Venue Insight TEMPORARY RINKS: ‘ICING’ ON THE CAKE
Arena Ice’s Rebecca Owen explains to Venue Insight how outdoor venues can benefit from the installation of a temporary ice rink, both operationally and financially.
“At Arena Ice, our in-house experts offer over 20 years of expertise in the design and delivery of temporary ice rinks, rink management and staff training. Within Arena Group, temporary structures, interior design and fit-out is a speciality, enabling us to provide truly unique stand-alone events. In 2015, Arena Ice supplied over 14,000 metres of aluminium-based rink mat from our own stock holding, during one of the mildest winters since meteorological records began; a great testament to our equipment, crew and support systems. Our expertise is called upon to deliver made to measure Ice Rinks to fit clients’ event spaces, create bespoke ice slides and curling lanes, install the industry’s latest under-ice LED technology and create new illuminated handrail systems to enhance the skating experience. We not only work across the whole of the UK with a wide range of well known garden centres, historic venues and festive events, but Arena Ice also delivers rinks in Asia and the US.
Venue Requirements
“We can build ice rinks to any size, based on full meter increments; however we most often work to the popular 1:2 ratio (e.g. 15m x 30m for a 450m ice rink). Square rinks are also practical and be extremely attractive with the installation of decorative centrepieces such as Christmas trees or illuminated sculptures. Venues will need to have access to a water supply, just a garden hose is all that is required to fill a rink however a strong water pressure will speed up the procedure. During the installation process, good vehicle access is always desirable, preferably with enough room to manoeuvre a forklift to unload palletised equipment into a secure ‘holding bay’ on site. However, our team are experienced in accommodating site restrictions, such as steps or low barrier heights. As the majority of Arena Ice equipment is modular, it is often possible to ‘carry’ or ‘skate’ the kit to the build location. Technical Zone equipment such as chillers, generators, buffer tanks, pumps and hoses are heavier and therefore less manoeuvrable by hand, requiring vehicular support for unloading on site.
10 JUNE/JULY 2016
Ice Installation
“The time it takes to set up an ice rink can vary between two days and two weeks, depending on the scale and the complexity of the project; however the breakdown is quicker and typically takes between one day and one week, depending on requirements for the ‘melt’. The melting process of the ice governs when the rink equipment and substructure can removed. Clients have the option of a ‘natural melt’ whereby the ambient temperature melts the ice of its own accord after the Chiller units have been switched off, or an ‘assisted melt’ using a boiler or heat pump Chiller to warm the refrigerant Glycol circulating within the rink mat, this allows the ice to be removed within 24 – 48 hours of closure.
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