New Music Venue - Regulatory information, H&S, etc

[RyanE]

Hello.

 

Hopefully this is the right place for this post, couldn't really seem to fit it in any more suitable.

 

A friend of mine is thinking of utilising an industrial unit that he owns to run club nights and gigs.

 

Currently, in the planning stage, it has got us both thinking about what regulations pertinent to entertainments need to be adhered to.

 

I am thinking H&S regulations - things like, power, rigging of equipment, noise levels and control, capacities and I'm sure many many more that we haven't thought of yet.

 

Could anyone point me in the direction of where you find more information on this 'can of worms'???

 

Thanks very much in advance.

[slim_mcslim]

There is only one place you will get the answers you require...

 

Unless the industrial unit has previously been used as a nightclub it will require planning permission for change of use from probably class B1 to D2 which is a leisure building. The cost of this will depend on the sq footage of the unit and can run into the hundreds of thousands.

 

The requirements that you will then have to conform to will be stipulated by the licensing authority, they will set noise levels, light levels access restrictions and these are a whole set of hoops to jump through. Then depending on what the local authorities licensing rules are if you are applying for a premises licence in a place thats already considered "full" of establishments you may only get a licence when an existing venue closes. Certainly where I live the council will only issue licences on a 1 for 1 basis so no more establishments can open up, obviously this isn't law, its a council policy and councils can change and policies can be repealed.

 

First thing to do would be to phone the planning dept of your local council, and ask them the feasability of the idea, they should give you an indication of whether it would be a goer before you would need to engage a planning solicitor. If the unit is on an industrial estate, then be prepared to face a lot of opposition from possibly the estate owners and neighbouring businesses, and if the industrial unit is near any houses then I would forget it now, the ammount of sound proofing that would need to be done to an industrial unit to make it not leak noise I couldn't see anyone granting a premises licene for that.

 

P.

[paulears]

Excellent reply you just got - you've also got potential issues with very basic features such as foul water capability. The number of loos is also linked to capacity, and most industrial units have no greater capacity than an average house - the water companies rarely design the underground services for large quantities of effluent - same thing with water coming in. What do you have? A bit of 22mm copper from the plastic intake? Getting these things put right can cost huge amounts of money too - and toilet facilities is one thing on the big list of must haves.

[Jivemaster]

Also a storage unit may not even have enough power coming in for heat light etc, while a machine shop may!

 

Consider the roof! Will it keep sound IN or does it barely keep the rain out Roofs are hugely expensive.

 

All this assuming that your business model is sound.........

[Andrew C]

Reading around the Building Regulations and The Yellow Book will give detailed (perhaps too detailed at this stage) information of fire exits, stairs, number of toilets etc.

 

http://images-eu.amazon.com/images/P/1904031536.01.MZZZZZZZ.jpg

[Modge]

I know of a few venue's where this has been done and was quite closely involved with one for a while. As such I can offer a word of encouragement: all the problems listed above where met and over come, as well as giving you another problem to keep in the back of the mind. A Warehouse roof rarely has lots of spare weight capacity. You will need to bear that in mind when you think about the technical equipment: can you hang pa? What if any lighting can you hang? I could possibly put you in touch with a guy who's not far passed opening a club in these circumstances, if that helps.

[RyanE]

Thanks very much for the replies with this.

 

I will certainly check out the Building Regs and the Yellow Book, they seem to be the kind of direction I was hoping for.

 

Thanks again