Wolverhampton Wanderers & End of Season Promotions Parade

  • HVM deployment
  • HVM Rental Solutions
  • Perimeter Security
  • Stewards
  • Temporary HVM barriers
  • Traffic Management
  • SIA Security Services
Posted on 13.05.2019 by admin, Stadium

When Wolverhampton Wanderers FC were promoted to the Premier League in 2018, Stadium was hired by the club to provide security for their promotion parade after having worked with the club since 2017.

Initially, Stadium were hired by the club to provide stewards and SIA security personnel on match days, but were soon asked to provide a traffic management strategy on match days also.

Due to Stadium’s success in keeping Wolves fans safe on match days and improving their overall experience, City of Wolverhampton Council hired the firm to provide security and barriers for its promotion parade.

 

The Challenge

When Wolves were promoted to the Premier League, the club wished to share their success with their fans by having the team parade around Wolverampton City Centre in an open top bus.

Around 80,000 attendees were expected to turn out to watch the parade, so it was crucial Stadium developed an effective strategy to make sure the team and everyone attending enjoyed the event in safety.

It was important to block off the bus’s route from vehicles, while also allowing fans to get relatively close to the bus so they could cheer on the players and enjoy the event.

The bus also had to follow the route at a certain speed for the safety of the crowd, which was another challenge for Stadium.

Finally, it was crucial to ensure fans leaving the parade once it was over did so in a safe and efficient manner.

 

The Work

After meeting with both Wolverhampton Wanderers and City of Wolverhampton Council to discuss the route, it was clear a lot of protection was needed to keep fans safe.

Stadium had to deploy a record number of hostile vehicle mitigation (HVM) barriers across the route to secure it – 130m of ATG Access Surface Guard barriers were deployed in six strategic locations in the city centre.

This meant unauthorised vehicles were unable to access the route, but fans on foot were still able to get relatively close to the bus and the players so they could cheer their success.

The bus was escorted around the route by one of Stadium’s trucks, which made sure the bus travelled around the route at a particular speed, allowing fans to be able to see and cheer on their favourite players for enough time.

It also prevented fans rushing around to see the parade, which could have caused safety issues.

Once the parade was over, Stadium’s experienced stewards ensured fans dispersed in an orderly and safe manner, preventing any serious crowd build-up which could have presented safety issues.

And when all fans had safely left, Stadium was able to dismantle the barriers and pack them away very quickly, meaning Wolverhampton city centre could get back to normal as soon as possible.

The Results

The parade ran incredibly smoothly thanks to Stadium’s preparation and its effective deployment of HVM barriers.

All fans were able to easily see the players and enjoy the day, which contributed to a fantastic atmosphere.

Fans were able to leave smoothly thanks to Stadium’s stewards making sure there were enough exit points.

 

London Olympics

  • Training
  • Customer Services
  • Traffic Management
  • Stewarding
  • SIA Security Services
Posted on 24.04.2019 by admin, Stadium

Stadium was contracted to provide stewards and marshals for the delivery of the London 2012 Olympics across 24 venues around central and outer London, ensuring the safety and security of millions of spectators visiting the world’s premier sporting event.

The work involved helping the operation of 20 training venues for the athletes, the media hub in Russell Square, Wimbledon, the marathon in Hyde Park, and the cycling road race in Box Hill.

The Challenge

London 2012 was the largest ever visitor event hosted in the UK, attracting millions of people from across the world to a huge range of different venues – all at a time of a heightened terrorist security alert.

Stadium was awarded the contract to supply just three weeks before the operation went live, while every venue required varying service offerings and this was achieved above and beyond company requirements, through a flexible approach and motivated workforce at each site.

This required extensive planning and management of personnel within a stringent time frame to ensure the contract was delivered on time and to the high quality of the standards set by Stadium.

In order to surpass expectations as a service supplier to the Olympics, Stadium worked to deliver an extension of required qualifications to all of its 2012 employees.

Stadium had very little time but – through funding from Ealing and Hammersmith College, along with use of its facilities, Stadium trained more than 500 people recruited through the Ealing Job Centre.

Stadium offered NVQ level 2 in Customer Service, along with other training for certain individuals that included health and safety, first aid, conflict management and fire safety training – offering staff improved, longer-term job prospects.

The Work

Stadium worked across 24 venues throughout the capital, but highlights included the cycle road race and the marathon.

Stadium was contracted to provide crowd management, stewards, security and traffic management services to the Box Hill Road Race in Surrey.

