University College London (UCL) recognised as one the top ten universities in the world has established PEARL (Person-Environment-Activity Research Laboratory). The facility marks the university’s first net-zero carbon in-use building, beautifully designed and tailored specifically for comprehensive testing on how people interact with infrastructure and cities in a full-scale environment.

Inside PEARL, the area spans an incredible 4,000sqm and towering at a height of 10m, the expansive space serves as a canvas for crafting true to life sized environments including railway stations, high streets, and town squares. The flexibility of the facility allows for alterations such as changing floor material, sensory elements such as smell, lighting conditions, and creating soft sounds to amplifying noise levels.

Having maintained a longstanding relationship with UCL, Steeldeck Rentals was a natural choice for PEARL when they required supplementary Steeldeck for this project. Our rental decks are easily transported across London, eliminating the need for surplus manufacturing.

We were thrilled to support the team at PEARL in supplying these additional decks to replicate a busy external bus station. PEARL’s project was to assess the impact this environment has on people with visual impairments and those who use guide dogs. In response, we provided a variety of Steeldeck including, triangular decks and ramps, which were painted, marked up and adapted to resemble real world paving, curbs, and crossings of various scenarios for each study carried out by PEARL.

We have been fortunate to work in partnership with Production Bureau for seating installations since 2019. Production Bureau is a multi-service creative production agency and for three years, we have been appointed to work with them on behalf of the University of East Anglia (UEA) to deliver the graduation ceremony to mark the hard work and celebrate the success of graduating students.

As a specialist provider for seating equipment, our seating system gives us the flexibility to build large tiered seating in addition to flat floor seating on a hard surface. Given the special occasion, it meant we were able to provide bespoke comfortable seating in an exceptional finish for the audience.

Our brief has increased over the years for UEA, and we are delighted to have always delivered. In 2019, we provided 1,365 seats with 630 of them on a 7″ rise tier structure. The tier was finished with black carpet and front fascia, nosing in the aisles with black casement on the sides and the backs. 735 flat floor seating were also installed in front of the tier. We also installed a camera platform, and a small stage with ramps for graduates to cross the stage.

In 2022 and 2023, we provided 660 seats on a 7″ rise tier seating and 1,359 on flat floor to deliver 2,019 seats in total, alongside a camera platform encased within the tier structure, and a bespoke handrail in the centre of the main aisle.

It is an honour to work with Production Bureau and University of East Anglia to provide the seating for such a memorable occasion.

From musicals and theatre to graduation ceremonies, more and more schools are putting on highly professional shows; so much so, that we design and build temporary staging and seating for schools today that compares in ambition or scale to our work in major arts venues like the Young Vic and the Manchester Opera House.

Our experience across festivals and the arts means we can help educational institutions take their productions to that next level – increasing audience capacity, improving sight lines, ticket sales and performance area. Most importantly, young people can be part of life-changing cultural activities within superb settings that match their talent.