After our successful winter season, where we won TPi's 'Favourite Staging Company' for the fifth consecutive year, preparations are well underway for the undoubtedly busy summer of 2011, with the Stageco team benefiting from continual forklift and rigging training. We also made good use of the quieter winter months by maintaining and upgrading our equipment for the outdoor summer season ahead.

In addition to the festival season, our international logistical capabilities enable us to supply a number of high profile tours with bespoke stages. Stageco crews successfully supported U2's sell out '360°' tour across South Africa and South America throughout the winter months and are looking forward to the USA leg starting in May.

On the European continent we are excited to be involved with a number of projects, including Bon Jovi's 'Circle' tour, visiting 24 cities and the highly anticipated Take That 'Progress Live' tour. We have been working closely with production manager Chris Vaughn to create a stunning, visually dramatic stage for Take That, which we are currently test building.

Aside from music, our corporate business has steadily grown and we have created bespoke temporary structures for a number of major fashion shows, with more projects in the pipeline.

Stageco received the prestigious Total Production Award for Favourite Staging Company for the fifth consecutive year at London's Novotel on 7th February.

The company celebrated in style after receiving recognition for their legendary touring and festival stages. The annual TPi Awards are voted for by Total Production Magazine's tens of thousands of readers. Stageco’s Managing Director Hedwig De Meyer, was presented the coveted award by Fun Loving Criminals' Huey Morgan.

Hedwig commented:
"It is an honour to win the TPi award for the fifth consecutive year and great to know that Stageco has been voted for by our industry peers. It is thanks to our dedicated team of staging professionals, from CAD designers to the touring crew that we are able to continue to maintain standards, challenge traditional designs and push boundaries and logistical operations for new innovative productions."

Stageco supplied an impressive temporary building, called The Drum, for the production of one of the largest events in Qatar's oil and gas industry, organised by WRG Qatar LLC in Ras Laffan Industrial City on the 13th December 2010.

Stageco, were chosen by organiser WRG Qatar LLC to design and build the bespoke event structure, measuring 57m wide and 20m high with an overall rigging capacity of 35 tonnes.

The vast temporary venue included a 1,200 seat auditorium, deep water stage reaching 16m depth in places, with a 5m diameter central stage lift, a 360° screen measuring 180m x 9m, along with rigging for 27 aerial performers.

Stageco created the BRIT Awards' runway on top of which 2011's greatest musical stars and celebrities performed during the ceremony on the 15th February at London's 02 Arena.

After an 11 year residency in Earls Court, the BRIT Awards relocated to the 02 Arena this year and in order to create a memorable first time at this new location, Stageco were commissioned by the BPI to construct the 900m² main stage and a large performance runway.  Presenters descended the 20m x 2m runway to award the winners with trophies during this star-studded ceremony.

11 Stageco crew turned 100 tonnes of material into the stage, runway and two silver painted, 12m high towers, in just one day.

For the winter sport event Red Bull Crashed Ice at the Olympic Park in Munich, Stageco Germany supplied the spectacular custom-made scaffolding constructions for its second year on January 15th 2011.

With athletes from 21 nations participating, the intense and unique winter Ice Cross Downhill sport took centre stage in its tenth year running, which attracted a massive 23,000 spectators.

Appointed by Saturn Production from Berlin, Stageco Germany created custom made scaffolding structures made from Layher, single tower systems, a Prolyte stage and additional structures on the challenging, icy and often uneven site.

For the grand opening of Electrabel's (part of the GDF Suez Group) new power station in Lelystad, Netherlands, Stageco created a spectacular pyramid construction in December 2010.

The Maxima power plant has a high energy efficiency of almost 60 percent, which formed the theme of the event.

Stageco was assigned by Sightline Productions who were responsible for the technical production of the grand opening, to erect a 25m high and 30m wide pyramid shaped scaffolding construction, which was unveiled during the ceremony.

This pyramid compiled of 60 box shaped stages with 60 LED screens behind 60 percussionists creating a visual representation of the energy saved by the power plant.

The annual televised Tribute to the Troops organized by WWE in appreciation to the men and women of the US Military took place on the first week of December 2010.

Stageco US was appointed by WWE to create an exceptional focal staging structure, which captured the attention of the 50,000 military personnel, family members and civilians attending the event. The 10 Stageco construction engineers and 50 local production employers came across several logistical challenges such as uneven surfaces and major winds with just four days to construct the stage.

Stageco US team overcame these issues by constant monitoring to ensure the safest, most efficient build and when necessary fastening numerous production elements to the construction.

The company used a total of 15 trailers of Stageco material to complete the construction which comprised of a 25m x 20m entrance roof with open sides and back for a 360° viewing of the wrestling ring, housed by a modified Boogdak TYP I. Stageco US also built an additional two single tower lighting support structures providing multiple camera platforms and a covered FOH.