Tomcat UK at Wallingford Corn Exchange

UK - When the stage fly system of the Wallingford Corn Exchange was condemned by load inspectors, Philip Burton, the venue's new volunteer general manager, turned to Tomcat UK who sent their technical manager, Paul Jordan, to the venue. "The project was a challenging one for us," says Jordan, who was one of the first to survey the system. "The existing system was suspended from small tube members resting on the internals of the building's cast iron portal frames. The pulleys were of unknown origin and ropes were of different constructions. The gallery platform support structure was manufactured from a scaffold-type arrangement which had a timber top and was buried into the side stage walls without any exterior fixings. The existing header beam arrangement consisted of a 2" diameter tube slung between the cast iron portals, which had a timber beam clamped to it with eyes screwed into the timber. These eyes were the diverters for the ropes coming off the fly bars, to direct them into the cleats on the fly gallery level. The position of this diverter beam was also incorrectly positioned in the venue." In short, the whole thing needed replacing - and there only two weeks in which to do it.

The existing pulley support tubes, which were no more than 75mm in diameter, needed to be removed and replaced with a suitably sized universal beam, which would need to be fixed to the cast iron portal frame in such a way as to not cause any damage to the fabric of the 1856 building. Tomcat designed a steel clamp to fit the cast iron portal from both sides with a fixing to secure the universal beam. It was also decided that the existing fly gallery platform was not suitable and so a new fly galley level, slightly lower, was created to give better working conditions.

For the installation, 16 new manual fly bars were installed, each consisting of three hemp rope drops, with a header beam and pulley assembly dropping the ropes vertically into the cleats on the fly gallery, in a tight side area. The system also consisted of four winch bars suspending three LX bars and a cinema screen, which some dead hang points were created for off the new beams, so the load could be taken off the winch suspending it. The whole project was completed in two weeks from the date of order.

Flying systems are just the beginning as this project marks the start of a new era as Tomcat launches it's 'Lifting and Handling Solutions' division, operating out of the Wirral-based premises. "We aim to provide our customers with realistic and cost effective solutions to their lifting and handling needs whether industrially or entertainment based", said Paul Jordan, who is spearheading this new division of Tomcat Global.

(Lee Baldock)

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