After Bournemouth's last permanent ice rink closed its doors some years ago, the south coast resort's skating fans made their feelings known to the local authority. The challenge was taken up by one of its venues - the renowned BIC, the Bournemouth International Centre.
Steve Turner, entertainment programming manager for the BIC's Pavilion venue, told Ice World Illustrated that the idea for this ice rink had come literally as a result of public demand.
"In the past Bournemouth had a full-time ice rink but that closed down, as did a lot of other ice rinks in nearby towns. About five years ago we were looking at the possibility of developing a new one and the public were letting us know that they were still very much interested in ice skating. With that undercurrent going on we decided to test the waters by providing one seasonally at certain times of the year. We wanted to provide the town with an all-weather facility - somewhere they could skate regardless of whether it was raining or not."
The short summer season run last year drew a total of around 20,000 skaters, while the winter season from early December until the end of February, covering the school half-term holidays, attracted some 60,000 people.
Impressive numbers - the result, says Turner, of two particular factors: "We have a relatively large catchment area here so there's a solid ground base of the local population to draw on. The other aspect is the high profile of the ice shows that are being widely promoted, in particular ITV's Dancing On Ice show and the international Holiday On Ice touring show, and there seems to be a rising general interest in skating again. So it's well attended, especially at the weekends when the sessions get very busy.
"In the past we've partnered with various companies doing the ice rink but this year we decided to take it on ourselves and to source our own suppliers. We've always allowed a full week for the get-in, but this season Stage Electrics completed it within three days, and that was without rushing. That in turn gave us the bonus of a couple of free days before we opened up on the first Saturday, to fully train our staff and make sure that they could skate and take their skating tests."
He continues: "The BIC is a member of the National Arenas Association, and one of the other NAA venues, the Brighton Centre, already used Stage Electrics to supply their ice rink. I spoke to the managers there and their opinion was very positive, so I contacted Stage Electrics who gave us a very competitive price and specified a very concise and fast get-in period. Because we're a very busy venue all year round, minimising the time for the get-in, the technical build and the get-out were also important to us."
The BIC Pavilion is an unusual and striking arena, an octagonal building with a high domed wooden roof, ringed by bars and cafés. The rink itself sits in the centre and is lit from a lightweight rectangular aluminium truss suspended from the roof, rigged for the rink season by Stage Electrics, and from more specially rigged entertainment lighting fixtures around the upper balcony rail. The venue team added their own touches with strings of LED fairy lights.
An additional touch was the inclusion of a sponsor's logo embedded in the ice. Says Steve Turner: "The logo in the ice is in association with Heart FM as part of the launch of their new identity. We worked out a partnership with them including advertising and displaying their logo, which has worked well for both parties."
The logo is formed by embedding a perforated section of plastic sheeting in the shape of the logo, which is placed on the first layer of ice, immediately above the aluminium chiller pipes - the perforations enabling the aluminium chiller layer to interact fully with the ice. A layer of water is then sprayed on which freezes the logo into position. The final step sees a second flood take place and the rink is complete.
"Once the installation is finished," says Stage Electrics' John Burgess, "monitoring of the ice temperature is typically done by the venue's own staff, as it is here in Bournemouth.
"We provide a 24 hour call-out system so that if anyone has any difficulties or any questions out of normal working hours they can phone a number and one of our engineers will get in touch with them to give whatever support is required. As we do a lot of work in the live entertainment field we're used to working while most of the country is asleep!"