Pure Night Magazine - Funktion-One

Pure
Night Magazine
Pure, Manchester
C entral Manches ter's late night
s cene brea ks down into s even
main c irc uits tha t offer the
region's dis parate tribes plenty of
options for a night out. Of thes e
'•«e P rintworks , a large leis ure
V atvelopment located to the north
of the city centre near V ictoria
train s tation, is arguably the most
a cces s ible option. T he former
news paper printing fa c ility which wa s a t one time owned by
R obert Ma xwell - wa s
redeveloped following the IR A
bomb in 1996. It ha s s ince become
the popular home to a range of
ma ins trea m leis ure bus ines s es ,
including T iger T iger, Hard R ock
C afe, an Odean cinema, Holmes
P la ce gym, Norwegian B lue,
Nandos and W a ga ma ma , and on a
S a turda y night a ttra c ts a crowd
of between forty and fifty
thous and people to its collective
cha rms .
Its newes t tenant, which roared
into life on 30 J une, hopes to
increa s e thos e numbers further capitalis ing on the exis ting
S a turda y night crowds and
a ttra cting new cus tomers through
the res t of the week. On its
opening night, Pure played host
to 3100 people and the P rintworks
regis tered its highest vis itor levels
for s ix months , much to the
delight of neightbouring bus ines s ,
most of whom benefited from the
thronging pre-club trade.
P ure is s itua te d in the s hell of the
former Lucid, a multifa cted
entertainment venue in the
P rintworks ' bas ement that
incorporated a bowling alley and
res ta ura nts a s well as bars , big
s creens for s ports , and
dancefloors . L aunched in 2003,
Lucid set out to be all things to all
people - a broad brus h approach
tha t ultima tely s ewed the s eeds
for the venue's demis e. Lucid
developed a reputa tion for
trouble and in March 2005 it
clos ed following the non-renewal
of its liquor licence. T he s ite lay
empty for nine months until it
wa s brought the a ttention of the
Pure G roup, whos e MD J eremy
AUG 2006
Page 1 of 4
2500 capacity dance club is Heaven sent
Millins a rrived on s ite in
December to a s s e s s the project.
He agreed to ta ke it on in J a nua ry
2006 and thus a rapid
redevelopment of the venue's
huge, s ubterra nea n s qua re
footage began. Des pite
Ma nches ter's infa mous mus ic
snobbery and its strong exis ting
club s cene, he felt confident tha t
there wa s a gap in the ma rket for
a large s ca le nightclub.
"T he venue in its previous
incarnation was such a was ted
opportunity. T here wa s no
identity to the place, so it's no
wonder tha t it clos ed down,"
Millins tells NIG HT .
"I actually think T he P rintworks is
a great location for a club. We
ca n bring credible clubbing to the
area without a liena ting the
public.
"C lubbing in Manches ter is much
more exciting tha t clubbing in
London at the moment. T he city
wa s crying out for a venture of
this type."
Millins may well be right. P ure's
offer of a ma s s ive main room
experience, three levels of V IP , a
£300,000 F unktion One s ound
s ys tem and relationships with well
known dance brands s uch as Hed
K aridi and G a tecra s her is unique
in the city, and he hopes the
initial excitement that greeted the
will venture continue.
F uelling Millins ' confidence is
a lmos t two deca des ' experience in
the enterta inment and events
indus tries - during which time he
has worked on licensed raves and
Labour party election ca mpa igns ,
with much in between. He
launched the P ure G roup incorporating events divis ion P ure
P roductions - in 1989, acquired his
firs t venue in K ent in 1993, and
went on to become involved with
the club with which P ure is mos t
commonly as s ociated in 1996,
when the company was
contra cted to manage enduring
C haring C ros s dance venue
Heaven on beha lf of R icha rd
B rans on's V irgin G roup. Millins
lead an MBO at the club in 2002,
Pure
and went on to a cquire the
R ena is s a nce R ooms in V a uxha ll
and T he P layers Lounge B ar
London's W es t E nd. A s well a s
P ure, this S ummer will s ee Millins
launch priva te members club T he
Is la nd, s ituated off the back of
Heaven in W es tmins ter - which,
like P ure, is the only club in its
area licens ed to s ell alcohol until
6a m.
B ut giving cus tome rs the cha nce
to drink late is n't P ure 's only US P .
Mentioned in all the pre-launch
marketing wa s the c lub's huge,
F unktion One s ound s ys te m - a
s pea ker brand tha t cus tomers a s
well as the tra de recognis e a s
code for qua lity (s omething the
opera tors further reinforced by
naming the club's s econd room
the 'F unktion R oom).
