Crowdguard protects Edinburgh Fringe Festival as city celebrates 900-year anniversary
Crowdguard, working as the main framework contractor and Hostile Vehicle Mitigation (HVM) supplier to Edinburgh City Council, and in partnership with Edinburgh University and Assembly Festivals, provided a variety of HVM solutions to protect the vast crowds that attended the summer events taking place during August, as Edinburgh celebrates 900 years of being a city.
Perhaps the most famous of these events is the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, one of the greatest celebrations of arts and culture on the planet, that takes place annually in August throughout the city.
Artists and performers took to hundreds of stages all over the city, that presented shows for every taste. Over 2.6 million tickets were issued this year and 3,746 shows registered, making this one of the busiest Fringe festivals on record.
With a global audience from over 65 countries descending on Edinburgh, the HVM solutions that we provided needed to be pedestrian-permeable, whilst still offering rated protection levels against vehicle as a weapon attacks.
Highway Care’s Claw and Husson’s H-Stop were used in tandem to protect crowds at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival
Using our unique ‘Plan Provide Protect’ model, enabled us to provide proportionate HVM across the City utilising a variety of ISO 22343-1 and IWA 14-1 Impact rated solutions, such as Highway Care ‘Claw’, HUSSON ‘H-Stop’ and ATG ‘Surface Guard’.
Fringe venues can be anywhere, from existing theatres and concert halls to repurposed spaces like bars, parks, buses and shipping containers, meaning that the bustling crowds were always on the move – so a comprehensive Threat Vulnerability Risk Assessment (TVRA) was carried out well in advance in order to adequately deploy a series of proportionate HVM solutions across the city, to keep the huge numbers of people safe while they were enjoying the entertainment.
Iain Moran, Crowdguard Managing Director commented:
“We’re incredibly proud to have played our part in ensuring the safety and security of the Edinburgh Fringe festival this year. With so many tickets sold and thousands of shows taking place across the city, it was essential to implement robust and flexible HVM solutions that could protect the vibrant crowds while allowing the free flow of pedestrian movement.
Our ‘Plan Provide Protect’ model, coupled with our suite of innovative solutions allowed us to deliver a proportionate level of protection without compromising the unique atmosphere of this world-renowned event.”
The Edinburgh Fringe Festival is not just an international attraction, it also acts as an inclusive, welcoming local community event where 34 local schools, charities and community groups take part in the Fringe Days Out scheme, which offers free Fringe vouchers and Lothian Bus tickets to people who wouldn’t normally get to experience the Fringe – which is all the more reason to ensure that the crowds are properly protected, with the correctly rated and specified equipment.
Husson H-Stops were used to protect Edinburgh City centre during the Fringe Festival as part of a proportionate and rated HVM solution
Claire Miller, Edinburgh City Council Senior Public Safety Officer stated:
“Crowdguard was able to advise us on which HVM system to deploy where, accommodate our requirements to customise the installation with messaging, and, essentially, meet the need for prompt installation and de-rigging, concurrently in multiple locations. The whole thing ran very smoothly, visitors were reassured that their safety was being taken seriously, and we were able to extend a warm Edinburgh welcome to all!”
If you’re planning an event (small or large-scale), get in touch with the Crowdguard team to discuss your requirements. We can give you the best possible advice and provide a turnkey service to help you plan and implement strategies to keep people safe and protect crowded places with market-leading solutions installed by experts, designed to help you mitigate risk.
Call us on: 0161 507 3434
