BRAND EXPERIENCES

BALLANTINE’S ORBIT BUILDING TOUR

The project started as a brief from brand agency KLP to design a structure for a one-off New Year’s Eve party for Ballantine’s clients in the Italian ski resort of Madonna di Campiglio. The structure needed to be capable of supporting the potential snow loads involved and to be able to be erected on a raked car park in the centre of the resort. Nine Yards specified a space frame roof structure 25x50m with internal bars, dance floor and VIP area.

The event was so successful it developed into an eighteen-month tour of fourteen ski resorts in seven European countries. We developed a bespoke version of the structure to act as an Internet café during the day and club at night, designing the building interior to include a stage, mezzanine level, café and bars. The modular structure could be configured according to the local space and programme of events, which included a Prodigy show in Val D’Isere. We supplied all staff and services for this tour.

OUTDOOR PUBLIC EVENTS

VISA LONDON 2012 PARTY 2008

Organised by LOCOG and the BBC, this event marked the moment London became the next Olympic host city. It consisted of a large multi-artist show staged in front of Canada Gate and relayed to the Mall and St James’s Park via seven LED screens. The site infrastructure was built in eight days and the client brief stipulated public access must be maintained to Buckingham Palace and the surrounding parks.

We were contracted by live event producers ES Projects to provide the core site management team to undertake the site layout and design, project budgeting and scheduling, procurement of infrastructure and services, and co-ordination of facilities for the BBC and news media.

TELEVISION

T4 ON THE BEACH 2010

This one-day ticketed outdoor event is staged on the beach at Weston-super-Mare annually. Broadcast live by Channel 4, it was attended by fifty thousand people in 2010.

Nine Yards has been contracted by television production company Done And Dusted to manage the site co-ordination and build for the live event since 2005.

The beach location brings technical and logistical challenges and we work hard to create a show which is both atmospheric and safe. We produce CAD plans of the site layout, liaise with the licensing authority and emergency services, co-ordinate health & safety documentation, produce and run the budget, specify equipment and manage contractors as well as selecting and managing the production staff required and scheduling the build and get out.

CONCERTS AND FESTIVALS

V FESTIVAL, HYLANDS PARK & WESTON PARK

Taking place over four days, V is broadcast by Channel 4. It has ten stages split between its two sites and more than eighty acts. The audience in 2010 was one hundred and seventy thousand, with over seventy percent camping on site.

Nine Yards has been responsible for the event management of the entire show since its inception fourteen years ago. The role encompasses liaising with stakeholders including Virgin Media, Absolute Radio, Carling, Bacardi and Strongbow, as well as media and broadcasters. We produce and distribute all CAD plans, manage the health & safety process, co-ordinate all submissions, paperwork and meetings. As well as booking and managing the production team, we staff and co-ordinate all technical aspects of the show, from creating the sites’ infrastructure and overseeing logistics, to booking show production facilities such as staging, audio, lighting, video and stage management.

TEMPORARY BUILDINGS

THE MIDLAND BANK ARENA, BATTERSEA POWER STATION 1997

This dramatic structure was erected in front of the riverside façade of Battersea Power Station to provide a six thousand seat, purpose-designed arena for fourteen concerts and an exhibition over a three-week period.

The brief from the client included providing a stunning external treatment of the building with architectural lighting and the Midland logo rendered in huge neon letters on top of the structure. The innovative structure (it was the first time a tower system building was used in the UK) required extensive ground works before construction commenced and was erected without an off-site test build in just twelve days by suppliers ESS. We were contracted as the technical project managers for a twelve-month period working on the building specification, design and services, planning permission (as the structure was in situ for more than twenty eight days), site infrastructure and scheduling.

TOURING PRODUCTIONS

SMASH HITS POLLWINNERS’ PARTY AND ARENA TOUR 2001-2005

Promoted by media company EMAP to develop their Smash Hits magazine and TV brands, the show was staged in arenas throughout the UK for audiences of up to twelve thousand a night.

Nine Yards was the live event production company for both elements of this project; the three-week arena tour with a rolling cast of performers, as well as the live broadcast TV show from London on Channel 4. Part of the brief was to provide set and lighting designs for the tour which could be incorporated into the larger television production. This allowed us to maximise the design and fabrication budgets, as well as to provide design and brand continuity between the tour and TV show. We worked with EMAP and the TV production team on the show creation and design, and co-ordinated all elements of the live production, including supplying the tour and stage management team and working with the event sponsors on branding.