Showsec To Build On Legacy Of Historic Summer

Showsec has been part of a historic UK summer events program, delivering crowd management and security across momentous cultural, music and sporting events.

The company’s UK network of offices each managed its own regional projects, supporting each other on larger projects with additional resources and staffing where necessary. Events ranged from T in the Park and Belladrum in Scotland, Preston Guild and Download Festival in the Northern and East Midlands regions, Merthyr Rock Festival and BBC Radio 1 Starts the Summer in Wales and West and Bestival and Bournemouth Sevens Festival in the South. Events in London were the focus of the world in 2012, from the Diamond Jubilee celebrations across London, Showsec supported a range of events including the prestigious BT London live, Athlete’s Medal Parade, Paralympic Marathon, Lovebox, Wireless, Hard Rock Calling, as well as providing nationwide tour support for Madonna.

Managing and delivering all security arrangements for BT London Live across Hyde Park, Victoria Park and Trafalgar Square, Showsec provided over 1,000 staff per day for 1.44m visitors following a  successful recruitment campaign in the months leading up to the event. Over 1200 SIA and steward professionals were recruited through a thorough selection process and trained both online and in the classroom via tailored modules written by the company’s training department and mentored onsite by experienced staff and supervisors.

Due to the sensitivity surrounding this high profile event and the over-arching Olympic security requirements, stringent searching at all backstage entrances for production staff, artists and moving vehicles was undertaken during the 18 day Olympic period between 27^th July-12^th August, and Paralympic period from 29^th August-9^th September. This took place alongside an airport style search for the million plus visitors to the live sites.

Improved site briefing and reporting procedures were introduced by Showsec to ensure effective communications both internally and with BT London Live stakeholders. This was supported with new technology, including a GPS tracking system which used QR codes around the site perimeter to produce a detectable trail of reports logged back to the control office.

A three mile parade featuring 736 Olympians and Paralympians drew Britain’s unique summer of events to a close, with Showsec working alongside agencies including GLA, the Metropolitan Police, the British Olympic Association, City of London, Transport for London and City of Westminster to deliver a crowd management plan along the parade route. Showsec split the operation into four zones to optimise communication and logistical efficiency, with a team also dedicated to achieving a carefully timed sequence of road closures and crowd cordon points.

Showsec will now build on the success of a historic summer with a range of initiatives, both internally and in partnership with key event security organisations.

Showsec director Simon Battersby comments:

“Legacy has been a ‘buzz word’ this year and we have further invested in the improvement and expansion of our capabilities and services. Across all departments we have been diligent to consider what we can learn from our experiences and incorporate into future procedures, from recruitment and booking to training and operational logistics. We are currently engaged with a number of external bodies, such as Skills for Security, whom we are working with to establish improved National Occupational Standards for event security which will be influenced by our operations this summer.

“These events have been an incredible effort by all involved, especially to deliver the prestigious BT London Live project alongside a busy event schedule across the UK, often facing challenging weather conditions. I’m proud that everybody involved worked hard to ensure an incredible range of security operations of this size and diversity were always delivered with professionalism and passion.”

Tags: Olympic & Paralympic Parade, Showsec

Category: General Event Industry News