G&H completes M&E infrastructure at 7.5-acre theme park
The largest outdoor live family show in the UK, which saw G&H Building Services deliver a complex mechanical and electrical infrastructure package, has opened to critical acclaim.
The Eleven Arches show spectacular in Bishop Auckland, County Durham held its first night on Saturday (2 July) in front of 8,000 people.
The UK event called ‘Kynren – An Epic Tale Of England’, re-creates 2,000 years of Britain’s history in just 90 minutes and 23 acts.
After being appointed to the £1.6 million contract by Caddick Construction, G&H Building Services designed, built and installed a host of intricate services to power the show.
This included high voltage cabling and the installation of two 20KV Transformers, and a full low voltage infrastructure throughout the site, hot and cold water supplies, the lake hydrant system and drainage.
It also provided services to 14 ancillary buildings including the clubhouse, toilets, changing areas, refreshment kiosks, ticket office, train shed and technology suites.
Neil Blunt, Contracts Manager at G&H Building Services, said: “The show is reliant on the success of the M&E and the work has been a great success.
“To give context to the size of the project, the infrastructure services we designed and built were spread across 7.5-acres – equivalent in size to five football pitches – which demonstrates our capacity and ability to deliver large scale schemes.
“We designed an option so the site management team can work at low power when the show is not being performed and built in resilience to services to guard against failures.”
Kynren sees spectators sitting in the dark in a grandstand amphitheatre known as The Tribune with evocative surround-sound music played as a 1,000-strong cast presents pyrotechnics, spectacular lighting and water effects.
The shows also feature trains, horses, an artificial lake with full-size boats and water jets, and a 400m wide stage – all set in the shadow of the Grade I listed Auckland Castle.
Eleven Arches has been inspired by the internationally acclaimed Puy du Fou medieval theme park in France that has been running since 1978 and attracts over two million people a year.
