event production ice rinks equipment hire safety services

TOTAL EVENT SOLUTIONS Event Production Ice Rinks Equipment Hire Safety Services

Events & Production

At 11th Hour we work with a range of well known clients to produce and deliver events which include outdoor festivals, gala dinners, conferences, community events, sporting events, and awards ceremonies.

11th Hour specialise in complete event production and the supply of technical equipment to the events industry. Our services includeproject management, staging, audio visual, power & distribution and fireworks displays.

Project ManagementStaging

Sound & LightingPower & Electrics

Audio VisualFireworks & Pyrotechnics

Ice Rinks

Temporary ice rinks are becoming an increasingly popular feature in the UK's winter landscape, offering a community asset that local authorities and private service providers alike, have found to be of great benefit.

Clients such as Vale of Glamorgan Council, Cardiff Winter Wonderland and Celtic Manor Resort have taken advantage of our expertise and enjoyed highly productive and stress-free installations.

Install & RemovalManagement

TicketingSponsorship

Design & Marketing

Equipment HireProviding the best equipment at an affordable price is of the upmost importance to us. We can supply anything from cable, to staging and the most complex of lighting rigs for audiences of up to 250,000.

Our clients include schools, community groups, world famous theatres, stadiums and independant event organisers.All of our equipment is tested by our highly skilled team of staff on site at our 13,000Sq Ft warehouse to ensure that it operates safely and to the best of its’ ability.

11th Hour also stock a fleet of generators ranging from 6kVA to500kVA, we’re ready to power your event.

Safety Services

Safety at live events is of paramount importance for organisers, suppliers to events and the public. 11th Hour offer a range of specialist safety services for the entertainment industry, including electrical testing of temporary and permanent installations along with LOLER examinations of equipment used for lifting.

With our in depth specialist knowledge of the entertainment industry and the equipment used within it 11th Hour are a trusted and recognised company by our clients.

LOLER TestingElectrical Safety Testing

Some examples of our diverse range of clients include:

RHS Flower Show Case Study

�e RHS’s flower show in Cardiff is the season opener for the society’s large public events and although smaller than its Chealsea and Hampton Court equivalents, it annually attracts in the region of 30,000 visitors. �e 2017 edition, the 12th staging of the event, took place in April at Bute Park and Arboretum,in the shadow of Cardiff Castle and once again proved to be a record-breaking spectacular. �emed around myths and legends, several of the show gardens took their inspiration from tales of magic and folklore and the sheer variety on offer at the show marked it as a special weekend in Cardiff’s cultural calendar. 50 specialist growers were present, educational workshops were held and the focus was firmly on visitors enjoying a relaxed atmosphere in which they could fully appreciate the variety on offer. �e Floral Marquees and plant village were bursting with demonstrations and fresh planting ideas and the season’s curtain-raiser was deemed an unqualified success by organisers and visitors.

Cardiff-Based Event and Project Management specialist, 11th Hour, was instrumental in powering the event, taking care of every electrical requirement, including those of themarquees, presentation stages and catering. 5 Members of 11th Hour’s highly experiencedteam worked on the site over a three week period, installing more than 5 miles of electrical cabling, as well as supplying 3 100kVA generators as back-up power supply. 85 x daylight lighting fixtures were installed in the floral marquees. During the course of the weekend itself, 11th Hour staff were on standby to consult with the organisers, assist with technical queries arising from exhibitors’ equipment and deal withany unfroseen issues arising.

John Davies, director at 11th Hour reflects on another successful project:

“We’ve looked after the RHS Cardiff Flower Show for the past 7 yearsand seen it grow year on year. As is the case for many such projects there’s always more to it than meets the eye and preparation is quite involved. Ultimately everything went smoothly and the organisers were delighted with another record-breakingshow. 11th Hour works across a huge range of projects, something emphasised by the fact that our next engagement in the capital involves looking after events associated with theUEFA Champions League Final, which visits in June.”

11th Hour is experiencing a sustained period of growth and has recently increased the size of its team to enable it to meet this growing demand. A busy summer lies ahead that will see 11th Hour operatingacross the UK, supplying stage structures, lighting, Sound and Video, as well as mains generation and distribution for a host of indoor, and outdoor events.

