Festival Fireworks: Behind the Scenes - The Edinburgh Reporter

Preparations were well underway yesterday for this Sunday’s massive festival fireworks display at Edinburgh Castle.

Keith Webb of Pyro-vision, the company behind the show, said that it takes 7 days to set up the show on the castle ramparts. 15 technicians have worked hard to connect wires and to place fireworks. An additional 4 workers will be required on the night to help.

Music is carefully choreographed with the display which will be electronically fired using control hubs connected to a computer. Should weather conditions dictate, the firing system allows for certain fireworks to be omitted for safety reasons. The show is due to last 45 minutes, however only 37 minutes of that will contain fireworks actually firing. This allows for safety checks to be carried out.

Mr Webb refused to elaborate on the cost of the project, which is being funded by Virgin Money, but he did say the most expensive element of the show was the fireworks ‘waterfall’ that has been sourced from the UK and is a signature piece for the entire display. He continued that it had caused a few headaches this year because some of the aluminium particles required for the manufacture, are of military grade. This means that they had to be sourced abroad for the tailor-made fireworks.

The show will commence on Sunday 4th Sept at 9pm. Be sure to get there early for a good place to see the show. Usual spots are Princes Street, Inverleith and Calton Hill.

Thomas Haywood, the writer is also a freelance photographer