T a s d I q L a y m a n

A RIDE THAT RUNS ON TIME
Theme parks are big business these days. Millions of visitors buy tickets to enjoy 
the rides at Universal Studios in Florida or Disneyland Paris and each year visitor 
expectations are higher. To survive in this competitive world, every major theme park 
needs its new attraction, which requires years of upfront planning. Phase one in most 
projects begins with brainstorming. The theme park designers think about the story 
behind the ride and its imagined geographical location. No idea is considered too crazy 
at this stage as there are no budget constraints - yet. Once the basic idea is agreed, each 
part of the ride is storyboarded, like scenes from a film. The images from the storyboard 
are then transformed into a combination of models of the ride and images on a 
computer. At this point, the design team presents the concept to the main project 
manager and tries to provide an accurate forecast of the time needed to complete the 
project and a realistic budget. Once the project is given the go ahead, phase two begins 
and the project team starts to work with other engineers, model makers and sound and 
lighting designers. In order not to miss the deadline, the project will need a wide range 
of people with specialist skills, and many parts of the process are outsourced. This is a 
critical period when it’s easy to run into problems. It would only take one of the teams 
to fall behind schedule or go over budget and the whole project could be delayed.
Assuming the construction phase stays on track, there then follows a long period 
of safety testing and assessment of the ride’s performance. Having made the launch 
date, the park starts to monitor visitor feedback; they survey visitors, and the overall 
success of the new ride will be calculated over time by the number of visitors choosing 
to go on the ride every hour.
THE ASHDEN AWARDS FOR SUSTAINABLE ENERGY
The Ashden Awards for Sustainable Energy is a charity that rewards and 
promotes excellent sustainable energy solutions in the UK and the developing world. 
Each year, the Ashden Awards holds a competition to find and reward organizations 
which have carried out practical and innovative programmes that demonstrate 
sustainable energy in action at a local level.
The charity raises international awareness of the potential benefit of local 
sustainable energy projects to deal with climate change and to improve the quality of 
people’s lives.
It also aims to encourage more people and communities across the world to take 
up the challenge of making major breakthroughs in meeting energy needs.

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The charity helps the development of sustainable energy projects in several 
ways. It gives cash prizes, to enable winners to take their work forward.
It also publicizes the winners and their work through a worldwide media 
campaign, which aims to inspire others to follow their example.
This year, the winners of the award included a project to build footbridges in 
developing countries, and another to supply low cost solar powered lightning.