Happy 1st birthday Illuminate!

Back in December 2017, the Science Museum announced that after a 4 year planning project, they were gearing up to launch a brand-new, multi-purpose events venue to market. Following the Museum’s bold decision to re-purpose the old History of Medicine galleries, progressive new space Illuminate, so named after a public vote, finally opened in March 2019.

Located on Levels 4 & 5 of the Museum, Illuminate is the first events space of its kind, dedicated solely to commercial hire, to be on offer within a unique visitor attraction. Following an extensive and rigorous tender process, we were over the moon to be chosen as the in-house technical production partner for Illuminate, alongside sole catering partner, Moving Venue.

In its inaugural year, the venue has achieved multiple prestigious accolades, including the London Venue Awards ‘Best Venue with a View’ and a WL win at the AV Awards for ‘National Integrator of the Year’. Illuminate is also a ‘Venue of the Year’ finalist at the upcoming Event Production Awards.

As we celebrate Illuminate’s 1^st birthday, we asked our Venue Sales Manager, Mark Sutcliffe, what it takes to equip a venue of this nature and what all clients require from the AV offering…

• Flexibility in the system and its operational capabilities: events planning is always a fluid process, with many changes to agenda, content, guest list and even technical requirements still being made last minute, so the venue’s control system must be infinitely flexible. To achieve this, we installed a state-of-the-art Crestron NVX system across both Levels 4 and 5. Crestron’s digital matrix solution enables expert integration of all audio, video and lighting elements. This offers greater peace of mind for clients, as we can quickly and efficiently control the environment, or add additional equipment at very short notice, with the touch of a button.
• White box versatility: the blank-canvas nature of Illuminate, further enhanced by its contrasting architectural theme of light and dark, means we can fulfil a very diverse range of event briefs. From a 400-capacity conference with LED video walls and fully branded stage backdrop, to creating a gym experience for Under Armor or a technological showcase in conjunction with the Design Week Awards, to name a recent few.
• Enhanced branding: increasingly, clients are seeking eco-friendly branding opportunities to reflect their identity within the space. The LED wall positioned at Illuminate’s entrance and superior quality projectors and screens located permanently onsite, offer cost-effective digital alternatives to printed single-use vinyl’s and graphics.
• Fully integrated system and in-house equipment inventory: this helps to keep costs down whenever clients need to add supplementary items on event day. With a significant inventory of equipment stocked permanently onsite, transport costs are reduced, achieving another big environmental tick. For smaller events, we can keep the footprint of the tech desk and control area to a bare minimum, maximising the floor space available for the event layout.  
• Speedy set-ups and rapid room turnarounds: due to the extensive technical infrastructure in Illuminate, events can be installed much faster, minimising technician costs to the client for set-ups and turnarounds. We can also deliver back-to-back events cost-effectively and with ease, enabling Illuminate to host daytime into evening event transitions seamlessly.

It has certainly been an exciting and hugely successful launch year for Illuminate, with a high-profile client base and diverse event case studies. We can’t wait to see what the next year holds in store for this multi-award winning venue!