation - that is, lots of trusses.
"Flux Events took care of all the logistical planning and PRG Europe and Unusual Rigging did a terrific job in what was a very difficult working environment. Because drivers were being trained and overhead power cables were live, no steps or ladders were allowed on site, ever."
Some 40 of the new Clay Paky Alpha Profile 1200 luminaires were used, with, as Durham explains: "its great optics, full gate shuttering and fantastic reliability, which was paramount in this environment, especially when the 25,000v overhead wires were switched on."
The exterior of the building was illuminated with 30 Mac 2k washes and 10 Philips ArenaVisions along the eastern side; four 4-head Skytrackers for aerial effects; and the main façade was lit by three 50,000W and two 100,000W SoftSuns. In addition to the hundreds of automated lights, the project also used ten 10kW and 20 5kW Syncrolite searchlights and 300m of ArcLine.
The event's executive producer was Jon Teeman and the show's creative director was Mark Fisher. Sound Design was by Derek Zieba and TV direction by Aubrey Powell. Lighting was supplied by PRG Europe and programmed by Ross Williams on a Wholehog III for the interior, and John Sinden on a GrandMA for the exterior. Lighting production management was by James Tomlinson and Peter Marshall for PRG Europe and associate LD was Nick Jones.
To read the full story of the High Speed 1 launch event, see the December issue of Lighting&Sound International magazine.
(Jim Evans)
