Severn Trent
Leadership Event 2026
300+ delegates per day. Four live event days. Three purpose-built conference spaces. One extraordinary location.
When Severn Trent asked us to support them once again with their annual Leadership Conference, the location presented an exciting challenge: transform areas of open ground at the historic Papplewick Pumping Station into a complete conference campus capable of welcoming more than 300 delegates every day.
We jumped into action.
What began as pockets of grass became a fully functioning event environment, incorporating a main plenary, two breakout spaces, registration, catering, networking areas, digital signage, site-wide Wi-Fi, power generation and all the infrastructure required to make it work.
And we didn’t simply build the event.
Our teams worked across event production, video, digital, design and technical production, creating one connected experience from the first delegate registration through to the final piece of content on screen.
Delivering a conference of this scale in such an unconventional location demanded creativity, precision and teamwork.
The result was a vibrant, high-quality leadership experience that felt completely at home in its surroundings – despite effectively being built from the ground up.
From Grass to Conference Campus
The transformation started long before delegates arrived.
Two substantial raised-floor temporary structures – measuring 30m x 12m and 25m x 12m – were constructed and connected by an enclosed walkway, alongside an additional 175m² dome structure.
Together they created three distinctive conference environments, each with its own technical and creative identity.
The wider site was then developed around them with registration and catering facilities, outdoor networking areas, digital signage, delegate routes, toilets, production compounds and supporting infrastructure.
Because of the unusual location, detailed planning was essential.
Ahead of construction, we commissioned a ground utility mapping survey to identify buried services and power infrastructure. Where structures couldn’t safely be pinned into the ground, substantial concrete ballast solutions were introduced instead.
Site vehicles including electric buggies, utility vehicles, trailers and production scooters helped our teams move equipment efficiently across the large footprint throughout build, live days and derig.
Content Designed to Make an Impact
The physical environment was only one part of the experience.
Working closely with Severn Trent’s communications team, our video and content teams developed a series of films and motion graphics designed specifically around the conference messaging and screen formats.
Two opening films created impactful starts to the day.
One was produced specifically in an ultra-wide format to take advantage of the full 10m-wide LED canvas in the plenary.
The second explored the potential of AI-assisted filmmaking. Beginning from the concept of a single continuous camera move, we created a glimpse into what Severn Trent’s world could look and feel like in 2035 – transforming strategic messages about customers, communities, the environment and innovation into an engaging visual story.
But the content didn’t stop once the event went live.
Throughout each conference day, our video team captured delegates, speakers and moments from around the site. This footage was rapidly edited into a specially pre-built motion graphics framework to create a bespoke closing film for each day.
The result was a powerful finale that reflected what delegates had just experienced, reinforced the day’s key messages and turned the focus towards what Severn Trent’s leaders would do next.
Additional motion graphics and presentation content helped create a consistent visual language across the entire experience.
Big Screens. Bigger Impact.
At the heart of the main plenary was a huge 10m x 3m Absen 2.5mm LED wall, creating a 30m² digital canvas for presentations, films and bespoke ultra-wide content.
Two additional 98-inch displays provided content relay alongside the main screen.
Inside the dome, we installed a further 6m x 3m LED wall with curved concave ends, positioned on a creatively configured LiteDeck presentation stage.
A third breakout space took a very different approach.
Here we brought together 12 Foldster 1.5mm LED poster displays to create a striking multi-screen digital backdrop. Using a Matrox QuadHead2Go and a single 4K canvas, content could flow seamlessly across the individual displays to create one coordinated visual environment.
Outdoor Foldster displays were also deployed around the campus as animated digital wayfinding, helping delegates quickly identify their correct breakout spaces.
Lighting the Experience
Lighting transformed each of the temporary structures from functional spaces into distinctive event environments.
In the plenary, 16 Elation Rebel Wash 4 moving heads created bold walk-in looks and punchy speaker stings, supported by Elation KL Pars across five ladder trusses for audience colour and KL Profile Compact fixtures for stage lighting.
Outside, Spectra QX40 fixtures illuminated some of Papplewick’s historic pumping infrastructure, connecting the event visually with its unique surroundings.
Inside the dome, Chauvet Maverick Storm 4 Profiles and Ayrton Karif fixtures projected specially manufactured glass gobos onto the structure’s roof canvas – turning the dome itself into another branded surface.
The third breakout incorporated Admiral Vintage fixtures alongside LED profiles to give it a deliberately different character.
