UK - Showsec has been awarded the contract to provide security for the entire Rockness festival, building on five successful years supplying specific elements of this popular Scottish event.

Rockness, the recently announced winner of the 2011 NME Awards for Best Small Festival, is committed to achieving the highest levels of customer service for the 30,000 festival goers expected across the weekend of the 10-12 June. 2011.

Showsec area manager Scott Anderson says, "We are excited to be working with Rockness for the fifth year and we believe the decision to extend our services across the entire site demonstrates our continual progression across all areas of our service. This contract reflects our expansion in the Scottish market, with an ever-increasing local staff capability underpinning our growth."

Jim King, festival director at Rockness, sta

UK - The Arena Group managed the UK media compound and supplied a series of temporary media structures around Buckingham Palace and The Mall for the Royal Wedding of Prince William and Catherine Middleton.

The Department of Media and Culture planned and implemented a wide ranging transformation of the capital city to host the Royal Wedding, engaging the Arena Group months ahead to manage the temporary media structures for host broadcasters, the BBC and ITV.

Arena Group senior project manager David Moynes worked with 'built asset consultancy' E.C Harris to plan the design and position of multiple temporary media facilities for the BBC and ITV, before installing them ready for the big day.

Working with these multiple stakeholders and security agencies at some of London's most sensitive locations, the Arena Group successfully managed the UK media compound in Green Park behind C

Korea - The Arena Group's continued expansion saw a new Arena International Asia business get off to a successful start at this April's Ballantine's Championship.

The Arena Group's increased international capabilities now extend into the Far East, with a permanent base set up in Kuala Lumpar, Malaysia. This new venture is underpinned by significant investment, broadening the company's global services to now provide temporary events overlay, temporary structures, seating, interior design and fit-out to prestigious clients from offices across three continents.

Greg Lawless, Arena Group CEO, says, "The global Arena Group has developed from a highly respected UK based business, with an exceptional 'blue ribbon' client base and a reputation for delivering consistently high quality events infrastructure. The logical step for the business, in response to client's requests and bu

Dubai - A regular exhibitor at PALME Middle East, Unusual Rigging & Engineering was there promoting the broad array of services and products it offers in the Middle East, with excellent results, said Alan Thomson, managing partner at Unusual Rigging & Engineering.

Since the show finished on April 28, the company has already supplied equipment to a significant number of new clients in the region and is now following up many requests for quotes. Such positive indicators lead the company to book its stand for 2012 before this year's event closed.

Unusual Rigging & Engineering's recent projects have included the Zaha Hadid Pavilion at the Abu Dhabi Festival, the Laureus Awards ceremony in Abu Dhabi, the Kuwait Centre of Autism and Ferrari World, Abu Dhabi.

Alan Thomson was on the stand with project manager Leon Ingram, along with Denis Bramhall, the UK's Operations Manager and S

Australia - This year's Logie awards, Australia's awards for television, was again produced by GTV9 and staged at the Crown Palladium.

Showtech Australia was called on to support the GTV9 team to supply rigging services for the rigging of all the lighting, sound and staging elements for the production.

Rohan Thornton, GTV9's lighting supervisor, also requested Showtech director and senior rigger Tiny Good deliver the automation for the movement of set elements detailed in the scenic design.

After the success of the Carlos by Candlelight 2010 production using Stage Technologies winches, this system was now pressed into service to move the elements on Showtech tacking system.

Thornton requested that the system should be fast, smooth, and allow for multiple 'looks' and sequential moves, but also be fast and flexible to operate and deliver changes during the rehearsals

UAE - Al Laith Event Services built a 9,390 seat temporary arena at JBR (Jumeirah Beach Residences) to host the recent completely sold out first leg of the 2011 Red Bull X-Fighters world tour 2011 in Dubai with 15,000 spectators. It was the first time the event has come to the UAE.

It is one of the largest amounts of seating that the company has ever supplied at a single event. The project was managed for Al Laith by Ross Cameron, who worked alongside 120 crew including scaffers, climbers and riggers, in the process constructing grandstands around three sides of the arena, and installing media platforms, five camera platforms, two large format LED screen supports, 1Km of police barriers, 400m of Mojo crowd barriers and 1.8Km of Heras fencing, complete with tele-handling vehicles and scissor lifts and other access equipment and assorted other site infrastructure elements.

