Queensland Performing Arts Centre (QPAC) in Brisbane, Australia recently completed a major $34 million redevelopment, funded by the Queensland Government that has seen upgrades to its auditoriums, stages and public areas including the addition of new bars and cafés. The 2000 - seat Lyric Theatre included substantial upgrades in improved acoustics, superior facilities for patrons with disabilities (PWD), a new modern look for the space with new seats and carpeted flooring and of course substantial improvements to the venues lighting and staging systems.
Left to Right: Nick Rowland—SSE, Tony Maher—QPAC, Doug Brimblecombe—QPAC
As part of the staging and lighting upgrades the lighting bars in the Lyric Theatre were replaced to cater for the ever increasing demands of theatrical productions. Specialised Stage Engineering submitted the Protrac batten from Prolyte Products in the Netherlands as the ideal product for this project. Protrac is the only product on the market that has been specifically designed and engineered to suit the expanding requirements of theatrical performances. As an essential part of the theatres flying systems it is a fully engineered theatrical batten consisting of aluminium 60mm x 110mm upper profile connected to a lower 48mm aluminium extrusion with an integral Helm runner track gives extremely high load capacity with no deflection in the batten even at full capacity. The total load capacity of the lighting bars is actually determined by the capacity of the counterweight flying system it is hung from as the bar is capable of 264kg/m in each 3.3m span for a grand total of nearly 5000kg distributed along the 19m bar.
The innovative design of Protrac allows it to be used as a scenery batten for set pieces and fixed drapes, a tab track curtain or moving set piece by utilising the lower profile with an integrated Helm track, or as a lighting bar capable of handling large lighting rigs of conventional and moving lights with full engineering and load charts to provide peace of mind for the end user.
SSE fitted the standard Protrac batten with 36 20amp lighting circuits each fed by 6 Socapex looms which terminate at the end of the batten for connection to the existing looms. The cable management for such a large number of circuits and the attendant extension cables, data cables and power leads posed a considerable challenge. In any theatre the clearance between lighting bars and scenery and curtains that are invariably flown nearby means that any cable management needs to be as compact as possible to avoid obstructions. SSE and the QPAC team collaborated to design a custom, modular cable tray system that straddles the upper profile of the Protrac bar. The downstage side of the tray handles the Socapex looms feeding the bar while the upstage side has two trays to separate data from power cables. Each tray fixes between the circuit outlets and is attached to the upper profile with a captive nut and bolt allowing them to be removed if needed.
The final product weighed in at 247kg for a 19m bar with circuits, looms and cable trays included.
Doug Brimblecombe, QPAC Manager - Lighting, said “It is refreshing to be able to have an idea and find a company that will work with us to realise the product. SSE and their Prolyte partners have been fantastic at getting our ideas into an excellent working lighting batten. The compactness of the batten was integral in the design as we wanted a batten without lots of screws, plates and bits added on. The simplicity of the trays works. The battens are slim, sleek and very useable structures that will last for many many years.”