ABOUT US
1999 saw the introduction of the Euro, the release of Windows 98, Lance Armstrong winning his first Tour de France and Vladimir Putin taking office from Boris Yeltsin. The cost of a ticket to see acts ranging from the REM to Lonnie Donnegan at Glastonbury cost a mere £85.00 pounds. In the midst of the Y2K confusion Jim Creed established ‘The Powerline (Entertainments) Limited. Jim worked as an employee of the Showpower / Templine dynasty of the 80’s and 90’s. He founded Powerline on the ethos of supplying a value for money temporary electrical service without being brash or intrusive.
Starting with a clean sheet so far as client base and capital were concerned provided a challenge to the ethos of the company in an ever expanding and competitive market. Not only did we want to supply an affordable service but also afford a business which would stand the test of time. The company although short of its own plant, cable and distribution in the initial years was not shy in investing in quality products to bring it to where it is now with its own fleet of personalized generators supported with a large stock of cable and modern modular distribution equipment, this has supported albeit a singular client base in events and entertainments but broad based in its coverage whether it be Corporate, Hospitality, Festival or Broadcast.
In the last 10 years that broad base has encompassed many striking events. Within 3 weeks of Powerlines’ conception the first major job was the Inauguration of the Welsh Assembly (Voices of the Nation) 1999, we were contracted as a supplier to the BBC for the show and to Castlefield Production for the site work. The International Festival of the Sea followed in 2001, 2003 and climaxing in 2005 with the Trafalgar 200 celebrations incorporated into the 4 day event, this saw an audience of some 200,000 people shared between the Royal Naval Dockyard and the Victory heritage site within the area of Portsmouth Old Town.
Our Broadcast services have been utilized in a number of major sporting events which have included The British Open Golf Championship, possibly the largest annual one off installation taking place at a different venue every year since Royal Troon in 2004 supplying some 2 megawatts of synchronized dual power to the BBC and its worldwide colleagues. The Ryder Cup in 2002 (The Belfry) and 2006 (The K Club, Co. Kildare) also allowed us to expand our capabilities and create ever more specialized equipment. In recent years some of this equipment has allowed us to further our partnership with Film and Television Services and supply some of the large broadcast compounds such as those installed for World Cup Rugby, EUFA Champions League and State Broadcasts. Most weekends of the Soccer season include some of our purpose built broadcast mobiles powering the OB’s at English and Welsh Premiership Football grounds. The annual Oxford Cambridge Boat Race has enjoyed the benefit of our expertise in recent years. Away from the sporting life we have been either the prime or standby power for several of the largest reality TV programs of recent times, including Hells kitchen, Fame Academy and Big Brother. Ragdoll productions used Powerline to install the location power services in grade II listed woodland for The Teletubbies and the Secret Garden. BBC productions currently use our facilities services on several period dramas.
In the corporate world Powerline has supplied power and distribution at the All England Tennis club Wimbledon for the past 6 years and most recently for the last 3 years at Twickenham on the main sponsors’ site for O2. We have also powered Microsoft's annual staff party, a much larger affair than its name suggests. Society Weddings, Bar Mitzvahs, and Celebrity Parties ensure that our planning team is kept busy, secret venues with very mysterious details make some rather unique jobs a challenge that ensures our team remains sharp and responsive to the client’s imaginative requests. These ever more Rock n Roll events are allowing us to expand our range of specialist transformers to cater for European and North American productions.
We have provided power to our clients in locations at the extreme points of the UK and Europe. Major Government contracts including the Armed Forces Fire and Rescue Training at Moreton in the Marsh and recent Nato Naval exercises in Portugal enabled the company to expand greatly in terms of range and variety of equipment and efficiency of reaction time. This has led to us being chosen as a key supplier and contractor to National disaster and emergency contingency deployment arrangements.
Festivals now feature dominantly in the summer programme, ranging in size from 500 visitors to some of the UK’s larger events. Suffice to say we still do weddings and village fetes. We pride ourselves on truly being able to boast 'No job too big or too small'.
2009 has seen no let up in the variety and standing of service delivered, especially in London. With the continuation of a large number of film premieres in Leicester square, including the recent Harry Potter film, and various venues for the Spring London fashion week. Cable, power and distribution for U2 on the roof of the BBC at Portland Place, the G20 Summit and media feeds plus lighting for the Red Carpet at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden for the 2009 BAFTAS.
We are always looking forward to the next project, however large or small, to that end your enquiry, be it a 3Kva generator a mile away or a major live music tour, is as valued as any other.