The temporary spectator structures provided nearly 6,000 seats for racegoers
n RACING DAYS A
rena Group’s Seating and Structures divisions supplied a comprehensive range of temporary event infrastructure
to Aintree Racecourse for this year’s Crabbie’s Grand National Festival. For Arena Seating, this was the first
of a three-year contract with the Jockey Club – owner of Aintree and organiser of the Grand National – to supply all of the 5,750 temporary seats. This year’s project included a new Arcus grandstand containing 2,750 seats covered by a curved roof; an Embankment Stand with 1,500 seats; and a Pavilion grandstand with 1,512 tiered tip-up seats. Arena also supplied six tiered standing facilities with a capacity of 924. The group recently launched a new temporary stand, which has improved focus on safety through the load-bearing capacity of its handrails.
Project: Temporary stands and seating areas
Client: Aintree Racecourse By: Arena Group
While the Aintree seating contract
is new for Arena Group, its Structures arm has worked on the Grand National Festival for more than three decades. This year, it provided more than 8,650sq m of temporary venue space – ranging from the two-storey Amberleigh House hospitality facility (2,100sq m) to the Crabbie’s VIP hospitality space (250sq m). Arena spent five weeks at the site ahead
of the opening of the Grand National and for Dave Withey, Arena’s sales and marketing director, this year’s event provided some fresh challenges. “Arena Structures has been working on the site for decades, but being the first year of our Arena Seating contract we have had to familiarise ourselves with the clients’ aspirations,” Withey said. “We had to acquaint ourselves with their
Arena Seating has secured a three- year contract for the Grand National
way of working as part of introducing new spectator facilities to a well-established, historic racecourse. “We paid particular attention to the engineering calculations and installation of the Embankment and Chair Pavilion grandstands because they were located on steep grass banks. With the design of the Chair Pavilion we also had to balance optimum capacity without compromising the experience of the users of the Chair Hospitality facility behind – so we worked with the clients to make sure we put the spectators experience first.”
sportsmanagement.co.uk issue 2 2015 © Cybertrek 2015 NEW CDM INTRODUCED
The new Construction, Design and Management (CDM) 2015 regulations came to force on 6 April and replaced the 2007 CDM. The legislation will affect all temporary – as well as permanent – sports building projects in the UK. Arena Group’s Dave Withey outlines the main changes.
“Central to the new CDM regulations is the appointment of a principal designer and a principal contrac- tor. The key thing to note is the change is in regards to the man- agement systems and not products. This means that the organiser/venue has to be aware of its duties and re- sponsible for the implementation of the regulations. The issue of managing unauthorised site access will be a new factor, along with the provision of CDM compliant welfare facilities for crew, which ensures working condi- tions are of a particular standard. The build and deconstruction phase
Dave Withey
of any event will now come within these CDM regs and will be enforced by the Health and Safety Executive, while event days will still fall under the en- forcement of the local authority. From our perspective, the new CDM will make event organisers focus more on their responsibilities – and if that raises the bar to create an improved safety culture it can only be a good thing.”
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