The main requirement of Unusual was to provide a focal point to the march in the absence of a rally at the end. Due to the number of people involved, it was essential that the focal point addressed the need for efficient dispersal at the end of the march. Unusual designed a 28m wide double arch structure to span the width of Whitehall. Two of these units were positioned directly north and south of The Cenotaph. Between the two structures, the marchers were counted and a digital messaging board on the southern arch displayed the total number of marchers, who had passed through the counting zone. Built with standard GP truss, the structures were clad on the faces, sides and top with branded mesh banners. Prefabricated in sections at Unusual’s base in Northamptonshire, the arches were transported on four 40ft trailers to Whitehall.
The time available for installation was distinctly tight. The earliest possible start time was 0630 on Sunday morning. Production riggers Robin Elias and Simon Stone each had a rigging team, a 30 tonne crane and a few hundred thousand marchers descending upon them sometime soon after ten ‘o’ clock. The arches were built; the cranes, telehandler, trucks, vans and cherry picker offsite and all branding in place for 09.45. At 17.30 the same day the derig began in order to clear Whitehall by 20.00, when the road reopened to traffic. By nine ‘o’ clock on Sunday evening, there was no sign that anything had happened in London.
(Lee Baldock)
