Southampton Fireworks 2023
Background
The Southampton fireworks display is not just any firework display, but the largest fireworks display on the South Coast.
Up to 9000 attendees were invited to enjoy the show, featuring live music, funfair rides and food traders, and (you guessed it) fireworks!
Based in Mayflower Park, the site presented a picturesque experience to attendees. The team was, however, presented with some unique challenges…
Challenge
- Storm Ciarán: this was our biggest challenge onsite. During the build Southampton closed schools and roads, raising it to a major incident. On top of that, the site is located right beside the sea!
- Extreme Weather: due to the extreme weather we had to utilise the hard standing which led to updating H&S documents and capacity calculations due to its impact on crowd management
- Public access: during build and break, the site needed to remain open to the public, making health and safety a top priority
Delivery
- 8 days on site
- Health & safety management and consulting
- Event liaison team chairing
- Safety Advisory Group attendance
- Event Safety Management Plan & other safety documentation delivered
- Premises Licence application and the licence was granted
- Event Liaison Team Chair & management
Results
- 7,500 thousand happy festival goers
- Positive Local Authority Feedback
- No major medical incidents
Delivery
- Attendee Entrance – Increased entrance options eased the rush during peak timings
- Repositioning of Stage – Positioning the stage towards the sea instead of back into town to minimise resident disturbance
- Full event production – Services including site design, procurement, budget management, crew management and more
Results
- The client was happy with the production dubbing it ‘the most organised it had ever been’
- Positive council feedback despite adverse weather and high footfall, as a result of our careful management of the site
- Stakeholder Engagement: local businesses and suppliers included in the event as food traders, security, power and waste management
- A fantastic firework display as a result of careful planning and production