Cardiff’s Winter Wonderland

Situated directly in from of City Hall in Cardiff, Gorsedd Gardens is a busy green space which features,in one area of its well-kept environs, a stone circle constructed for the 1899 National Eisteddfod.Pedestrian traffic in this area is high, owing to the site’s proximity to a host of nearby institutions andover the years it has become a well-used area for civic events such as the Cardiff Big Weekend, whichreturns in 2017 in the hands of Pride Cymru. For the last fifteen years, the site has also hostedCardiff’s Winter Wonderland, without doubt the capital’s favourite festive celebration.

At Winter Wonderland, 11th Hour Supplied and installed an ice rink 40m x 20m. �e rink wassponsored by car insurance giants Admiral and work began on October 24th with the constructionof a deck system to support the rink. Once everything was in place the rink itself took two daysto construct and a further four days were required to achieve the necessary thickness of ice. �ewhole project, including the installation of 3,500km of festoon over the rink, the decorative lighting,theming and set up of skate-exchange took 18 days. �e accessibility of the site meant that allequipment was transported by HGV and a team of fourteen staff were responsible for the constructionand dismantling of the installation. Forty-eight staff were on duty at the Winter Wonderland rink duringoperating hous and welcomed more than 60,000 skaters, including TV weather girl Laura Tobin, whotook part in ITV’s UK tour of outdoor ice rinks and proclaimed Cardiff Best of All. Each differentinstallation presents unique challenges and 11th Hour has the flexibility and capacity to meet everydemand. Even location is carefully assessed to achieve the greateds efficiency during set-up. Havingtaken a little over two weeks to install, the Cardiff rink was removed in under ten days.

Rinks require a firm, even and stable grounding and deck systems are often used to achieve this. �e use of a highly efficient mat system of 300mm wide ice ribbonsis key to every install, large or small. �e system creates ice quickly using a non-toxic, bio-degradable refrigerant with high heat-transfer efficiency, comprising a 40/60blend of food--grade glycol antifreexe and water. To form the ice quickly, the chillers are set to -12C but once established, particularly in the controlledconditions offered by a covered rink, the rink surface can be maintained at around -2C - 0C,significantly reducing environmental impact and promoting energy cost savings. Whereice rinks are open to the elements, energy costs may be higher because of chillers workingharder to counteract the effects of higher ambient temperatures. Ice is checked regularlyduring the operation of the rink and its surface is maintained by either a machine or, in this case of small rinks, by hand. �e process by either method involves scraping awaythe surface, dispensing with the snow created by the process and sprayingwater to reinstate a smooth, slippery finish. �is takes place as required, typically betweensessions. Where possible, particularly at larger installations, the waste snow removed by a machine, known as a Zamboni, is placed into a heated tank where it is melted and re-usedfor the surfacing process. Covered ice rinks offer the certainty of skating in all weathers.11th Hour uses clear span marquee structuresthat offer an outdoor feel whilst protecting skaters from the elements. �e covering structuresare rated to withstand 80MPH winds and only at this point would a rink be closed. To date, no 11th Hour rink has been closed due to inclement weather, something that cannot be said ofuncovered outdoor rinks in the UK’s increasingly erratic winters. �is reliability ensuresthat skaters are happy, revenue streams are unaffected and environmental impact is reduced by the capacity to maintain the surface in the most efficient way possible.

Norman Sayers of Sayers Amusements was pleased with the success of the rink: “It was great to see live national television broadcasting from the Admiral Ice Rink at Winter Wonderland. �ey wereCertainly impressed with our set up, especially the fact that the rink is Covered. Obviously, this means thatthe weather can’t interfere and we’ve seen a record number of skaters taking to the ice this year.”

11th Hour events have been an approved supplier of temporary power distribution systems, structures, site lighting and stage lighting to Cardiff Council Events Team events since 2006.

Directors Andy Hopkins and John Davies have provided excellent support for all our requirements which is helped by their thorough knowledge of our event sites and venues gleaned from many years of experience of working in Cardiff.

Whatever new project or venue we have thrown at them, the challenge has been accepted and they have worked with us to produce the best solution that delivers for the event. �eir long term involvement with our events has meant they have also developed their solutions alongside our events to improve service and control costs.

We regularly recommend them to event partners staging events in our city who have been impressed with their service too.

11th Hour, Unit G6-G7 Southpoint Industrial Park, Foreshore Road, Cardiff, CF10 4SP02920 794444

www.11th-hour.com

event production ice rinks equipment hire safety services

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