GreatBigHippy Posted January 31, 2014 Share Posted January 31, 2014 Hi all,I'm currently involved in a new fit out for a venue where we are currently discussing installing some lighting bridges for access. The contractors have asked for any photos that I can provide them to give them a better idea of how they look in venues and how they are used safely. I have found a few images searching on t'internet but not a lot and not very high quality. I wondered if anyone out there had them installed in their venue (new or old) and if so, if they would be so kind as to send me a few snaps?Many thanks,Anthony Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alistermorton Posted January 31, 2014 Share Posted January 31, 2014 Not my venue, but one I've been in; the lighting rig at Questors in Ealing is accessible by walking directly from the control booth onto a gantry that reaches all the FOH and over stage bars. Worth contacting them for pictures? There are plenty of venues with tensioned steel wire mesh access to their lighting rigs, too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GreatBigHippy Posted January 31, 2014 Author Share Posted January 31, 2014 Tensioned wire grids I have experience of, but for various reasons it doesn't look like the right solution for this space. Thank you for the suggestion though :)Thanks for the theatre reference also, I know of one local theatre that has a bridge that I hope to visit but for some reason pictures of the lighting bridges aren't the first thing on their websites... not rock'n'roll enough I guess ;) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alistermorton Posted January 31, 2014 Share Posted January 31, 2014 Worth a try - I've found the people at Questors very helpful and friendly. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kerry davies Posted January 31, 2014 Share Posted January 31, 2014 Bacon Theatre has one picture here but give Dave a call, tell him I have retired and that should result in such joy he will send you plenty of detail. A good man, Mr Thompson. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robin D Posted January 31, 2014 Share Posted January 31, 2014 The New Wolsey in Ipswich has access to everything I think. See take the tour near the bottom of this page. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gareth Posted January 31, 2014 Share Posted January 31, 2014 I guess we're talking about 'retrofitting' a lighting bridge into an existing space, rather than incorporating one into a new-build? One example which springs to mind is the Old Vic in Waterloo - they have a new-ish FOH lighting bridge accessible from the top boxes each side. Liverpool Empire have a solution which is a bit different, but perhaps equally valid - a permanent advance truss with a walkway for focussing from. I'm sure there are other examples as well, which I can't quite bring to mind at the moment - will have a think! If, on the other hand, you're talking about lighting bridges which are actually incorporated into the venue as part of the architecture, then you just need to look at pretty much any venue built in the last third of the 20th century! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WiLL Posted January 31, 2014 Share Posted January 31, 2014 heres a link to a few bad pics I just took on a camcorder I have lying around of the gantries I have in my venue. 30 years old now, I have two, and I retrofitted two winchable trusses between the gantries which you can see in there two. Ladders just hook on when needed and live on the gantries when not.album edit: if it takes you to a menu page just click on the album 'lighting gantries' at the left hand side. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paulears Posted January 31, 2014 Share Posted January 31, 2014 Is it just me, but the people who will be charging you lots of money for your theatre fit out, don't know what a lighting bridge looks like? Are they the right people to be doing it? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gareth Posted January 31, 2014 Share Posted January 31, 2014 Is it just me, but the people who will be charging you lots of money for your theatre fit out, don't know what a lighting bridge looks like? Are they the right people to be doing it? I have to admit, Paul, this did ring a small alarm bell in my head as well - when GBH mentioned that it was the contractors who were looking for information, rather than consultants or architects. However, we still don't know the answer to my question of whether this is a venue being built from the ground up, a refurbishment of an old space, or a 'retrofit' lighting bridge being proposed as part of a scheme of improvements. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GR1 Posted January 31, 2014 Share Posted January 31, 2014 I agree with Paul. Get a theatre consultant in. General contractors won't have the expertise to spec the job properly. You can't afford mistakes because the result will either be unsafe or unworkable. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
top-cat Posted February 1, 2014 Share Posted February 1, 2014 I agree with Paul. Get a theatre consultant in. General contractors won't have the expertise to spec the job properly. You can't afford mistakes because the result will either be unsafe or unworkable. Last year I came across a lighting gantry which has been installed by a non-theatre manufacturer who didn't really understand the way they were used properly. They were nicely fabricated - the welds were decent and material choices were good. The down stage sides were nice box section handrails and steel mesh so you couldn't fall / drop anything through. The floor was even carpeted to reduce noise when working. And there was a latchway-style steel wire rope catenary running the whole way along it so you could wear your work restraint harness for leaning out to focus fixtures. All good so far. The U/S side was where their inexperience showed. They'd been asked for 2 'levels' of scaff pipe for rigging one set of fixtures above another. They'd opted thus to use ladder beam for this. The unforseen problem then, was that you had to over-rig fixtures on the top chord because the diagonals were in the way of hanging them below. With some big fixtures, I'm sure we all agree over-rigging is a bit of a pain on the whole. They had also included a nice cable basket for running the cables into. This was a nice idea in theory but in practicality it just got in the way of all the fixtures. However the access was the highlight. This came from above - from the roof void - down a ladder. Nobody in the entire process had noticed that having a 3 metre ladder down to the gantry, where directly opposite the ladder was a 2-foot tall bit of ladder beam for fixtures, and no other guard, was a problem. Of course, had anyone slipped and fallen, the low height of the U/S side opposite the ladder would have most likely put them straight over the side and their 3m fall would now be a 13m fall. I have PM'd you a contact, I would suggest that the slightly increased initial outlay from using a theatre specialist will be very quickly offset by their experience in the field and avoidance of further expenditure making a less experienced design work properly. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GreatBigHippy Posted February 3, 2014 Author Share Posted February 3, 2014 I can see why that would worry you Paul. :)We are currently at the design stage and are exploring options. I may have misspoke as it was all concerned (contractors, architects etc.) who were asking. Its more of a "here's what I'm talking about, now go find someone who does them" scenario.Many thanks for the contact though, I shall be putting that under the correct noses. EDIT: missing whole words... Monday. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kerry davies Posted February 3, 2014 Share Posted February 3, 2014 One thing you might do is show them the QEH theatre on top of Park Street. It is a lovely space which I believe had the gantry added but they ran the electrical channeling right across the control room window. We had one of our best nights there but never went back as the LX and sound was more by luck than judgement. Cracking venue that was let down by not thinking holistically. Bridges and gantries might just float in space according to architects but they do have to be powered up and accessable somehow. Even the Bacon in Cheltenham seems to have added the access ladder as an afterthought and that is a good one. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
the kid Posted February 5, 2014 Share Posted February 5, 2014 have a quick google of backstage center they have a mix of fixed grid, tension wire and catwalk grids. also page 27 of LSI has some of the leys school that might be of some use. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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