Festival Health and Safety: Labyrinth Series at Tofte Manor

Background

Since 2021, we’ve had the pleasure of partnering with Labyrinth, assisting them in executing various memorable events.

In July 2024, Labyrinth called on us to provide essential operational support for two major weekends at Tofte Manor. Our team worked hand-in-hand with Labyrinth to deliver comprehensive services, including security, festival health and safety, traffic coordination, SAG liaison, crowd management, and licensing oversight, ensuring attendees a smooth and enjoyable experience.

The event showcased exciting performances by acclaimed artists such as Fat Boy Slim, Ross From Friends, and Jungle, attracting a vibrant crowd to Tofte Manor.

From the initial planning phases to the live event, we actively participated in Safety Advisory Group meetings, created vital documentation, and ensured effective on-site management for a successful and safe gathering.

Challenges

We needed to adapt our operational strategy for ingress and egress, implementing a new plan that expanded our initial site plan to include a new external pick-up and drop-off (PUDO) location.
The possibility of train strikes required additional contingency planning. Although the strikes did not occur, we prepared coaches to ensure attendees could return home safely.
The remote location posed logistical challenges, requiring careful management of travel times. It took approximately one hour and 10 minutes to get everyone off-site for those wanting to catch the train. Anticipating congestion in the taxi area, we coordinated with our adaptable coach company to transport attendees to the station as needed.
We also established travel contingency plans to ensure all attendees could leave on time. We reserved 72-seater coaches that could stay on-site to drop off guests at the nearest night tube station, Stanmore, located an hour and a half away, which attendees greatly appreciated.
Finally, just a week before the event, we learned that England would be competing in the Euros final. On the event day, the start of egress depended on whether the match went into extra time or penalties. We had all teams prepared for deployment to egress locations while ensuring that the site remained well-managed throughout.

On-site Health and Safety Management
Licensing
Documentation including ESMP, Risk Assessments
Operations Manager
ELT meeting lead with police, council and contractors
SAG lead
Traffic Management Plan
Egress Plan development and oversight
Police SPS planning and liaison

Results

New Operational plan
Effective contingency plans for safe audience travel
Successful egress
Client really pleased with the operational management of the event
Positive SAG feedback
Excellent customer feedback