The 2014 Glasgow Commonwealth Games was a wonderful event – and a banner moment for the city itself. Stadium provided key security and crowd management services across three venues during the Games, acting as an official supplier.
There was just a three-month period between the award of contract and operations going live. Prior to this, however, Stadium had established a strong understanding between the organising committee and our management team – and this enabled a thorough apprehension of service requirements at each venue.
We provided stewarding and security services to the Tollcross International Swimming Centre in Glasgow, the Barry Buddon Shooting Centre in Dundee and the Royal Commonwealth Pool in Edinburgh. We deployed security personnel for CCTV and response steward roles in each venue.
Operational planning involved regular meetings with the leads of each of our operations teams, in which we assessed staffing requirements and which profiles would be most suitable to fulfilling any required roles. This helped ensure the highest level of service was provided. Understanding the profiles of each of our staff required an appreciation of their experience, skill-set and character. This was especially important for placing staff in leadership roles, since it was essential – of course – that they had the necessary leadership qualities.
In this way, Stadium places great importance on the planning process, in order to integrate all client requirements into operational activity. Great emphasis is also placed throughout implementation phases, however, on the teams’ requirement to be fully flexible throughout all event operations. In this sense our planning is flexible as well as robust.
Each of the 150 deployed staff-members required logistics planning, accommodation, catering, welfare and uniform throughout the two-week event. This required the following functions to be performed by the head office team of Stadium;
- Maintenance of Staffing Databases
- Client Relationships
- Regular Team Meetings
- Risk Analysis and Staff Vetting
- Stadium Training – SIA, Spectator Safety NVQ Level 2, Employability, Customer Service, Health and Safety NVQ Level 2, First Aid, Fire Marshalls, Event Role Play
Stadium prioritises maintaining the operation’s integrity at all costs. During the event itself, we reacted within stringent timeframes to alleviate operational queries, issues and dealt with any staffing requirements on a daily basis. Throughout the Games, we held a contingency of staff to mitigate issues of staff retention on-site. This helped to ensure the operation’s integrity was not compromised at any point and continued to run smoothly.
We ensured contingency levels continued to be maintained through transporting and deploying further staff to operational bases wherever numbers needed to be “topped up”. Stadium operational management staff boast extensive experience – and, thanks to our Stadium Training arm, all operational personnel are fit with a flexible range and level of skills and qualifications that can fit a variety of contexts and needs within the event industry.
In other words, we took the Games as seriously as Glasgow itself did – and that’s a commitment we make to every client.