W ith a high level of technical
Night Magazine
competence, Millins pers ona lly
managed much of the technica l
purchas ing - and the decis ion to
have F unktion One wa s no
a ccident. His rela tions hip with the
s ys te ms ' ins ta llers B lue B ox London goes back over a decade,
and he us ed Mark Me tca lf's
company - and the tried-andtes ted F unktion One / MC 2 / X T A
combina tion s ys te m - when
upgrading his flags hip club
Heaven in 2005. "T he s ys tem's
qua lity is e xc e ptiona l, " he s a ys .
Having F unktion O ne's Dance
S ta cks installed at the R enais s ance
R ooms wa s the fina l fa ctor in the
P ure decis ion. Millins wanted to
ma ke a s tatement about the high
production va lues of the new
venture, and he knew from
experience tha t the vis ua l and
s onic impact of the Dance S ta cks
AUG 2006
in the ma in room would do jus t
tha t.
His brief to Metcalf thus s pecified
the iconic s pea kers for the club a ls o requiring that the s ys tem
Metca lf crea ted be multi-fa cted,
to accommodate changing moods
through P ure's va rious different
rooms ; and flexible, to
accommodate live mus ic as well a s
D)s in the ma in room.
"T he Dance S ta cks offered a good
fit for the main room," confirms
Metca lf, who wa s one of the firs t
contra ctors onto the s ite in
J a nua ry. T hough with V IP a rea s
occupying prime s pa ce to the left
and right of the s ometime-s ta ge
area and pillars punctuating the
dancefloor, B lue B ox were forced
to be a little c re a tive in the
s pea kers ' deployment.
"T he room is a difficult s hape and
Page 2 of 4
us ually we would look to form a ~
s qua re from the Dance S ta cks , but
this wa s not pos s ible at P ure,"
explains Mark. "However both
jeremy and ours elves are very
happy with the res ult: covera ge is
good when using all four s ta cks
and we have found this s et up
works well in Hammers mith P alais
for live events , where they us ually
turn the rear s ta c ks down ra ther
tha n off to help balance the
s ound a t the back of the room.
T his will be even more c ritic a l in
P ure to help compens a te for the
pilla rs . It's a s ign of the qua lity of
the s ys tem tha t it manages to fill
this difficult s pa ce so effortles s ly. "
E ls ewhere, B lue B ox have used a
combina tion of F unktion One and
Martin Audio to meet Millins '
requirements - which demanded a
very ve rs a tile s ys tems , the
Pure
Night Magazine
AUG 2006
Page 3 of 4
LIG HT ING (a P UR E
E lectrical engineers and lighting des ign /
ins tallation company for P ure were
R omford-ba s ed Intelligent Lighting
S ervices Ltd IILS I. P aul G ould and Marc
T ozer. who worked jointly on the project,
firs t developed a relations hip with P ure's
opera tor J eremy Millins through his
L ondon club Heaven, and have s ince
gone on to work on other P ure venues
s uch a s the R enais s ance R ooms and T he
New P layers T hea tre in C haring C ros s .
C rucia l to the electrical ins tallation was
tha t it allowed Millins the opportunity to
build on the lighting s ys tems as the club
evolved. He wanted the ca pa city to run
intelligent lighting in the club's three
main dance rooms , although at the
moment the third room remains fixturefree. He also wa nted the flexibility to
s ta ge live s ta ge s hows - with enough
s teel deck a t P ure to cus tom crea te
s ta ges in any of the rooms for numerous
diffe re nt events .
"As well as being able to s upply the
club's own lighting, we needed to ta ke
into cons idera tion the pos s ibility of
touring bands or large s cale s hows ."
adds P aul G ould. "Our s ys tem is
des igned for every eventuality - we can
supply power to touring bands of any
s ize. If their requirements went beyond
thos e our s ys tem is s et up to
accommodate, we are privileged with an
incoming 1250 amp. three-phas e s upply
tha t we can tap into, if required."
S e tting up the s ys tem. G ould and T ozer
used over a kilometer of multicore
cabling to feed 35 s ocapex outlets
I throughout the entire club, giving Millins
configura tion of which could be
changed with minimum fus s .
"As well as being a club venue it is
envis aged that P ure will host
corporate events and private
pa rties which will require more
s ubtle s ound des igns ," expla ins
Metca lf. "O ther tha n the ma in
room, which will s ta y in its
current forma t, the F unktion
R oom and the B lue R oom have
s emi mobile s ys te ms within which
the s pea kers and mobile amp
ra cks can be relocated and rerigged with eas e."
