Pearce Hire introduced fresh technology and ideas, providing all the power, site and stage lighting at the 2010 Cooperative Cambridge Folk Festival.

Pearce Hire's Managing Director Shaun Pearce and Project Manager Dan Shelton worked with Festival Manager Eddie Barcan and Production Manager Andrew Keightley to introduce a range of fresh ideas to reduce the carbon footprint, improve site aesthetics and technical production.

The urban location of the site meant that an existing 500amp mains power supply provided most of the site power. This year the company nd introduced new equipment for greater efficiency. Meter readings are taken at the start of the build and at the end of the event to gauge what power reductions have been made."

Pearce Hire ensured a stable, safe power supply to all festival areas including catering vendors, bars and concession stalls by using individual RCD protection for every final circuit thereby increasing the reliability of the whole distribution system.


Two pairs of synchronised generators powered the main stage to ensure there was no interruption to the weekend’s entertainment; individual generators powered the more remote site areas such as the camp site toilet blocks.

The site was given a new look with the introduction of low energy festoon lighting over the bars and solar power decorative lights on the wicker models, in conjunction with the festival's new Arts Coordinator. Pearce Hire's John Huson oversaw the installation of all three lighting rigs for the music stages.

Pearce Hire helped to reduce the power consumption of lighting through investment replacing 100 of the power hungry halogen fittings with 150w MBI light fittings. The introduction of photocells automatically turned all fixtures on and off saving both energy and manpower, as lights only functioned during the night time.

The Forestry Commission's 2010 Live Music Tour kicked off earlier this month with Pearce Hire making a concerted effort to reduce it’s carbon footprint.

The tour consists of 22 shows running for six consecutive weekends in June & July, bringing live music to seven unique forest locations for an evening of entertainment for all the family. This year's broad spectrum of acts includes Keane, Simply Red, Blondie, JLS and The Saturdays to name but a few.

Pearce Hire works across the whole tour, coordinating two teams and sets of equipment to provide all the site power and both site & stage lighting. This year has seen a significant change in the lighting design for the stage with the company utilising i-Pix BB4 LED Washlights instead of the Parcans previously used, halving the power consumption of the lighting rig from previous years. The rig also includes MAC 700 Profiles along with a handful of generic fixtures.

John Huson, Pearce Hire Project Manager said:

"The Forestry Commission we’re interested in exploring ways of making the concerts greener so this year we’ve designed a rig based around the incredibly bright i-Pix BB4 Washlights. Not only does this reduce the power consumption but it also gives more scope for dynamic effects than the traditional Parcan rig’s of previous years.

"One other consideration when designing for these shows is that for the vast majority of the show it’s largely daylight, only getting dark towards the very end of the show. Using a high output LED source not only provides the punch required for a daylight show but also provides some 'eye candy' in the rig, and we've designed a truss layout to maximise this."

Pearce Hire also invested in Robert Juliat Cyrano followspots for this years tour supplying between two or four spots per artist.

Other practices that Pearce Hire has introduced to reduce the power include the addition of its new photo-cell light sensors onto the site lighting fixtures. These automatically turn fixtures off during day light hours saving both fuel and man power as previously this would have been done manually or left on.

Pearce Hire demonstrated its precise event logistics this January by providing a triple service of temporary power, lighting and audio to the final of the Cambridge 800 events, which have taken place across the year to celebrate the 800 years of Cambridge University.

The show entitled Transforming Tomorrow spanned three consecutive evenings during which over 20,000 members of the public were invited to see Cambridge in a new light through a walking tour, starting from Senate House and leading to Kings College First Court building, adorned with stunning projections and combined with architectural lighting and audio provided by Pearce Hire.

Pearce Hire's Managing Director Shaun Pearce said:

“We were proud to be entrusted as the central technical supplier across this prestigious series of events which celebrated such a landmark in Cambridge's history. All events have been managed to consistently high standards with a dedicated team of contractors working in union to make them so successful."

The production team had very limited access to the site so had to strategically plan and coordinate the arrival of the equipment. The site was largely open to the public with little restricted access areas so public health and safety was a priority.

Pearce Hire provided temporary power across the whole site using the company’s own distribution system, renowned for its reliability. Lighting the site was focused on making the most of the historic venues. The company used its newest stock of i-pix lighting to architecturally illuminate key buildings with striking visual impact and Molephays to internally back light the stained glass window of the Kings College Chapel, this gave great contrast to the external projections. Pearce Hire was also entrusted with providing all of the structures for the projectors and lasers.

Photo courtesy of Sircam