England’s Premier League is one of the most revered in the world and prides itself on efficient management of match day crowds and high standards of safety.
Following COVID restrictions, a major Premier League club was keen to welcome a 55,000 strong crowd safely back to its ground. However, pre-season joinery and fit-out work to improve facilities were still ongoing so crowd management measures needed to be put in place to segregate the work area. Fit out contractor, Gariff, enlisted the support of Crowdguard to install a 45m FenceSafe Hoard temporary crowd management system that would deliver a pleasing outlook for fans along with added security for the site.
Temporary and robust requirement
The requirement was for a completely surface-mounted temporary hoarding system that could be installed and removed quickly with no impact on the stadium surroundings, while providing 4 kilonewton (kN) of robust crowd management segregation from the construction site area.
The system needed to offer rapid installation and removal so that it could be ready for the friendly match but removed before the start of the new season a week later. There also needed to be provision for secure access for site personnel and the ability to reposition elements of the hoarding, if required, during the hire period.
Finally, the club wanted a temporary hoarding system that could be customised in the club’s globally recognised colour palette, to deliver a suitable on-brand solution.
The solution from Crowdguard
Working with the client to ensure the finished installation met the club’s requirements, Crowdguard delivered and installed the 45m hoarding within a single day, using FenceSafe Hoard; a next generation sustainable and secure hoarding, manufactured from a highly durable composite recycled plastic sectional profile and suitable for up to a one in seven gradient as standard, or greater with modification of profiles and post centres.
Conforming to both BSEN 1991 for wind loading and a guide to good practice – TW f2012:01 (revised 2014) and delivering operational safe temperatures of -5 to <+790C, the FenceSafe Hoard system is completely surface mounted with no fixings, which provided a truly temporary, low impact solution at the football stadium. Quick and easy to assemble and remove thanks to tongue and groove click fixings that slot into engineered rails and channels, the 2.4m high hoarding completely obscured the construction area with a seamless partition.
The system can be installed with Crowdguard’s full range of gates and turnstiles and a 1.2m wide pedestrian gate was installed at the stadium, along with a 2.4m double leaf access gate, forming an integral element of the hoarding. This enabled Gariff’s fit-out teams to continue accessing the site while the temporary hoarding was in place.
FenceGate Hoard’s recycled plastic sectional panels are fully customisable before or after installation and the system was vinyl wrapped with the club’s colours and branding after installation.
The temporary hoarding system provided an aesthetically pleasing, branded crowd management solution that also offered effective protection from noise and dust. It was removed by the Crowdguard team within a single day one week after installation.
For more information, visit: www.crowdguard.co.uk