This involved deploying circa 200 staff, mainly stewards to the event, providing a plethora of services including a visible presence at densely crowded points to deter encroachment on to the road area; responding relevantly to spectator enquiries, reporting obstructions, conflicts and suspicious behaviour; providing security at the start and finish areas and also access control services to athletes at pre-event and post-event staging areas.

The event passed off without incident and was viewed as one of the highlights of the London Olympic Games.

Stadium was responsible for the provision of traffic management services to the Hyde Park London Marathon event, as well as providing stewarding and security services to the pre-event site entertainment areas.

The work at the Media Hub – one of the most famous traffic junctions in the world and a major focus for global media coverage – included deploying traffic management staff according to a geographical site plan; enacting road closures according to a pre-planned timeline; deploying the necessary signage and barrier equipment to support road closures; directing traffic to follow organised diversion routes and maintaining radio communication at all times with the operations manager to approve any actions.

The Result

Stadium met all the deadlines and requirements set out by LOCOG after other companies had struggled to provide the level of service and staffing required for the greatest sporting event held in the UK.

Meeting such tight timelines while still providing staff and services to maintain the high standards set by Stadium required a high degree of customer relationship management with individual clients at each of the 24 venues, each with their own specific operational needs.

Stadium maintained a strong working relationship with LOCOG throughout to ensure services were delivered to the customer’s satisfaction.

This was achieved through regular meetings and on-going assessments of operational performance.

Any issues were concisely communicated through appropriate channels and fed back to Stadium staff to ensure these were rectified and a high quality of service was sustained.

More than 500 staff were trained and skilled-up thanks to the involvement of Stadium, giving them new channels for employment and enhanced prospects.

Stadium played a role in an event which saw 685,000 visits from overseas visitors that were mainly for the Games, or involved attending an official ticketed event at the London 2012 Olympic or Paralympic Games. In total these 685,000 visits involved spending around £925 million in the UK, on average spending £1,350 per visit.

Glasgow Commonwealth Games

  • Stewards
  • Customer Services
  • Training
  • CCTV response
  • SIA Security Services
  • Crowd Safety
Posted on by admin, Stadium

The 2014 Glasgow Commonwealth Games was a wonderful event – and a banner moment for the city itself. Stadium provided key security and crowd management services across three venues during the Games, acting as an official supplier.

There was just a three-month period between the award of contract and operations going live. Prior to this, however, Stadium had established a strong understanding between the organising committee and our management team – and this enabled a thorough apprehension of service requirements at each venue.

We provided stewarding and security services to the Tollcross International Swimming Centre in Glasgow, the Barry Buddon Shooting Centre in Dundee and the Royal Commonwealth Pool in Edinburgh. We deployed security personnel for CCTV and response steward roles in each venue.

Operational planning involved regular meetings with the leads of each of our operations teams, in which we assessed staffing requirements and which profiles would be most suitable to fulfilling any required roles. This helped ensure the highest level of service was provided. Understanding the profiles of each of our staff required an appreciation of their experience, skill-set and character. This was especially important for placing staff in leadership roles, since it was essential – of course – that they had the necessary leadership qualities.

In this way, Stadium places great importance on the planning process, in order to integrate all client requirements into operational activity. Great emphasis is also placed throughout implementation phases, however, on the teams’ requirement to be fully flexible throughout all event operations. In this sense our planning is flexible as well as robust.

Each of the 150 deployed staff-members required logistics planning, accommodation, catering, welfare and uniform throughout the two-week event. This required the following functions to be performed by the head office team of Stadium;

  • Maintenance of Staffing Databases
  • Client Relationships
  • Regular Team Meetings
  • Risk Analysis and Staff Vetting
  • Stadium Training – SIA, Spectator Safety NVQ Level 2, Employability, Customer Service, Health and Safety NVQ Level 2, First Aid, Fire Marshalls, Event Role Play

Stadium prioritises maintaining the operation’s integrity at all costs. During the event itself, we reacted within stringent timeframes to alleviate operational queries, issues and dealt with any staffing requirements on a daily basis. Throughout the Games, we held a contingency of staff to mitigate issues of staff retention on-site. This helped to ensure the operation’s integrity was not compromised at any point and continued to run smoothly.

We ensured contingency levels continued to be maintained through transporting and deploying further staff to operational bases wherever numbers needed to be “topped up”. Stadium operational management staff boast extensive experience – and, thanks to our Stadium Training arm, all operational personnel are fit with a flexible range and level of skills and qualifications that can fit a variety of contexts and needs within the event industry.

In other words, we took the Games as seriously as Glasgow itself did – and that’s a commitment we make to every client.