Al La

UK - Over 350 people descended on LS-Live's headquarters in West Yorkshire on for the launch party of its new studio facilities, stages and the unveiling of its new training centre, The Backstage Academy.

Entertainment industry professionals, product manufacturers, production managers, students, school and college officials, arrived for a day of tours and celebration in South Kirkby, where LS-Live operates Europe's largest rehearsal space, staging structures rental, set design and build, and equipment rental for the events industry.

Guests enjoyed entertainment by acts such as Rosie Doonan, The Jon Strong Band and Skint & Demoralised, on a stage erected in the LS-Live rehearsal studio and lit by HSL, took tours around the facilities and saw where Backstage Academy courses will take place on the site of the studio. They were also treated to a BBQ, bar, aerialists, a laser show,

UK - In August 2010, Unusual Rigging was approached by London's Victoria and Albert Museum to solve two rigging issues. The V&A's major exhibition galleries have plenty of headroom, but, historically, prior to Unusual's solution, it had not been viable to hang anything due to a number of factors including restricted access.

Project manager for Unusual, Robin Elias, explains, "We were asked to design a system which would facilitate two things: the first was a way of displaying two 10m x 15m theatre back-cloths by Picasso, in the North Court Gallery for six months for the Museum's major exhibition Diaghilev and the Golden Age of the Ballets Russes 1909-1929. The second was to create some way to facilitate the hanging of lighting and other electrical equipment for future exhibitions in the North Court gallery.

A system which could be reformatted to provide a solution

UK - SES has released the first 32A 230V CLEAR backed Cee form connector into the European market.

Manufactured by Scame, and available exclusively from SES, this follows the success of the 16A range which is now specified by several users in the entertainment industry. Having the clear back on the connectors enables the user to check the integrity and connections inside without the time consuming strip down process saving time and money.

These units are now in stock at SES along with the 16A version and can be sold as loose connectors or indeed on HO7 extension cables.

(Jim Evans)

UK - Le Mark's StudioTak High Gloss flooring was chosen for The Overtones' latest TV advertisement which airs over the spring and summer months.

Recorded for the launch of their new album Good Ol' Fashioned Love, the set design made the most of the exceptional high gloss surface of the floor. The creative back-lighting bounced off the floor, giving "an incredible 'water' effect".

Le Mark's Stuart Gibbons notes, "It's great to see the floor used in this way, high gloss works so well with creative lighting and really gives a clean, stylish effect - Perfect for the release of the boys' new album, we wish them all the best of luck."

(Jim Evans)

UK - A.C. Entertainment Technologies' Rigging Division's first two-day Rigging School of 2011 was completely sold out and a great success.

The Rigging School - a training partnership between A.C. Rigging, Prolyte and the Wakefield based Backstage Academy - was hosted at the LS-LIVE Studio in Wakefield.

Fourteen pupils attended the course, representing a variety of different industry sectors. They included freelancers, rental company staff and venue riggers.

Independent rigging expert Eric Porter led the course, which covered a comprehensive range of topics including regulations and risk assessment, standards and guidance, PPE systems for working at height, ropes and knots, inspection and records, lifting principles, basic science, angled loads, truss assembly and slinging / floating, bridle work (theoretical & practical), bridle analysis (load calculations), chain hoists and

UK / Czech Republic - The Stage Technologies Group has confirmed its silver sponsorship of the British Architecture Exhibit at The Prague Quadrennial 2011 in conjunction with the ABTT.

The event takes place from 16-26 June in Prague and is the premier international showcase for scenic design and theatre architecture, attracting theatre professionals from all around the world.

The British Architecture Exhibit is being co-ordinated and curated by Tim Foster and Iain Mackintosh. It will be a proud celebration of The Guthrie Legacy, tracing the development of the Guthrie thrust stage from that initial appearance at The Edinburgh Assembly Hall in 1948, through to the newly completed Royal Shakespeare Theatre in Stratford-upon-Avon in 2011. This development will be explored through five specially commissioned same-scale 3D architectural models of The Edinburgh Assembly Hall, The Fes

UK - Following the success of last year's PLASA International Rigging Conference, PLASA Events announces the return of this pioneering two-day event to be held once again alongside PLASA 2011, at Earls Court, London on Monday 12 and Tuesday 13 September.

