IMMERSIVE EVENTS
“ WE WANTED TO CREATE A BUM BUM TRAIN-STYLE JOURNEY MIXED WITH LIVE PERFORMANCE AND CUTTING- EDGE TECHNOLOGY." – GARY PROSSER
Gary Prosser
‘ We ' re telling the story of the early life of John Lennon, in partnership with his sister Julia Baird, which involves his family experiences and early life in Liverpool,” he says.“ We have recreated his bedroom, using images that we have from Julia, from when he was 15 years old and first met Paul McCartney. We wanted to create a Bum Bum Train-style journey mixed with live performance and cuttingedge technology.”
Live Odyssey’ s venue has been awarded a live music license and includes two 150-capacity performance spaces. Supporting grassroots talent has been a key consideration from the outset, says Prosser:“ We ' ve created a tourist attraction that can also be utilised as a live music venue. It will not only provide a space for talent to perform but 50 % of Live Odyssey’ s ticket price will be donated to the Music Venues Trust charity, potentially raising £ 200,000 for it annually.”
Building popularity
The construction of dedicated immersive event venues is one of the most obvious indications of just how big the sector has become.
Stretching a kilometre along Excel London’ s waterfront, Immerse LDN is part of Excel London’ s £ 300m regeneration programme, with the venue expected to attract more than 2.5m visitors annually. Purpose-built to host immersive consumer-facing exhibitions, the venue has accommodated shows including Jurassic World: The Exhibition, The FRIENDS Experience: The One in London, and The Formula 1 Exhibition. The latter has become the venue’ s most successful and longest-running event, with 340,000 tickets sold.
The ongoing redevelopment of Battersea Power Station has seen the opening of another purpose-built immersive entertainment venue by global entertainment group NEON, which is responsible for touring shows including Machu Picchu, the Golden Empires of Peru.
With floor space of more than 3,200-square-metres, NEON made its debut this month with the opening of the Jurassic World: The Experience. It is expected to host two immersive family entertainment shows per year.
NEON at Battersea Power Station
The Expo Pavilion Group led the creative design of the venue and its distinctive façade, working alongside construction and property consultancy Gardiner & Theobald. Star Live was the principal contractor and oversaw design engineerinhg for the new experiential exhibition centre.
NEON has been designed for‘ meanwhile use’, which means there is the option to disassemble and relocate the structure in the future. Sustainability has been a key consideration in the venue’ s design, enabling the modular structure to be disassembled with 95 % of materials recoverable for re-use. Star Live’ s role involved the installation of a 128-tonne roof structure, with 235mm insulated steel-clad panels, that had to at assembled at ground level before lifting it into places using 48 synchronised chain hoists.
Jurassic World: The Exhibition
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