Serious Stages stepped in at short notice to build the decking and substructure required to support the Ice Space venue - "The worlds first ever 5 Star Arctic attraction" - at London's Tower Bridge.

Serious - one of the UK's leading staging companies - has supplied over 2000 square metres of it's proprietary Red Deck extra heavy duty steel base system which is supporting over 200 tonnes of ice.

The deck is constructed from Universal I Beams that span between RMD Shoring  System and customised head standards. Infill beams fit between the primary I Beams every 600mm to produce an incredibly strong base. The infill beams are capped with timber and then finished with 25 mm birch plywood panels to form the deck's surface. Each ‘bay' measures 2.4 x 2.4 metres.

Serious has also supplied 12 internal support arches for the structure as well as all the perimeter external steps, wheelchair access ramps, handrails, etc.

Inside the structure, which is split into three main rooms and a VIP area, the promoters used Serious's long history and expertise in temporary buildings to help support the external walls. Using custom designed aluminium arches, Serious provided a 14m x 15m structures inside each of the four main areas to secure the external fabric skin of the Ice Space. The outside fabric was specially manufactured by an inflatable building supplier to keep the inside of the structure refrigerated.

Around the Ice Space itself, Serious has built all the access ways required, including many customised elements. With a substantial stock of specially designed public area handrails and ramps, they were able to build the project's requirements with very short notice and achieve the look and aesthetics that the client was envisaging.

The Serious site team - at times up to 12 people - was led by Gavin Harper, and are working for JVP Events.

The Ice Space will be in place for 2 months.