Health & Safety: Festival of Light Southampton
Background
OPS supported We Are Placemaking with Health & Safety Support for the build and break of the Festival of Light in Westquay Southampton. The Festival of Light is an immersive light festival that aims to bring together the local community, shoppers, families and visitors of all ages through a display of state of the art lighting installations. Following the success of the 2017, 2018 and 2019 events We Are Placemaking were asked to produce the event for the third year running with a brand new look and feel.
Five installations throughout the site:
‘Birds That Fly Around With You’ by Light Art Collection – A circular installation where guests are able to stand and walk in the middle while illuminated birds fly overhead
‘Neon Angel Wings’ by Carla O’Brien – Three neon angel wings with a halo attachment, the perfect photo opportunity.
‘Pulse’ by This is Loop – A large installation made up of circular loops that guests are able to walk between while music plays.
‘Affinity’ by Its Machas – A large immersive interactive light and sound installation inspired by the human brain
‘The Pool’ by Jen Lewin Studio – An environment of giant, concentric circles created from interactive circular pads that you can walk on and interact with.
Health & Safety
Challenges:
Vehicles entering into the site were managed by retractable bollards operated by Westquay Security Control at our request and escorted through the site at walking pace by event staff.
Deliveries were staggered to limit the number of vehicles on the pedestrianised area at any one time.
Security in hi-vis were positioned at equal points across the pedestrian barrier at the boundary of the event space.
Inclement weather (heavy rain/winds) affected the break on the site. Weather reports were adhered to and any work at height was completed before the forecasted downpour and stopped when the rain became too heavy.
Boxed pieces of the installations were due to be collected before midday but due to unforeseen circumstances, the driver wasn’t able to collect until later in the day. We swiftly found a safe area for the boxes that both offered shelter from the rain and allowed step-free access for the driver to collect the boxes (190kg combined).
Delivery
Supplier sourcing & management
Event Production & management through build, break and live
Festival of Light Curation
Artistic Design
Health & Safety consultancy – ESMP and onsite
Technical Production Management
Creative Production Management
Security Management
Results
Incredible footfall across the event, with the Pulse installation being the most popular averaging a footfall of 10,320 over the duration of the live days.
Widespread media coverage and positive feedback from the public.
Public Feedback
“This should be a permanent feature, it does wonders for Southampton.”
“This has been my first time down here, I’d love to see it come back next year.”
“Its my first time coming down to the festival, I’ve really enjoyed myself.”
“My kids are loving the Pool, but I have to say that Pulse has been my favourite.”
“I like being able to change the colours on Affinity”
“Really fun!”
“I love seeing the kids playing and jumping around on the Pool.”