Smiths Hire Gets Enlightened…

Being based in Blackpool, we’re right near some great historic features. We’re lucky enough to be the home of the Blackpool Tower, the Pleasure Beach, sandy beaches that go on for miles, and of course the Illuminations which brighten up the town’s seafront throughout the Autumn/Winter season each year.

As an Equipment & Tool Hire company that has been serving the local area for over 50 years, we’ve built a strong relationship with Blackpool Council and retained said relationship for over 10 of those years. As a result, we’ve had the privilege of getting involved with a lot of past projects in Blackpool by supplying our equipment free of charge to help “get the job done”. One project that we’re most proud to be a part of is the aforementioned Blackpool Illuminations. Teaming up with Light Works (a company associated with the Council, and the people behind the Illuminations) we help make the event possible every year.

How do we help?

Although the Illuminations takes a lot of planning and organisation, the way in which we help is quite simple really. Based on the heights that the installers need to reach in order to fit the lights, we find out which machines from our Powered Access fleet are best suited for the job. We also take outreach into consideration as well as the type of ground that the installers are working on. That being said, when it comes to the Illumination we usually supply our typical Articulated Booms (Cherry Pickers) or the Van Mounted versions for added convenience of transport.

As well as this, we have to think about the energy side of things. As you can imagine the lighting requires a lot of power, especially when it’s on every night for a matter of months. Due to the lengthy duration of the Illuminations, the Council opt for green energy as their power source, and rightly so! With this in mind, we supply Hybrid Generators from our Go Eco range to massively reduce the carbon footprint of the project, as opposed to petrol or diesel equivalents that would cost a fortune to run, both financially and environmentally.

A bright day out…

After lending a hand with the Blackpool Illuminations in previous years, Smiths Hire’s Marketing Director, David Turner, was invited along to go behind the scenes as a thank you. On his visit, David got to see how the lights are designed and produced, and even how they are installed and tested in-house before they are hung up along the Promenade. For a number of reasons, the testing is crucial, firstly to make sure that the electrics in the lights are working without any faults, as well as simply checking how they look when lit up.

This behind the scenes experience is one that nobody would get unless they worked on the Illuminations themselves or were a member of Blackpool Council. Not only that, David even got a sneak peak at some of the new lights that are going to be installed in the upcoming Illuminations, including a feature from the mind of a local yet well known designer… Talk about exclusive!

When are the Illuminations this year?

The annual Illuminations are being switched on this September on Friday 2nd and will run all the way through until the New Year, ending on Monday 2nd January. Keep an eye out for any dazzling new pieces that you haven’t spotted before!

Need Equipment?

If you’ve got a sizable project coming up and require solutions for working at height, power, or anything else for that matter, give our central hires team a call on 0333 323 2100 or email salesoffice@smithshire.com