We even gave existing event assets another life, repurposing Severn Trent neon signage from previous events within the breakout and registration areas – fitting perfectly with the conference’s “Turn It Up To 11” creative theme.
Smarter, More Sustainable Power
Creating a temporary event campus requires substantial power – but that doesn’t mean generators have to run continuously.
We deployed a 60kVA hybrid power solution, combining:
- an 80kW engine power node
- 90kWh battery energy storage
- a modular 5kW solar array
- available three-phase venue shore power.
The different sources worked together to reduce reliance on engine-generated power and minimise unnecessary generator runtime, particularly overnight.
It provided the resilience required for a large technical event while demonstrating how smarter temporary power solutions can reduce the environmental impact of live production.
FACT: 265 kg CO2e power generation saving which
is a 59% savings compared to diesel equivalents!
A Connected Event – Built from Scratch
An event campus needs more than structures and screens.
It needs connectivity.
We designed and installed a complete UniFi network across the site, providing connectivity for more than 350 delegates, staff and production crew each day.
Brand-new Wi-Fi 7 U7 Pro access points provided site-wide wireless coverage, while two load-balanced Starlink connections delivered approximately 500Mbps of available bandwidth.
The same infrastructure supported a site-wide CCTV solution, creating a connected digital backbone for both delegates and the production operation.
Registration, Q&A and Event Technology
Our digital team launched the first live deployment of our latest-generation bespoke eReg registration platform for the conference.
The platform brought together registration, communications and reporting alongside functionality developed specifically for the event, including reservoir tour slot booking and delegate Q&A.
At registration, iPads enabled rapid delegate check-in with automatic allocation of group wristbands.
We also developed a dedicated Q&A experience allowing delegates to submit questions to Severn Trent’s CEO both before and during the conference.
Questions could be moderated by the event team before being surfaced to an iPad on stage, creating a simple digital workflow from delegate to presenter.
And there was more happening behind the scenes.
Our cloud-based presenter timer system connected iPads across the different conference spaces, allowing the event management team to remotely keep simultaneous sessions running to time.
One platform. Multiple spaces. Everyone in sync.
It’s the Details That Make an Event
Creating a temporary venue meant thinking beyond production.
Furniture packages were designed for each environment, while outdoor areas incorporated picnic benches and poseur tables to create informal places for delegates to eat, meet and catch up.
Registration counters, catering pagodas, display refrigeration and back-of-house storage supported the operational requirements.
White picket fencing helped define delegate routes while discreetly masking production areas, with branded Heras fencing securing the temporary power and vehicle compounds.
A complete signage package covered everything from roadside arrival signage and parking directions through to on-site wayfinding and safety information.
Double-sided vinyl graphics were applied to glass panels within the temporary structures, bringing the event identity into the architecture itself.
We also supplied smart toilet trailers with running water and coordinated an on-site cleaning operation responsible for cleaning and waste management throughout each live day.
Working alongside the external catering team, we supplied additional refrigeration, service equipment, storage and supporting infrastructure.
Because delivering a great conference isn’t simply about what happens on stage.
It’s about making everything around it work.
One Team. Shared Values.
Throughout the project, White worked as a genuine extension of Severn Trent’s communications and event teams.
From creative concepts and content production through to digital development, temporary structures, power, production technology, graphics and the smallest operational details, our role was to connect hundreds of individual requirements into one cohesive experience.
Plans evolved. Challenges appeared. Solutions were found.
That flexibility is particularly important when you’re building an entire event environment somewhere that was never designed to be a conference venue.
Over four live days, more than 300 leaders each day came together to connect, collaborate and focus on Severn Trent’s future.
Behind them was an event campus that hadn’t existed just days earlier.
That’s what we love doing: taking an ambitious idea, an unconventional space and a complex brief – and making it all work.
"I’ve worked with White Production for around 18 months now, although the relationship with our company exceeds 10 years. From glitzy awards evenings to corporate leadership events, White Production have been an incredible partner to us. They always think of the finer detail, and make our events extra spectacular with thoughtful touches. They truly embed themselves into the organisation, demonstrating our company values and reflecting that through their proposals and recommendations. When it comes to flexibility – they go above and beyond. We often have some last-minute crazy ideas, and 99% of the time they deliver these and way more! On a personal level, they’re really great to work with too – everyone is so friendly and warm to our guests and we always have fun along the way.”
Event Manager, Severn Trent.
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