Ebony Champagne Bar, Durham

Following extensive refurbishment, Durham’s Ebony, a champagne and cocktail bar frequented by celebrities, opened its doors to the public with a new fixed structure by Indigo Shading Ltd.

The new structure at Ebony is completely custom-made, with a whole host of intricate accessory additions to add to the bar’s famed luxury finesse, personalising the structure in its entirety.

Trevor Ruddle, Managing Director of Indigo Shading Ltd, and Martin Gibson, Business Development Manager, initially visited Ebony in Durham city centre on 14th June 2016 to discuss a fully custom-made, free-standing structure that could be used throughout the year.

Before meeting, Martin had already prepared basic designs; at the initial meeting, the more detailed structural implications were discussed and agreed in principal.

Following this, Indigo entered into a three week period of consultation with the chosen suppliers, assessing feasibility and product design; it was at this stage that the details began to fall into place. During this time, Trevor faced the most challenging part of the installation: designing the galvanised steel frame. The frame had to be delivered in component form – but with a weight close to three tonnes, this in itself proved to be quite the challenge! However, with no challenge too big for Indigo, the frame was designed with millimetre-perfect attention-to-detail for the client’s approval.

Upon completion of the feasibility study, the proposal was then put to the client, answering the brief in full. Impressed by Indigo’s professionalism and efficiency, the clients placed the order straight away with full confidence.

This led to mid-July, where a lead time of six-to-seven weeks followed; prior to installation, all of the individual components required on site were delivered to a storage facility close by to give the fitting teams the right components at the exact times they were required. Indigo had committed to a very tight installation period of just two weeks on site in order to cause minimal disruption to their trade and inconvenience to customer… So, no pressure there, then!

On Monday 12th September, the fitters began working on this mammoth task with a strict deadline of Friday 23rd September to be adhered to, due to Ebony’s grand opening event on the same date.

To ensure optimum organisation and minimum room-for-error, Indigo hired a professional Project Management team to oversee and liaise with the precinct management, health and safety consultants, fitting teams, and of course, the valued clients: a necessity for a project of this magnitude.

The installation at Ebony consisted of a freestanding galvanised steel base measuring 8m x 6m, made up from pre-fabricated sections and assembled on site. A 6m wide x 3m high goalpost structure was bolted onto this, to which two 6m x 4m Indigo Pergotex retractable roof fixed structures were fixed. The total area of free space inside the structure measures at an impressive 48 square metres.

From here, fixed solid screening was installed in between all of the supporting legs, each containing illuminated logos on top of the screening. Sliding glass units with full-height sliding glass doors were added to the main entrance and black Ecodek boarding was fitted to the floor area.

The final touches involved perfecting the aesthetic: in addition to powder-coating everything in black, an LED light bar was fitted to the underside of the goalpost and four heaters were attached at eaves site. Both of these, in addition to the retractable roof, are fully operational via remote control.

Whilst there were the inevitable set-backs, Indigo are proud as punch to report that the project was completed on time and on budget, achieving everything the clients wanted… Phew!

On 23rd September, Ebony opened its doors to the public and footfall increased dramatically.

“We’re very proud to have created such a unique structure for our clients; it’s a totally one-off design with lots of engineering innovation.” Said Trevor Ruddle, Managing Director of Indigo Shading Ltd. “The clients are ecstatic with the end result, which is already providing a significant increase to their turnover.”

It’s clear to see that this impressive fixed structure will provide an exceptional return on Ebony’s investment over the coming years.

To enquire more about Indigo’s range of Fixed Structures and other outdoor shading solutions, call 01352 751889 or email enquiries@indigoshading.co.uk