The first PLASA Rigging Conference took place amidst universal acclaim from the global entertainment rigging community. Over 200 delegates attended from 22 countries and gave an overwhelming endorsement to the return of the conference this year.

Robin Elias, technical director, Unusual Rigging states, "The first PLASA Rigging Conference, last September, was opened in style by our managing director and mentor Alan Jacobi LVO. Under the guidance of Chris Higgs the conference proved to be a huge success, bringing together a wealth of knowledge and experience from across the globe. Raising for discussion some very interesting

UK - West Yorkshire-based rehearsal studio, staging, and set construction company LS-Live has announced a merger with Acorn Event Solutions.

The deal boosts LS-Live's stock of staging and trussing equipment so that it has become one of the largest staging rental companies in the marketplace. The company, which offers complete staging solutions for festivals, concerts, theatre productions and corporate events, now stocks ranges of Space Roof, Dome Roof, Mini and Midi stages, and staging equipment that comprises 17,500sq.m of Layher Event Deck alone.

Andy Nutter joins LS-Live as operations director, having headed up Acorn Event Solutions since 2006, during which time it has provided staging solutions for Swansea's BBC Proms in the Park, Leeds' Opera in the Park, the Goodwood Festival of Speed, Frieze Art Fair, the Silverstone Grand Prix, Mini's 50th Birthday at Excel in London a

UK - Star Events Group has confirmed that it has bought the assets of SRC and Stages UK Ltd, in the process creating probably the largest rental fleet of mobile stages in Europe.

The company now offers a range of 12 competitively priced mobile stages. Sizes now available are from 8m x 6m up to the 15m x 12m SAM stage. Included in the acquisition were cable ramps & front of stage barrier all of which can travel inside the stages along with motors and risers offering a saving in transport costs and 'one stop shop" to event organisers.

(Jim Evans)

UK - Le Maitre have introduced a new range to their Prostage II brand of pyrotechnics. The "VS" - Virtually Smokeless range has the distinct advantage of a very low smoke output, greatly enhancing the resulting visual effect, says the company.

"We are absolutely delighted with the result" says Rick Wilson, sales director of Le Maitre. "The VS range is in line with our continuous strategy of introducing the best range of visually stunning pyrotechnics in the market. The drastically reduced smoke levels ensure that spectators get to see the effects at their very best"

"We have introduced three products to date - VS Flames, VS Flares and VS Starbursts, and there will be more to follow over the coming months".

The VS Flares produce an intensely coloured 1-2ft flare that burns for a maximum duration of 30 seconds and are available in red, g

USA - With a focus on bringing new technology to the attention of key designers and users, Total Structures has stepped up to sponsor the Broadway Lighting Master Classes, being held 24-25 May at NYU's Skirball Center for the Performing Arts.

In its 17th edition, the Broadway Lighting Master Classes give attendees the opportunity to learn from some of the best known lighting designers in their field and see the latest developments in lighting technology from industry leaders.

After being named the best new product by Live Design at last year's awards, the RSC Lightlock will be on display during this year's manufacturer showcase, giving students the chance to see this technology in person. They will also have the chance to speak with Don Holder, the first lighting designer to employ the RSC Lightlock in a Broadway production.

"It makes perfect sense for us to spon

UK - Gruv Gear, the Californian manufacturer of utility carts, hand trucks and music accessories, has signed a deal with Adam Hall to distribute its product line to the European market.

The deal, which was announced at the Musikmesse, Frankfurt, follows a meeting at the 2011 Winter NAMM show in Anaheim, California, where daily visits from Adam Hall's Markus Jahnel reinforced the positive interest he expressed from day one, Gruv Gear says.

"We had overwhelming attention from dealers and distributors from all over the world." says Jay Baldemor, president of Gruv Gear. "Markus definitely became one of the most familiar faces by the end of the show, and that says a lot about Adam Hall's sincere desire and commitment in working with us.

"We talked to guys from Italy, Spain, the UK and others, but I'm thoroughly impressed with what Adam Hall puts on the table.

Spain / Portugal - The Arena Group is on course for a triple victory this May, strengthening its presence in Spain and Portugal by supplying event structures at three PGA golf championships.

