Service Exhibitions leads the way in creative stand design
Date Added: Sun 30 March 2008
With a full in house 3D and 2D design team, project managers, fabrication workshops, graphics production and installation teams, Service Exhibitions (part of St Ives plc) provides customers with a total turnkey exhibition solution. The business is structured to deliver a management service for any type of exhibition, marketing suite, roadshow or event project.
Service Exhibitions currently provides a range of high profile clients with this comprehensive service and in the autumn of 2007, the company was asked to create an extremely innovative stand design for longstanding customer, specialist retail marketing agency, Anderson Retail.
Case Study:
Chartered Land (client to Anderson Retail) required a major presence at the BCSC (British Council of Shopping Centres) exhibition and conference in Gateshead, attended by numerous market-leaders in the retail property industry.
“Four years ago, we were promoting the now hugely successful Dundrum Shopping Centre and were looking for a stand supplier with experience in the retail industry as well as extremely proficient in-house capabilities,” explains Alex Jackson, Project Manager, Anderson Retail. “Service Exhibitions offers a complete package, taking the brief from concept, design and management through to construction and installation. This total fulfilment service along with Service Exhibitions’ existing catalogue of prestigious retail clients, is what initially attracted us to the company. Its ability to deliver this exceptional service and fresh, innovative stands time and again gave us confidence that Service Exhibitions would be able to create the stand required by our client, Chartered Land.”
Anderson Retail provided Service Exhibitions with a detailed brief, outlining its requirements, along with the venue’s restrictions. Service Exhibitions’ main objective was to produce a stand that had a high-level presence (6m stand height) with a striking, contemporary design rivalling the renowned creativity of fellow exhibitors’ booths.
“As we were launching a new development company at this exhibition, we wanted the end product to deliver strong sight lines and promote existing schemes within Chartered Land’s portfolio. It is always important that a stand looks distinctive but even more so when the exhibitor is a newly established company,” comments Alex.
The end product designed, produced and installed by Service Exhibitions, certainly fulfilled the client’s specifications for a modern and impressive exhibition stand. It consisted of two, 6m feature towers, constructed from large, rear-illuminated glazed panels with printed Duratran graphic material applied to the inside face to create a green glow. The glazed panels were positioned on bespoke tubular, steel frame towers, which were secured to the stand platform, and cross-braced using cantilevered steelwork above a solid ceiling. Six 42” plasma monitors were connected to DVDs within the storage area and positioned behind glazed panels, with the green graphic removed to ensure the screen was visible. The highly involved graphic applications that decorated the stand were produced by Service Exhibitions’ sister division, Service Graphics.
While the initial brief created obvious opportunities for maximum creativity on this project, there were a number of factors that needed consideration during the design process.
Paul Kestenbaum, Design Director, Service Exhibitions explains, “The exhibition hall was fitted with temporary flooring for the event and this posed a stability problem due to the height of the stand and the amount of glass, lighting and steelwork it contained. To overcome this potential limitation, we created an extensive, cross-braced under-floor, which was hidden from the sight of exhibition visitors.”
“As the towers were rear-illuminated on all four sides, the structural steel frame within them had to be carefully designed to support the towers effectively, but also positioned so that the metalwork would not be visible through the glass. The glass itself had to be bespoke, heat-soaked structural glass in order to take the weight of the tall towers and solid ceiling canopy above,” continues Paul.
Service Exhibitions also managed to ensure consistency throughout the stand design by laminating the required load-bearing timber rear wall construction and incorporating the same rear-illuminated glazed panelling used on the towers.
“Service Exhibitions never fail to deliver a high quality product, even under tight deadlines. The structure of the business permits a short lead time which is essential when changes can occur, particularly to graphics, a few days before an exhibition is due to take place,” comments Alex.
In total, the production of the stand took approximately 18 days to complete. Service Exhibitions then allowed a further three and a half days for installation.
Alex concludes, “Service Exhibitions’ attention to detail always leaves our clients satisfied. This was evident with Chartered Land who reported that its cutting-edge stand design contributed greatly to the success of its company launch.”