T he F unktion R oom, which hos ts
the venue's s econd larges t
dancefloor, ha s two s ta cks ea ch
of two R es 2s and three F 218s .
"We originally envis a ged four
s ta cks here, but placing rear
s ta cks in front of the bar proved a
problem so we reached a
compromis e. "
S peaker connection points in
front of the ba r a re a would allow
a four s tack s ys tem to be
implemented in the future if
circums ta nces require or allow.
In the main lounge a rea s and
the potential to run 132 independently
fed fixtures - plus 166 dimming
channels . Millins' s pec required tha t
e a c h cable be capable of supplying 16
amps of power which, given the s ize of
the venue and long cable runs , required
s ome complex calculations to as certain
volta ge drop and load capacity. T ozer
wa s res pons ible for this , along with
ens uring tha t the entire electrical
ins tallation complied with B S 7671.
G ould and T ozer were als o res pons ible
for des igning the lighting s ys tem using
R obe fixture s s elected by Millins and
s ourced direct from R obe UK . T hey
pos itioned the mainroom's ten
C olorwas h 575E ATs. ten C olors pot 575E
ATs and ten S ca n 1200XT s to ens ure even
dis tribution acros s the a s ymmetric
da ncefloor - again bearing in mind that
the s ys tem had to be capable of lighting
s ta ge s hows . T he lights went onto a
motoris ed circular trus s built by J ames
T homas E ngineering and rigged with the
a s s is ta nce of Adlib Audio that drops
down for re-rigging and maintenance.
T he s ys tem was then programmed by
freelance lighting des igner Maria
J enkins on a S howcad Artis t.
In the s econd room. Millins s pecified
four R obe C olorW as h 575E AT s. s ix
C olorS pot 575E AT s. four S can 1200XT s
and two Fog 1500F T s. DMX control was
from a Q C ommander- again
programmed by Maria J enkins .
ILS will continue to work with Millins ,
with preventative maintenance and
regular redes igns to the lighting layout
to keep the club looking fres h.
ground floor feeder bar - where
magicians enterta in drinkers with
card tricks - s maller, wallmounted F unktion One F 88
s pea kers are us ed, with Martin
Audio AQ S eries ca binets in the
three 60 capacity V IP rooms.
B lue B ox als o ins talled zoners at
ea ch V IP and lounge bar area,
feeding a s ource from the two
main rooms via two Drawmer DA6
line a mplifiers in the D) booth allowing mus ic from the ma in
rooms to be played a nywhere in
the building.
R emotes will be added in the near
future. A feed from the main
room to the ups ta irs office
fa cilita tes radio broadcas ts - s uch
a s the one on opening night, live
on local s ta tion G a la xy 102.
T he partners hip with G a la xy has
ens ured a high profile for P ure and plenty of as piring V IP s
applying for members hip.
Members hip is s egmented into V IP
and VVIP : the former achievable
by paying the right price, the
la tter by invita tion only.
T hos e who buy into the s cheme
acquire a cces s to a rais ed V IP ,
table s ervice-only lounge area at
the back of the main dancefloor
(if they'll als o commit to £100
minimum per ta ble s pend) and to
the firs t floor P layers Lounge - a
plus h room with a large bar,
cus hioned a cros s two wa lls with
gold velvet dra pes and a floor to
ceiling glazed partition
overlooking the main da ncefloor.
B ut only invited gues ts can a cces s
the third level of V IP - known a s
T he Is land: two bookable, priva te
boxes with views over the main
dancefloor and an e xclus ive
lounge area tha t Millins hopes will
a ttra c t a fters how parties with
a rtis ts from the nearby ME N
a rena .
It is in thes e rooms - and in the
bar a rea s - are where the efforts
of C reation Des ign and B uild
(formerly S tephen Howie Des ign)
have had the mos t tangible
impa ct. T he warehous e-like,
industrial aesthetic of P ure,
combined with its s cale (s ome
80,000 s qua re feet s pread over
three floors ) required bold
s ta tements in the larger rooms ,
with a more deta iled des ign
approach res erved for the s maller
rooms and bar a rea s , where it
would make a s trong vis ua l
s ta tement.
"A lot of the des ign wa s governed
by the s tyle of mus ic and the
functiona lity of the room," s a ys
C rea tion's lan Murray. "In the
main rooms we needed to create a
bla nk c a nva s tha t would allow
them to be used for different
functions . We als o had to
cons ider s ecurity is s ues , s tripping
out a ny dark corners and opening
the venue up so the whole thing
can be monitored via C C T V ."
