Stagetec, Slough, England-based lighting and sound sales and installation specialists, designed and installed two complete show lighting rigs for two different arenas at the new Ice Sheffield, £15.7 million international sports venue.
Ice Sheffield provides two Olympic-sized rinks. It is a multi-purpose center of excellence, designed to host world class sporting events, ice shows and ice sports, as well as family fun and corporate entertainments. Stagetec’s MD Andy Stone and Matt Miles managed the project for the two rinks, the Leisure Arena and the Performance Arena, which both needed completely different lighting ambiences.
The Leisure arena is utilized for everyday public, private bookings, and corporate events. Lighting here is more disco-y and light entertainment-based. To add color and movement, eight Martin Pro 918 scanners and six Martin Pro 400 color wash fixtures were specified. These can be run on their own as a versatile, lively effects lighting rig, or boosted with 48 PAR cans that supply a blast of incandescence. There are also three 20” mirror balls.
The lighting desk is a Compulite Rave, and there are 60 channels of ANYtronics dimming, ANYtronics switch packs and Compulite DMX splitters. A RIM 800 Fire Alarm interface was installed in the Dimmer room to isolate the power supply to the lighting in case of fire.
The Performance Arena is geared to professional events and competitions, complete with a 1500 audience capacity. Lighting in here is more serious and aimed at illuminating action on the ice, rather then creating pretty patterns and distractions.
Here six Pro 918s and 96 PARs were used, together with another Compulite Rave, which can be located in different positions around the arena. The lighting is programmed for a basic three-color wash.
The Rave console was picked because of its compact size and great user-friendliness, as the lights will be primarily operated by a staff who are not lighting specialists, and sometimes, in the Leisure arena by a light jockey. The Rave is specifically designed for use by mobile DJs who want to create eye-catching lightshows quickly, and without needing a programming degree to operate the desk.
As part of the commissioning process, Miles undertook on-site training with three Ice Sheffield staff, familiarizing them with the desk and the lighting system’s operational procedures.
Stagetec also supplied 35 lengths of Prolyte X30V trussing for the arenas and Andolite pre-wired lighting bars for the PARs. The installation operation went smoothly in a tight six-week period, during which Stagetec’s 6-person crew worked closely with two giant scissor-lifts to access the 40’ high roof beams.