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Music : Territory Innovation Honoured
A Missy Higgins concert sowed the seed for one of the Territory’s most successful innovations, a Framelock crowd control barrier, honoured in last night’s Engineering Awards in Darwin.
Tour organisers of the 2006 Missy Higgins concert in Darwin stipulated industry standard barriers must be used at the concert. However, none were available in Darwin and the cost of shipping them from interstate was prohibitive.
Never one to shy from a challenge, Colin West of Total Event Services developed and manufactured the prototype of the Framelock Crowd Control Barrier.
This saved concert organisers $14,000, meant industry standard barriers were available in the Northern Territory for the first time and led to Total Event Services becoming Australia’s leading crowd control barrier manufacturer.
The barriers have since been used to keep adoring fans at bay for Justin Bieber, at Luna Park, by the National Gallery of Victoria, at a Tom Jones concert, at Luna Park, for the Clipsall 500 in Adelaide and Darwin’s BASSINTHEGRASS.
“I get calls from people who have heard about the barriers who can’t believe Australia’s only manufacturer of crowd control barriers is based in Darwin,” says Colin, who is now getting calls from as far afield as America.
The aluminium barriers are designed for safety, easy transport and quick assembly. They can be quickly configured in different ways, with gates and corners, and have a step where police or crowd controllers can stand.
They have been tested and certified to exceed national and international safety standards.
Innovation is nothing new for Colin West, who epitomises the adage that “necessity is the mother of invention”. When the Territory throws him a unique challenge, he finds a solution - and Colin is keeping patent lawyers busy with a range of products that have emerged from challenges in his events management business.
When the government wanted to run a large railway conference with an outdoor catering tent, Colin came up with an airconditioning system and dehumidifiers. When the Turf Club wanted more catering space, he came up with a custom-designed temporary shade structure that is air-conditioned, able to resist high winds and close to a permanent building.
In his youth Colin West aspired to the stage but trained as an interior designer. He worked in the theatre as stage hand and ‘skinny’ stunt man. He got into touring bands, worked as entertainment manager in a Derby hotel and filled in as disc jockey before coming to Darwin 35 years ago.
His new boss told Colin he was coming “to the capital city of the Northern Territory”. He arrived at the old tin shed that was the airport terminal and was collected by his new boss in a ute with a dog in the front. He worked in the saloon bar of the slightly down market Dolphin Hotel on land now occupied by the Jape Centre, then left to work in Sydney with Howard Page , “the ultimate audio person in the world”.
Colin returned to Darwin 30 years ago to work at legendary John Spellman’s “Dix”. When Phyllis the Drag Queen with a tooth missing walked out, Colin was offered the DJ’s position in addition to running his own sound system business during the day.
His big break was providing sound to the old Workers’ Club, with his company Top End Sounds growing over the years to incorporate events management and a retail outlet in Stuart Park.
Colin then paid $7000 for Australia’s first open narrowcast licence, Info TV, which ran a half hour program on what to do in Darwin, featured guest appearances from the likes of Chief Minister Shane Stone and used Japanese digital technology to provide the ‘best weather service in the Territory’.
“I was a TV station owner so I started to wear a tie! We were a fully automated television station which employed only one person,” Colin recalls. He sold Info Television and an FM licence.
His next venture was tents, after it dawned on him one year at the V8s that “this is the future”. He has since designed a range of custom-made tents used for a range of events around the Territory.
Described by one of his supporters as “driven by jet engines”, Colin says that when you work in a small market “you have to think outside the square”.
Not that the recognition has made him rich, Colin says. “Ideas need money and it’s all gone back into the business.”
Colin West last night won the Small Business Ventures and Projects Award in the 2010 Engineers Australia Awards. He goes on to compete in the national awards in November.
Tour organisers of the 2006 Missy Higgins concert in Darwin stipulated industry standard barriers must be used at the concert. However, none were available in Darwin and the cost of shipping them from interstate was prohibitive.
Never one to shy from a challenge, Colin West of Total Event Services developed and manufactured the prototype of the Framelock Crowd Control Barrier.
This saved concert organisers $14,000, meant industry standard barriers were available in the Northern Territory for the first time and led to Total Event Services becoming Australia’s leading crowd control barrier manufacturer.
The barriers have since been used to keep adoring fans at bay for Justin Bieber, at Luna Park, by the National Gallery of Victoria, at a Tom Jones concert, at Luna Park, for the Clipsall 500 in Adelaide and Darwin’s BASSINTHEGRASS.
“I get calls from people who have heard about the barriers who can’t believe Australia’s only manufacturer of crowd control barriers is based in Darwin,” says Colin, who is now getting calls from as far afield as America.
The aluminium barriers are designed for safety, easy transport and quick assembly. They can be quickly configured in different ways, with gates and corners, and have a step where police or crowd controllers can stand.
They have been tested and certified to exceed national and international safety standards.
Innovation is nothing new for Colin West, who epitomises the adage that “necessity is the mother of invention”. When the Territory throws him a unique challenge, he finds a solution - and Colin is keeping patent lawyers busy with a range of products that have emerged from challenges in his events management business.
When the government wanted to run a large railway conference with an outdoor catering tent, Colin came up with an airconditioning system and dehumidifiers. When the Turf Club wanted more catering space, he came up with a custom-designed temporary shade structure that is air-conditioned, able to resist high winds and close to a permanent building.
In his youth Colin West aspired to the stage but trained as an interior designer. He worked in the theatre as stage hand and ‘skinny’ stunt man. He got into touring bands, worked as entertainment manager in a Derby hotel and filled in as disc jockey before coming to Darwin 35 years ago.
His new boss told Colin he was coming “to the capital city of the Northern Territory”. He arrived at the old tin shed that was the airport terminal and was collected by his new boss in a ute with a dog in the front. He worked in the saloon bar of the slightly down market Dolphin Hotel on land now occupied by the Jape Centre, then left to work in Sydney with Howard Page , “the ultimate audio person in the world”.
Colin returned to Darwin 30 years ago to work at legendary John Spellman’s “Dix”. When Phyllis the Drag Queen with a tooth missing walked out, Colin was offered the DJ’s position in addition to running his own sound system business during the day.
His big break was providing sound to the old Workers’ Club, with his company Top End Sounds growing over the years to incorporate events management and a retail outlet in Stuart Park.
Colin then paid $7000 for Australia’s first open narrowcast licence, Info TV, which ran a half hour program on what to do in Darwin, featured guest appearances from the likes of Chief Minister Shane Stone and used Japanese digital technology to provide the ‘best weather service in the Territory’.
“I was a TV station owner so I started to wear a tie! We were a fully automated television station which employed only one person,” Colin recalls. He sold Info Television and an FM licence.
His next venture was tents, after it dawned on him one year at the V8s that “this is the future”. He has since designed a range of custom-made tents used for a range of events around the Territory.
Described by one of his supporters as “driven by jet engines”, Colin says that when you work in a small market “you have to think outside the square”.
Not that the recognition has made him rich, Colin says. “Ideas need money and it’s all gone back into the business.”
Colin West last night won the Small Business Ventures and Projects Award in the 2010 Engineers Australia Awards. He goes on to compete in the national awards in November.