BBC Biggest Weekend, War Memorial Park, Coventry

  • Temporary HVM barriers
  • HVM deployment
  • HVM Rental Solutions
  • Park & Ride Management
  • Perimeter Security
  • Car Park Management
  • Crowd Safety
Posted on 24.04.2019 by admin, Stadium

In 2018, Stadium helped keep fans safe at one of the largest music events ever to come to Coventry – BBC The Biggest Weekend.

Stadium was tasked with providing and installing hostile vehicle mitigation (HVM) barriers to protect fans attending the two-day festival at War Memorial Park, where the annual Godiva Festival is also held.

Stadium had already been hired by Coventry City Council to provide HVM barriers at previous Godiva Festivals, and its success meant the firm’s services were called upon once again.

 

The Challenge

BBC’s The Biggest Weekend saw a variety of acts play at different locations across the UK. War Memorial Park hosted a Radio 2 event on Sunday May 27, and a Radio 3 event on Monday May 28.

More than 40,000 people headed to the park across the two days due to big names like Liam Gallagher, Snow Patrol and Paloma Faith all performing.

This meant Stadium not only had to make sure all these fans were protected from harm by effective use of temporary HVM barriers, but also had to make sure they entered and exited the park safely and efficiently.

The firm also had to make sure fans using the Park & Ride service at Jaguar Land Rover’s Whitley site had a smooth experience.

An additional challenge came from heavy rainfall the night before, which meant areas of the car park were waterlogged and would have to be avoided by drivers.

 

The Work

Stadium worked with Coventry City Council and the BBC to come up with a bespoke strategy to ensure fans were kept safe and also had a good time.

At the car park, Stadium’s experienced staff visited the site over several times both in advance of the event and on the weekend. This was done to ensure the accessibility to the site was uncompromised and no significant queues formed upon entry or exit.

Staff also ensured cars parking at the site avoided the waterlogged areas caused by the previous rainfall.

After discussing the needs of the festival and the site’s potential chokepoints, Stadium deployed ATG Access Surface Guard at three locations around the park and additional Rosehill Security Rapid Defender barriers at the much wider main entrance.

This allowed a high density of attendees to enter and exit the site at any given time, but also secured the entrances completely from hostile vehicles.

The combination of ATG Access Surface Guard and Rosehill Security Rapid Defender was needed at the main entrance due to its width.

When the event finished on Monday, Stadium’s staff were able to remove the barriers very quickly. This meant War Memorial Park was soon ready to be used as normal once again.

 

The Results

Both the Sunday and the Monday went very smoothly for fans. The Park and Ride service at Whitley ran well thanks to Stadium’s extensive preparation and regular monitoring over the two days.

Despite the high number of fans attending, all were able to enter the park and depart very efficiently and safely thanks to the HVM barriers chosen and Stadium’s staff making sure the crowds kept moving.

And although the potential for disruption was high, Stadium’s experience in working at these kinds of events meant it was kept to an absolute minimum.

Burnley FC

  • HVM Rental Solutions
  • Perimeter Security
  • Stewards
  • Customer Services
  • Temporary HVM barriers
  • HVM deployment
  • Traffic Management
  • Car Park Management
  • Crowd Safety
Posted on by admin, Stadium

Stadium has been working with Premier League football club Burnley F.C since the company was founded as StadiumTM in 2009.

The company is the primary provider of crowd management and traffic management requirements for the club at the Claret’s home stadium Turf Moor.

Stadium’s traffic management services were first put to the test in a friendly against Leeds United in August 2009 and the company has since added the deployment of Hostile Vehicle Mitigation (HVM) barriers.

Services are also provided inside the stadium, ensuring crowd safety and providing customer services for spectators enjoying the match.

The Challenge

The Clarets’ home stadium Turf Moor regularly attracts more than 20,000 fans when it hosts a fixture, and it is important that fans have a safe and enjoyable experience.

Stadium’s team had to provide a viable traffic management solution to ensure fan safety and smooth flowing traffic around the stadium on every match day.

Turf Moor is situated just outside of the town centre in Burnley, in a built-up area and the stadium is surrounded by tight terraced streets.

This makes traffic management even more of a complex issue, in comparison to modern football stadia built in vast, wide open spaces.

These tight streets also make parking around the stadium difficult, which enhances the importance of being able to provide clear directions to official car parks and ensure safe parking practice on arrival.

To add to the challenges of the built-up environment around the ground, football fans can also be unpredictable on a match-day and will abandon pavements and walk on the roads.

Football matches are also high-risk events, with thousands of people on the streets at one time, who will need to be protected in the event of a car ramming attack.

Once inside the stadium, the range of challenges continue, with crowd safety taking precedence, whilst still protecting the fan experience.

The Work

It was key that on match day’s Stadium’s impact was effective but not disruptive to the experience of fans – some of whom will have travelled from around the country to attend.

Stadium deploys more than 100 of its fully-trained and experienced staff around Turf Moor on a match-day.

The traffic management team are responsible for the implementation of a match-day traffic management plan at the stadium.

This includes operating key road closures in the streets around the ground and ensuring that vehicles are directed to follow key diversion routes. Not all traffic going around Turf Moor on a match-day is heading towards the event.

The diversion routes operated are designated to provide the quickest, and safest, passage for traffic looking to head out of Burnley town centre.

