Opening Ceremony - Ring Main Inauguration
Our Brief:
To plan and organise the Inauguration Ceremony of the £250m London Water Ring Main in the presence of HM The Queen.
Our client was keen to stage a very high profile event to fully benefit from the positive PR spin-offs of the scale of the successful project, the presence of royalty etc.
Our client outlined a need for two distinct phases within the event:
Phase 1: High profile opening ceremony with a marquee covering the main ring main access shaft. As many guests as possible were to be present to witness HM The Queen inaugurate this massively expensive and strategic capital project.
Phase 2: A formally seated tea for all the attendees, including those who could not attend the formal ceremony, affording the chance for everyone to see HM The Queen and an opportunity for business networking.
What we did:
In addition to the provision of technical services, including:
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How we did it:
1. Analyse the client's needs: We very quickly understood that the quality and slickness of the inauguration ceremony was crucial to our client as they had a variety of groups and bodies of people attending the event for whom it was vitally important that they left the ceremony with a very positive impression of the project.
They included:
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2. Evaluate the Options: As the site was a working one, and fully operational we had to design an event which:
- Minimised disruption
- Gave safety consideration a high priority
- Enabled the maximum amount of people to view the ceremony within a physically tight space
- Provided hospitality infrastructure to seat 500 guests for a full English tea
- Kept within budget restraints
- Had built-in contingency plans for any security scares/alarms that may arise
This all involved detailed liaison with:
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3. Plan the Event: This involved detailed site meetings with all the relevant personnel, so that the whole event could be scheduled for both the installation and de-rig of all the plant and equipment involved.
CAD Plans of the main auditorium and the hospitality confirmed optimal space configuration.
Electrical power audits were undertaken so that generators could be correctly sized and distribution accurately planned.
4. Deliver on our proposals: With the benefit of thorough preparation and planning this phase of the event should be the most stress free. However, with events where there are so many contractors involved (approximately 50) there are often many chances for one or two things to go wrong! In this instance only poor weather hampered the set up, and the event passed off according to the planned schedule.
5. Review the event: Immediately after the event a review session was undertaken with our client, and constructive criticism was received on elements of the whole process which we were happy to note and learn from. Because of this down to earth approach and dedication to 'get it right' we still enjoy a high level of business with this client, 12 years after our first contract with them.