To help clubbers ma ke s ens e of
the huge s pa ce - and to ens ure a
broad appeal - the des igners
created a rea s within the building
s uita ble for a multitude of
different purpos es .
"Our aim was to create a s pace
every type of clubber ca n
appreciate, whether it be to
dance the night a wa y on one of
the bas ement dancefloors or rela x
in the lounge, everybody ca n find
Pure
a s pace and enjoy their night,"
s a ys Murray, who worked clos ely
with Millins on the des ign of P ure,
moving to Manches ter for the
duration of the job and even
opening a drawing office on s ite.
In the ma in dance floor room,
which s ha res the lowes t level
s pace with the F unktion R oom,
this pared down approach
nevertheles s had a s ignificant
effect: C reation ordering the main
wall to be painted burnt orange,
ma king the dark s pace much
brighter.
Our brief included ridding the
club of the dull s pace it had
become," explains Murray. T he
corner V IP a rea s , s itua ted behind
the Da nces ta cks , have been
cleverly des igned feel like a
haven, with fa ux leather s ea ting
(s upplied by S tyle Ma tters ) and
s tra tegica lly pos itioned planting
s oftening the indus tria l feel.
On the middle floor, a cces s e d by a
large, s weeping centra l s ta irca s e ,
is a balcony a rea compris ing the
Island lounge area (complete with
s triking, blue neon back-lit acrylic
bar and white le a the r padded
Night Magazine
walls ); the Lounge bar - or C ras h
B ar as the s ta ff have come to
know it, due to its relaxing
ambiance a t the end of the night.
T his s pace plays hos t to the
venue's larges t bar s ervery area
and plenty of loos e s ea ting; and
the ca fe, where hot drinks and
food are s erved pas t dawn. K een
to improve s ightlines in this a rea ,
C rea tion ordered the remova l of
s olid board blocking views of the
F unktion R oom below, replacing
them with bronzed gla s s panels .
B etween the Is land lounge and
C ra s h bar, off the back of the
club, is a third 'main' room
complete with DJ s et up and
independent s ound s ys tem - us ed
a t pres ent as an overs pill from the
other a rea s but with the potential
to hos t s e pa ra te pa rties ,
corpora te e ve nts and even
conferences . T his has been given
an unders ta ted funky look, with
bold blue ca rpete d s tripes
s plicing the floor s pa ce and a
ba c klit, wooden s la tte d fe a ture
wall a t the fa r end of the s pa ce
evoking a s uns et - impres s ive,
cons idering the room is s ome 20
AUG 2006
metres underground.
As well as cos metic changes ,
C reation Des ign and B uild
(working with Q ua ntity S urveyor
lan O ra n) a ls o helped
choreograph s tructura l a lte ra tions
to the club in order to improve
the s a fety of cus tomers , notably
on ground floor level, where the
s pace has been reconfigured to
crea te interna l queuing fa cilities
for up to 200 people.
B ringing c us tome rs ins ide the
building prevents dis ruption for
other P rintworks bus ines s es and
a llows the crowds to be more
e ffe c tive ly managed. R egular
gues ts file along a s na ked queue,
through a meta l detector and
down the s ta irs into the club wherea s V IP s either ta ke a les s
circuitous route to the da ncefloor
or, in the ca s e of the mos t s pecial
gues ts , ta ke the priva te lift direct
to the Is la nd bar.
T he fina l piece in the P ure puzzle
is of cours e the e nte rta inme nt
policy, which until the s tude nts
return will cons is ts of credible
dance night P ure S es s ions on
F ridays (in a s s ocia tion with dance
Page 4 of 4
brands like Hed K andi, who
hos ted their opening night) and a
more mains tream night on
S a turda ys , which Millins s a ys "is
going to be the other e xtre me as
we a ppea l to the exis ting
P rintworks crowd in s ea rch of a
big night out."
T he venue's firs t floor feeder
opera tion, P ure Magic B ar, will
tra de s even da ys a week - dis hing
up magic tricks (which a re rela yed
live around the bar via 42"
pla s ma s ) under the guidance of
experienced magician-come-club
opera tor 'Magic' Mark B ennet.
C R E DIT S
Pure
The P rintworks Withy G rove
Manc hes ter M4 2B S
T : 0 1 6 1 8197770
O wner: Pure Group
Interior Design : C reation Design &
Build
Lighting Ins tallation: Intelligent
Lighting S ervices
Sound Ins tallation : Blue Box
London
Cloakroom & E ntry S ys tems : Q
S ystems