Operating under the 'Home' umbrella, the new complex boasts six different trading themes (and two outside smoking areas) - starting with The Lounge Bar & Kitchen, a ground floor restaurant / bar with all-day trading. But it is on the second floor - in the space which originally served as a NAAFI Ballroom - that six SGM Idea Scan 250, four Idea Beam 300 and six Idea Wash 575 heads have been imaginatively designed into the overhead rig by SGM UK's Ian Kirby and installed by Over Audio of Liverpool.
These are joined by four of the new SGM X-5 LED strobes about which resident LD Richard Whiteley comments, "I couldn't wait to get my hands on these - and I can see what all the fuss has been about. This presents an entirely new way of strobing in a much more compact energy efficient package."
While one pair of X-5's are positioned high on the balcony, which overlooks the dancefloor, the other two send high speed flashes from the opposite end of the room, in front of the stage.
Meanwhile, SGM's fully-featured moving heads and scanners scatter saturated colour around a stunning LED chandelier ceiling, designed by Kirby, spraying gobo patterns around the floor. Controlled from a ShowCAD Artist PC, Whiteley observed of the SGM fixtures, "These are brilliant - in fact they give you almost too much choice in their palette of colours and gobo options."
Interior designer Graham Taylor (Easy Design Solutions) has personalised every floor, from the dark Studio 'retro' nightclub feel of the basement - redolent of classic New York disco, and complete with Studio 54 memorabilia - to Outside@Home, the light, airy bar with a spacious outdoor roof terrace, while further up the Reserve VIP Lounge offers a sumptuous private environment.
On the next floor is the Home nightclub itself - billed 'The Main Event' - and above that The Loft, a smaller urban/R&B room, with its own DJ booth.
(Jim Evans)
