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[DAVID J. SYRKO]

Greetings everyone.  I thought I would try to ask this question here first.  In a venue does the rigging used to hang trusses or anything for that matter need to be inspected or certified on a regular schedule?  If so, how often?  If an outside act comes in, do they have to supply proof of certification for their rigging?

I know these may be general questions. I am looking into building a venue and these are some of the first asking questions to see which way to proceed. Naturally the proper Engineers will be involved.

Thanks in advance!

[Cailen Waddell]

All the venues I am responsible for get a yearly outside inspection from a insured rigging company that sends an etcp certified rigger. They generate a report with action items, if any, which we then get taken care of.

Outside groups (well good ones) will expect your venue to be able to provide them with a stamped drawing from a structural engineer showing allowable loading on the beams, linesets, strong points, etc.

I require visiting groups that plan on using their own rigging to advance me a rigging plot with point locations and loads so I know what is coming in. If I have any questions, I ask someone from our engineering company we have on retainer.

During load in, I spot inspect guest rigging equipment, looking for obvious issues (bent truss chords). Check chain hoists for inspections.  Any flown scenery gets inspected to make sure rigging plates are through bolted, shackles are loaded correctly, etc.

We try very hard to be safe without being a pain in the ass. We keep supplies on hand to make lift lines, etc, and will do so for visiting companies free of charge of their rigging is insufficient and we think we can make it safe.

[Brad Weber]

Cailen provided some great information, but you also may want to verify what the local building code and the AHJ require as well as what your insurer may require.

[DAVID J. SYRKO]

Cailen provided some great information, but you also may want to verify what the local building code and the AHJ require as well as what your insurer may require.

Thanks for the reply's so far. I also would be interested in hearing about any incidents or trouble you had. This may turn on a few light bulb's. 

I'm friends with the people at city hall and am sure we all can work together to get this done.  If they don't have any specs on this, I'm sure we can set up some standards since this will be the first building of it's kind in town.

[Cailen Waddell]

I manage the production side of the first theater in our AHJ with a fly tower. Interesting interpretations of code there. The biggest problem we ran into when getting our CO was temporary cable
Passes through fire rated walls. There are lots of UL listed cable passes but not ones specifically called out for temporary use (at least at that time - things may of changed).

Through some bizarre code interpretation, we don't have a fire curtain because our fly tower is under 55' tall. (I think that is the number, and we are at 54' 11")

Cable passes to front of house were difficult due to the HVAC plenum under the seats. We couldn't just run PVC pipe or conduit, the AHJ wanted either fire rated or it boxed in by drywall, yet somehow a free air plenum rated cable was fine....

Anyway, work with the inspections and engineering staff early in the process, allow their input into the design if possible and know that if this is a first for your municipality, everyone will make some discoveries along the way.

[DAVID J. SYRKO]

I manage the production side of the first theater in our AHJ with a fly tower. Interesting interpretations of code there. The biggest problem we ran into when getting our CO was temporary cable
Passes through fire rated walls. There are lots of UL listed cable passes but not ones specifically called out for temporary use (at least at that time - things may of changed).

Through some bizarre code interpretation, we don't have a fire curtain because our fly tower is under 55' tall. (I think that is the number, and we are at 54' 11")

Cable passes to front of house were difficult due to the HVAC plenum under the seats. We couldn't just run PVC pipe or conduit, the AHJ wanted either fire rated or it boxed in by drywall, yet somehow a free air plenum rated cable was fine....

Anyway, work with the inspections and engineering staff early in the process, allow their input into the design if possible and know that if this is a first for your municipality, everyone will make some discoveries along the way.

I know the local electrical inspector very well and I'm sure he will help get this thing running. The building I am looking at was an old brick theater 40' x 100'  3 stories tall which has since been gutted out. What a shame. I plan to try to buy two buildings next to the theater also. All the buildings in town butt up against each other. The plan is to spread out into them with separate bar and food facilities. In the theater I plan to build a horseshoe  balcony all out of steel and concrete. There probably be a long planning process and I would say at least one year for construction.

[Cailen Waddell]

Since you are a private entity, you would do well to start working with your vendors now in the design phase to get lighting, rigging, sound infrastructures in place.

I've never met an architect that I felt had a good handle on how to design a theater or design for the infrastructure of a theater. They may be out there... Just never met them.

Where are you located, I'm sure forum
Member may be able to suggest some
Companies.

[DAVID J. SYRKO]

Since you are a private entity, you would do well to start working with your vendors now in the design phase to get lighting, rigging, sound infrastructures in place.

I've never met an architect that I felt had a good handle on how to design a theater or design for the infrastructure of a theater. They may be out there... Just never met them.

Where are you located, I'm sure forum
Member may be able to suggest some
Companies.

I'm south of Pittsburgh, PA.  I have talked to city hall about this.  They say I have to have some drawings completed and be submitted to change the building. I do know I have to talk to a lot more people, and as stated before I'm starting to ask the questions to get started.

Thank you for your input, and am looking forward to any other input that comes this way.

[Brad Weber]

Since you are a private entity, you would do well to start working with your vendors now in the design phase to get lighting, rigging, sound infrastructures in place.

I've never met an architect that I felt had a good handle on how to design a theater or design for the infrastructure of a theater. They may be out there... Just never met them.

It sounds like you are going to have to get a full design team (Architect, Structural Engineer, Mechanical Engineer, Electrical Engineer, etc.) together to address all of the basic building and code compliance issues.  I agree with Cailen that it is a good idea to get the audio, lighting, rigging and video folks involved at the same time so that everything proceeds together.  You may also want a theatrical consultant to address general theatre planning and possibly a kitchen consultant for any food facilities.
 
Dealing with existing buildings with some being reused for new purposes and others being extensively modified, it will likely be a long process with a number of legal and technical challenges.  You'll potentially be facing everything from zoning issues to all sorts of design and technical details.  Having worked on several similar projects there are usually unexpected surprises along the way like finding asbestos or lead in the existing spces, difficulties getting sufficient utilities to the buildings, finding a place for an elevator that may now be required for ADA compliance to serve the balcony and so forth.
 
You might want to check out ControlBooth.com, there are probably some folks there that have been through similar experiences and can share what they learned.

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