Floor loading and placing heavy exhibits

8 stand types

floor conditions narrow type options for heavy display

Stand types

1–10 days

build time; the exhibit enters at the start of it

Stand types

Reading the floor condition

Every venue has its own floor loading condition, and it can change from hall to hall within the same venue. Basement, intermediate and ground levels do not carry the same load, and at multi-level venues that difference decides things. The conditions are published in the technical manual and reissued each edition.

What the exhibitor must do is compare the weight and contact area of the machine against the manual. Point load matters as much as total weight; a machine standing on narrow feet behaves differently from one of the same weight on a broad base.

Make that comparison before booking the space. It determines which hall and which plot will work, and the stand type decision follows from it. Keep the machine’s technical file to hand as well. The organiser may ask for weight, contact area and, where relevant, a loading diagram; the manufacturer holds this information but gathering it takes time. Pulling the document together before the space is booked speeds up every step after it.

Spreading the load and the platform

Where point load is high, the answer is to spread it over a wider surface. A steel plate, a reinforced base or a calculated platform will do it. All of these add weight and create height, and both belong in the design.

The platform decision also affects access. A raised floor needs a ramp for visitors, and the ramp’s gradient and width fall under accessibility rules. If the exhibit itself has to go up onto the platform, the route has to carry that load.

Cables and services run under the platform too. Stands with heavy exhibits usually carry a high electrical load; where the supply is taken from and how the runs pass through is solved at the design stage. Not using a platform is also an option. A heavy exhibit sitting straight on the hall floor makes hiding the cables and services around it harder, but it simplifies the load spreading. The decision sits between the weight of the machine and the visual coherence of the stand, and both sides belong in the design meeting.

Route and sequence

Getting the exhibit into the hall is a plan of its own. Which door it enters by, which aisle it uses, what equipment moves it and where that equipment comes from are all written down in advance. Forklift and crane services come from the approved supplier at most venues and are planned by the hour.

The sequence reverses: exhibit first, stand second. Bringing a heavy machine into a finished structure is usually impossible, which means the structure has to be drawn leaving the opening the machine passes through.

At tear-down the same order runs backwards with less time available. The equipment for taking the exhibit out has to be booked for that night too. We run this planning as a separate step within our service scope. Safety around the exhibit belongs in the same plan. If the machine will be demonstrated, barriers, signage and who supervises them are decided in advance, and the venue may require separate permission. Working that out during the show costs both time and the confidence of the visitors watching.

What happens if the floor limit is exceeded?

The venue refuses the placement or requires load spreading. Raised on site, there is no time to solve it; make the comparison before booking the space.

Can a machine be run during the show?

It depends on the venue. Noise, emissions, safety barriers and additional load are defined in the manual, and separate permission may be needed.