The Spanish Open Golf Championship was hosted at Real Club de Golf El Prat in Barcelona, 5-8 May, 2011, and it produced a couple of firsts. South Africa's Thomas Aiken claimed his first major international victory, whilst the Arena Group supplied all temporary structures and events overlay to the event for the first time.

Shortly afterwards, Arena will also be supplying a variety of temporary facilities to the Volvo World Match Play Championships in Spain and the Madeira Island Open BPI in Portugal, both of which fall on the same weekend, 19-22 May, 2011.

Working with their Madrid based partners Carpa 10, the Arena Group supplied more than 2,500 sq.m of bespoke temporary structures for t

UK - HHB has been appointed as exclusive distributor of Mogami cable in the UK and Ireland. The Mogami range now encompasses microphone, speaker, guitar, coaxial, video and digital interfacing cables, along with analogue and digital snakes.

HHB's Mogami product specialist Matthew Fletcher comments, "Any audio or video recording or production system is only as good as its weakest link and Mogami ensures that it isn't going to be the cabling that lets you down. From the tiniest lavalier microphone cable to a heavy duty digital snake, every Mogami cable is designed and manufactured to perform at the highest levels."

Speaking on behalf of Mogami, president of sales Lew Hirabayashi says, "We're delighted to appoint HHB as our exclusive distributor for the UK and Ireland, a company that shares our commitment to quality, reliability and customer service. HHB has a comp

UK - Hoist UK Limited hopes to stimulate growth and employment in the UK economy by the launching of sister company Truss UK Limited.

Truss UK will promote "British engineering at its best with innovative product development for the entertainment industry offering quality at every stage".

One of the many products in the forthcoming Truss UK catalogue that will be showcased at the ABTT trade show in London during June will be the TT range of trussing systems.

"The TT product is one of the most versatile trussing systems you would ever buy, therefore probably the only trussing system you will ever have to buy; offering the strength of medium duty truss in a compact configuration", says Hoist UK's Tony Dickson.

"The TT range of truss is different in the fact that it can be used any way round in almost any configuration, with the new products designed

World - Petzl have issued a immediate inspection notice for Absorbica lanyards used in entertainment rigging alongside a recall notice on their sports SCORPIO via ferrata energy absorbing lanyards.

Following an accident involving a via ferrata on the 5th of May 2011, Petzl launched a voluntary product safety alert to all users of the SCORPIO via ferrata lanyards (L60 and L60CK) manufactured prior to March 2005 and all Absorbica energy absorbing lanyards manufactured before May 17th 2011 up to serial number 11137****.

As a consequence Petzl has decided to take the following actions:

1. Temporary stoppage of all Petzl tear webbing lanyard production.

2. Temporary stoppage of the sale of all stock of SCORPIO and ABSORBICA tear webbing lanyards for inspection before resuming sales.

3. Extension of the product safety alert of 13.05.11 to include all Petzl SCORPIO energy absor

Olympic Countdown - BBC Radio 1 have announced that they will hold their annual free music festival in east London in the run-up to the 2012 Olympics. Leona Lewis and Plan B are among the artists confirmed for the two-day event at Hackney Marshes. BBC Radio 1's Hackney Weekend 2012 will take place on 23 and 24 June with 100,000 tickets available.

The event, more than double the capacity of previous Big Weekends, will feature six stages of music. The majority of the tickets for BBC Radio 1's Hackney Weekend 2012 are being allocated to people living in Hackney and the surrounding boroughs. The announcement was made during a special simulcast broadcast by BBC Radio 1 and BBC Radio 1Xtra from the Olympic Park.

Radio 1 and 1Xtra's controller Andy Parfitt said: "This is the most ambitious event in the station's 44-year history. We aim to enhance the overall London 2012 s

UK / USA - PLASA will update its members on a significant 12 months when it meets for its AGM and Members Lunch in a couple of weeks' time in central London.

It's just a year since members of PLASA and ESTA voted to merge the two Associations, and in the intervening 12 months, PLASA has reinvented key elements of its operations introducing a new membership structure, a new Governance system and election process, granting the vote to Organizational and Individual members, and launching a complete new PLASA logo and identity.

Whilst the day will reflect on the achievements of the last year, it will also invite members to feedback on what they'd like to see PLASA doing for their specific business sectors, additional services they feel should be offered and the role they'd like to see PLASA taking in the wider industry.

The formalities however, are a relatively small part of the

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