Open Air Celebration

In July 2007, Meridian were approached with one of its most interesting and logistically challenging jobs to date. Working closely with the client with a six week lead time to plan, negotiate and build. Meridian working alongside Visions we began to work on the Open Air Bat mitzvah.

Working in central London comes with it challenges; Congestion, parking restriction and extra road charges to consider, working in a private square complete with original regency railings only with only single width gates, mature trees planted by various royals and as far back as 1817 by the Duke of Wellington and being locked between the Marylebone road and the top of Portland Place, the challenge began.

Every time the plan was edited and agreed by the client, it had to then be approved by the superintendent Gardener. With restrictions to the promioxty to tree roots and tree canopies and the volume of people to accommodate, careful measurement and cad plans were paramount.

The celebration was to accommodate 500 Guests, The gardens were restricted for use by local residents only and incurred a daily hire fee, so a tight schedule needed to be devised and adhered to. The Children’s Marquee was to be the main event, with various performance acts throughout the afternoon; a large dance floor was in order as well as space for laid back seating and a centrepiece of a pizza oven and pizza preparation area. A 15m x 30m clearspan marquee with a separate catering preparation area attached to the rear was used complete with a magenta pink carpet.

The Adults food Area was an open sided Marquee to create a buffet space close to several Chinese Pagodas which were furnished with Soft furnishing or traditional round tables, which needed to be positioned so adults had a sight line to see the children activity areas and the bandstand. A 9m x 18m marquee accommodated the buffet area and 9m x 12m marquee attached on the back to create a ‘T’ Shape accommodating the catering team.

Along with the 8 Chinese Pagodas, there were toilets for staff and guests to consider, Water bowsers, screening and generators. Visions our sister production were involved in organising the power, Sound Reinforcement inside and out, Lighting throughout the gardens and Lighting for the performers and Dance floor in the main event space. They also provided AV support for the live camera filming the event and continuous live streaming back through plasmas dotted around the event.

www.visionsgroup.co.uk

www.jasonmillan.co.uk