By providing a joined-up approach around Turf Moor, Stadium staff direct traffic and operate the car parks. This approach ensures that traffic reaches the destination safely and is managed from end-to-end by experienced staff.

On arrival at the car parks, the car park stewarding team supervise the organisation of the vehicles which are looking to park.

To ease traffic flowing from the match, vehicles are required to be organised in a fashion where they can smoothly leave the car park with minimal difficulty.

Stadium stewards monitor and operate all of the turnstiles at Turf Moor, ensuring safe entry and a steady flow of fans into the venue. Stadium’s staff are trained in customer service care and place an emphasis on ensuring these measures do not impact the fan experience.

The match-day offer from Stadium has expanded from traffic management to the introduction of Hostile Vehicle Mitigation (HVM) barriers to protect fans.

When first implemented in 2017, 38 metres of barriers were installed around the stadium.

The innovative barrier system allows pedestrians, emergency vehicles, VIP’s and suppliers to pass through safely which ensures a safe experience for all spectators and local residents.

The Results

Stadium has now been working with Burnley FC on match-days for more than a decade, which is testament to the effective work carried out by the company’s experienced staff.

The introduction of the HVM barriers set Burnley FC as a trailblazing club, becoming the first team to use the unique ATG Access Surface Guard barriers.

The innovative barrier system allows pedestrians to pass through safely, can be dropped in less than 30 seconds to enable vehicle access and are accessible for wheelchair users.

Liverpool FC

  • Coach parking management
  • Stewards
  • Customer Services
  • Training
  • Traffic Management
  • Pass access system
  • Car Park Management
Posted on by admin, Stadium

We have supplied Liverpool FC with Traffic Management services since 2012, with average attendances of 54,000. We are responsible for Anfield Stadium’s traffic management operation, and the stadium footprint, and have around 100 stewards inside the ground on match days. This work stretches to the biggest games: in April 2019, for example, we supplied 250 staff for Liverpool’s astonishing performance against Barcelona in the Champion’s League semi-final.

We operate Temporary Traffic Regulation Orders (TTRO) in accordance with the set traffic management plan, and handle the parking-up of away coaches across designated areas to ensure the walkways are made safe as spectators enter and egress from the stadium.

We also implement a pass-access system on certain road closure points for exclusive parking areas in the vicinity of the stadium, ensuring VIPs are able to access as required in accordance with the club’s wishes.

Overall, we deliver around 190 operatives to Anfield. Our staff-members act as the first port of call for visitors to the stadium, placing great emphasis and importance on the quality of our service. To ensure an all-round high quality operation, we provide our staff with customer service skills of the highest standard through our thorough training regime.

The quality and consistency of our service over the years means we have regularly been called upon to offer ad-hoc security and stewarding requirements in a variety of contexts. As with all our customer relationships, we’re very proud of the positive and productive links we have fostered at Liverpool FC and Anfield itself.

Godiva Music Festival, Coventry

  • Temporary HVM barriers
  • HVM deployment
  • HVM vehicle access points
  • HVM Rental Solutions
  • Perimeter Security
  • Stewards
  • Customer Services
  • Traffic Management
  • Car Park Management
Posted on by admin, Stadium

Godiva Festival is one of the biggest annual music festivals to be held in Coventry, and regularly attracts up to 125,000 visitors over its three days.

Stadium has provided its services to the festival for a number of years, including in 2014 which saw a record number of visitors attend.

Each edition of the festival has seen Stadium refine its services to make sure the event is safe and secure for fans every year.

 

The Challenge

Godiva is a three-day music festival held in War Memorial Park in Coventry, and for a number of years gave free entry, which meant it attracted a huge number of visitors from the city, across the Midlands and further afield.

To help keep the festival running smoothly, site traffic needed to flow in and out of War Memorial Park with minimum disruption and public vehicles continued to flow around the park perimeter.

It was also very important to manage the high number of cars – around 3,000 – using the designated car park. Stadium had to make sure the cars were able to enter and exit the car park in a safe and efficient manner.

Finally, the increased prevalence of hostile vehicle ramming attacks in the late 2010s meant fans had to have extra protection in later editions of the festival.

 

The Work

Through working with Coventry City Council and the emergency services, Stadium was able to come up with several effective traffic management plans tailored to the different demands each year.

Elements of the plans included temporary road closures at strategic times and points, and creating a one-way route for site traffic to ensure they could enter and exit easily.

In later editions of the festival, Stadium would install hostile vehicle mitigation (HVM) barriers at four points around War Memorial Park to protect fans from harm.

These barriers would also allow authorised vehicles to access the festival, such as emergency vehicles, utility vehicles, as well as the acts performing at Godiva.

Once the festival finished, Stadium’s staff were able to dismantle the barriers and pack them away very quickly, meaning War Memorial Park could reopen to the public as quickly as possible.

 

The Results

Godiva has been a smooth experience for visitors for a number of years thanks to Stadium’s experience in traffic management, car park management, crowd management and temporary HVM barrier deployment.

Stadium have been retained for many years to provide their services at Godiva due to how effective they are.

Each year, tens of thousands of fans are able to access War Memorial Park, have a safe and fun time, and leave with no issues thanks to Stadium’s meticulous preparation and planning.