A festival build part way through, a crew in hi-vis and hard hats laying modular stage decks square by square on gravel beside a line of white marquees, spare decks stacked on pallets while the crowd walks past on the path behind

Ground and Platform

Event Flooring and Staging Rentals

Ground for an event to dance on, walk on or build a stage on.

Three groups

Ground up, in order

Flooring systems

Three ways to cover ground, sorted by what is wrong with it.

A stack of black foam floor tiles with one tile stood on edge against it, the top face carrying the textured non-skid moulding and jigsaw teeth running down every side

Interlocking floor tile

Four finishes that snap together by hand, no tools and no fixings.

Two stacks of black plastic deck tiles beside a single tile turned face down, the walking side four broad flat slats and the underside an open grid of short pegs

Outdoor decking

Plastic tile on an open grid, so water runs away underneath it.

Artificial turf

Rolls of 15 × 20 ft with a 1-inch pile, cut to whatever shape you mark out.

Dance floors

One modular panel system in four finishes.

White dance floor

Throws light back up, so gobos and projection land on it.

The same panel in black, the slate texture catching the light across the top half and going almost solid where it falls away, connector loops down two edges

Black dance floor

Absorbs it instead, which is what makes beams and haze read.

Parquet dance floor

Oak block pattern for a room that already has a warm palette.

LED dance floor

Infinity-mirror glass panels on remote, sound or a DMX desk.

Stages and risers

One aluminium deck, sold as a riser on its own or as the standard small stage.

Two square stage decks connected side by side into one long platform, the ribbed black top carried on splayed black legs with a further leg standing under the centre of each deck

4x8 ft stage deck

Two decks side by side, adjustable from about 17 to 28 inches.

A single square stage deck standing low on four splayed legs and a fifth under its middle, the ribbed black top edged in a plain aluminium frame

4x4 ft stage deck

A single deck, supplied with short legs as well as standard.

Measuring up

How much floor the room actually needs.

Most of this category is quoted by the square foot, so a request that arrives with a footprint in it comes back as a number rather than a question. The two stage decks go by the deck and the LED floor by the panel, because half a deck and two-thirds of a panel do not exist. These are the conventions we use to work a footprint out.

Dancing

Allow about 4.5 sq ft for each person actually on the floor and expect a third to 40% of your guests to be on it at the busiest point of the night.

Covering a booth or a stand

Give us the marked footprint in feet and we build the tile count around it, border pieces included, so the perimeter finishes flush.

Ground that is not flat

Decking is a floor rather than a foundation: it wants ground that is already reasonably flat and it will not correct a slope. Walk the site before you plan a floor across it.

Stages go by height, not area

A head table riser and a presenter platform are the same deck at two settings. Tell us what people have to see over and we set the legs to it.

Where this category ends up

Six problems a floor solves.

A trade show stand on hall carpet

A hall carpet you did not choose, under a stand you did. Tile draws the edge of your footprint and the venue’s floor stops being part of your build.

A marquee on grass

Decking under the whole footprint so a lawn under a full guest list stays walkable, with turf running out from the edges of it where guests spill outside.

A wedding in a venue chosen for its interior

Parquet in the middle of a room somebody picked for its wood panelling, because a white floor in that room announces itself as rented equipment.

A product launch shot on camera

A black floor under the action so the lighting rig is the thing the frame sees, with a stage deck at the back for the operator to work from.

A pool deck or a misting zone

The vented tile is the one built to stand a walking surface up off standing water. It lets the rest run away underneath rather than pooling where guests are barefoot.

A conference room with no sightlines

A single 4x4 deck under a speaker in a flat room or two of them across the front for a panel. Tell us what people have to see over and the legs go to it.