In live production, cultural impact is often what the audience remembers, but technical precision is what makes it possible. INCA Productions, founded 25 years ago by Nina Ferguson and Charlotte Clark at a kitchen table as their first office, understand that balance and have evolved from a start up into a global creative agency. The global events agency’s DNA is visible in its long-standing partnership with The British Fashion Council. The Fashion Awards returned to the Royal Albert Hall in 2025, a venue that requires precision from the moment the first truck arrives to the final cable coil.
The planning started 18 months before the event, with INCA considering 2026 as they delivered 2025. There is always a story of progression, and the debrief starts on the floor of the current event, considering what is working well and what can be improved upon.
With the short turnaround, there are between 650 and 700 crew across the 30-hour tenancy. It’s one of the most logistically complex builds annually in the Royal Albert Hall. In addition to this, there are over 200 catering staff (Rhubarb), 50 PR personnel (Purple PR), over 70 security guards (Ensec), not to mention show, event and client production teams. Those numbers represent a finely tuned operational ecosystem. Coordinating broadcast (Goldust), lighting (Gurdip Mahal), staging design (STUFISH), infrastructure build (Steeldeck), staging delivery (True Staging), rigging (Blackout), red carpet delivery (Nibbs Events) and artist movement (Side of Stage) within a heritage venue operating under tight restrictions requires rigorous planning cycles and a crew that can pivot at speed. Every department interlocks and so every delay affects multiple others.
There are always challenges on the day. The Red Carpet is open to the elements, so weather is a big part of the task, but significant scenario planning is done beforehand to try to ensure that all possibilities are covered by a robust backup plan. Last-minute changes to talent arrivals and requests are also something that INCA tries to build in contingencies for.
On a build for an event with this scale and timeframe, INCA tries to consider every possibility of what could happen and have a plan that has already been briefed to all relevant parties prior to the delivery. Having an experienced team of experts in their field is crucial to the delivery of this event.
INCA produces events designed to be felt, but behind the feeling is engineering, scheduling, total precision planning, with a production infrastructure that must perform with zero margin for error.
