One of TSG's most recent projects posed the challenge of erecting a structure for use by acrobats and performers on board a ship.

    Micha Bergese Productions, the company responsible for entertainment activities on board P&O Ferries’ Ocean Village 2 ship at Bremerhaven, Germany, approached Total Solutions to help with the refit.

    Working closely with the designer, Ron Packman of Packman Lucas, Total Solutions manufactured a globe-shaped structure to be fixed on the top deck of Ocean Village 2. “This was a slightly unusual venture for us as we had to work under the close scrutiny of Lloyds Register who were responsible for signing off all our work from weld quality to exterior paint finish quality and everything in between,” explained new Total Solutions MD Mervyn Thomas.

    The structure was 12m high with four main curved trusses 12.7m wide at their equator. A curved triangular truss started as a taper from a 35mm thick base plate bolted to the ship’s top deck. At the top of the structure was a platform with a trap door. A personnel winch with wires passing through the inside of the truss via pulley diverters was used to lower and raise performers. The structure had a four coat white anti-corrosion paint finish, applied by a specialist metal coating company before shipment to Germany.

    “Our own staff supervised the final assembly on the quay, before the shipyard’s crane lifted the entire assembly up 14 floors to its required position,” said Thomas. “This was all achieved within a two day ‘window’ allocated to us by the shipyard. A good performance all round.”

    From start to finish, the entire project was completed between January and Easter in time for the first voyage of the refitted ship. As always, Total Solutions was able to procure, build and deliver on time and on budget.

    In Singapore, Total Solutions took up the challenge of creating two temporary structures for a number of different events. For CSP Productions, the company built a 10 tower curved roof system 25m wide x 17m deep x 16.5m high with 4m PA wings. This was for Singapore’s largest-ever outdoor music festival in early August, for which the main truss and roof components were configured using Serious Folding Truss and Extra Heavy Duty Truss.

www.totalsolutions-group.co.uk